POL242Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Operationalization, Data Analysis
Document Summary
1: formulation of testable hypothesis, conceptualization and operation (variables, research design, data collection, data analysis and interpretation. Measureable, so it is useful for testing hypothesis. Political legitimacy= capacity of a political system to maintain the belief that the existing political institutions are the right and legitimate ones. Concept (abstract)= political legitimacy variable (concretely measurable)= anti government protests. 2)sitting governments share of popular vote last election. Economic growth (concept) variables: % change in gdp. 3 requirements in defining measurement categories (values: boundary lines between categories must be clear, categories must be mutually exclusive, categories must be exhaustive. Levels of measurement: nominal: just the name, no order, you cannot have more or less of one. Government type: ordinal: if you can have more or less, provides an order. Usually expressed in surveys with answers: not satisfied, somewhat satisfied, very satisfied etc. Interval/ ratio: if you can have more or less of something, but units are the same size in each interval.
