SOC-0001 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Operational Definition
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Concept - a label that is applied to things with similar characteristics or attributes. Things that seem to belong to the same category. Constructs - things that exist analytically but are not directly observable. To observe them we must rely on some constructed measure. To observe and measure racism, for example, we would need to construct of list of observable behaviours that would allow us to measure whether racism exists. A variable is something that is thought to influence or be influenced by another thing. A variable is a thing that has varying attributes. For example, the attributes of the variable gender include female and male. The attributes of religious affiliation include catholic, jewish protestant. We create them to test whether the posited relationships between variables are true or false. Variables that influence or affect other things = causes. Variables that are influenced or affected by other things = effects.
