Sociology 2206A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Theoretical Definition, Operational Definition, External Validity
14 Dec 2015
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Indicators: ways of measuring specific concepts (unemployment rate) We can measure the physical (weight, temperature) and non-physical (attitude) world. Measurement gives you more precise information (exact weight of a person rather than. A social researcher measures difficult-to-observe aspects of the social world. The two approaches to measurement have 3 distinctions. Researcher moves from abstract ideas to specific data collection to yield precise numbers. The numerical information is an empirical representation of the abstract ideas: linkage researchers contemplate and reflect on concepts before they gather data. Researcher examines and reflects on data and concepts simultaneously and interactively. They gather data based on what they encounter. Both quantitative and qualitative researchers use two processes: conceptualization: the process of taking an abstract ideas and concepts and refining them by giving them conceptual definitions. Conceptual definition a careful, systematic definition of a construct that is explicitly written to clarify ones thinking. Ex: prejudice you refer to many sources (asking people, books, scholarly articles)
