SOSC 3993 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Operationalization, Likert Scale, Content Validity
16 Jan 2015
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Document Summary
Use a deductive approach; begin with a concept and create empirical measures expressed in numbers. Qualitative researchers develop ways to capture and express variable and non-variable concepts using various alternatives to numbers. Use an inductive approach; measure features of social life which integrates new concepts or theories with measurement. How people conceptualize and operationalize variables can significantly affect social issues beyond concerns of research methodology. Different policy makers and researchers conceptualize and operationalize poverty differently. How poverty is measure determines whether people get help. Measurement extends our senses- using a telescope/ microscope to see better. Let"s us observe things that were once unseen and unknown but were predicted by a theory. Before you measure; know what you are interested in. We may measure things different based on what we see. What i see as old, another may see as middle aged. Social researchers devises measures for difficult to observe aspects of the social world.
