PSYCX1015 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Standard Deviation, Participant Observation, Subset
14 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
We measure things that are indicative of some larger thing. We study concepts: intelligence, social behavior, depression, etc. Ex: you cannot measure someone"s intelligence like you can measure someone"s weight or height. Because constructs are abstract, multiple definitions can exist for the same construct. First, you need to define your construct. We need to be clear on our definition before we can decide how best to observe/measure it. Ex: intelligence = how well you can predict a pattern. We also need to be clear on our definition because we"re going to communicate this to the rest of the world eventually, and they need to understand what we"re talking about. Operational definition- defining how you will measure this construct. It can also be something you come up with and test yourself. How consistently different people will classify what they are observing. Should be able to get the same result no matter who is testing.
