SOC221H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Theoretical Definition, Operational Definition, Operationalization
Document Summary
Understand the concept of operationalisation and its main goal: to observe the research topic in a manner relevant to the underlying theory, insofar that the theory reflects social reality. Know the characteristics of good observation/measurement, and be able to analyse both the quantitative and qualitative measurements in terms of these characteristics. Be able to define levels of measurement, understand their significance, and classify measurements from literature into levels. Questions to guide the reading/to think about ahead of time for students. Summarize the three differences between qualitative and quantitative measurement, listed in the text. Write a conceptual and an operational definition of a sociological concept (choose a concept not used as an example in the textbook). Define reliability and different types of validity, discussed in the text. Evaluate reliability and validity of indicators used in your operational definition. Define and give examples for the four levels of measurement. Define scale, rate, and index, and give one example of each.
