COMM 004 Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: Operational Definition, Theoretical Definition, The Main Point

• School: College of The Sequoias
• Department: Communication (COMM)
• Course: COMM 004
• Professor: Johnson

Document Summary

We use many measures in our daily lives. For example, this morning you probably and hopped onto a bathroom scale to see how well my diet is working. I glanced at a thermometer to find out whether to wear a coat. Before the day starts you might have measured weight, temperature, gasoline volume, and speed-all measures about the physical world. Such precise, well-developed measures, which we use in daily life, are fundamental in the natural sciences. We also measure the nonphysical world in everyday life, but usually in less exact terms. However, such everyday judgments as "really prejudiced" or "a lot of violence" are imprecise, vague measures. The astronomer or biologist uses the telescope or the microscope to extend natural vision. In contrast to our senses, scientific measurement is more sensitive, varies less with the specific observer, and yields more exact information. You recognize that a thermometer gives more specific, precise information about temperature than touch can.