Deck 5: Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Measurement

Question 1

A survey question asking voters which political party they are affiliated with (Democrat, Republican, Independent)would be considered:

A)mutually exclusive.
B)exhaustive.
C)interchangeable.
D)a ratio scale.
E)an ordinal scale.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Professor Miller argues that there are three dimensions to the quality of a relationship (belonging/affirmation, interdependence, and intimacy). Miller designed an instrument to measure the quality of a relationship. She notices that no items in the instrument tap the intimacy dimension. Her measure lacks:

A)reliability.
B)content validity.
C)predictive validity.
D)construct validity.
E)internal consistency.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Conceptualization is the development of research procedures that will result in empirical observations representing those concepts in the real world.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Sarah has compiled a list of 40 indicators of prejudice and its dimensions. She finds that women are more prejudiced than men on some of the indicators but not on others. Sarah should:

A)check to see if the two sets of indicators represent different dimensions of prejudice.
B)conclude that the women are more prejudiced than men.
C)throw out the 40 indicators and start over.
D)conclude that there was an error in her analysis.
E)get a new sample.

Question 5

A measure of religiosity that is extremely consistent but is actually targeting the respondent's political affiliation could be considered:

A)partially reliable, completely valid.
B)valid and reliable.
C)not valid, but reliable.
D)neither valid nor reliable.
E)valid, but not reliable.

Question 6

Professor Tilton measured the variable "feelings toward drafting women" with the categories strongly agree, agree, indifferent, disagree, and strongly disagree. Professor Tilton was using the _____ level of measurement.

A)nominal
B)interval
C)ratio
D)ordinal
E)not enough information to decide

Question 7

Which of the following sequences illustrates the progression of measurement steps in a fully structured scientific study?

A)Conceptualization, nominal definition, operational definition, and measurements in the real world
B)Nominal definition, conceptualization, operational definition, and measurements in the real world
C)Operational definition, conceptualization, nominal definition, and measurements in the real world
D)Nominal definition, operationalization, conceptualization, and real-world measurements
E)Conceptualization, operationalization, nominal definition, and real-world measurements

Question 8

Dr. Jones is developing a research study in which he plans to use the length of a participant's ring finger to determine mathematical prowess. At the most basic level, his indicator fails which test for validity?

A)Face validity
B)Content validity
C)Predictive validity
D)Criterion-related validity
E)Construct validity

Question 9

Classifying someone as employed or not employed treats employment as:

A)a ratio variable.
B)an interval variable.
C)an ordinal variable.
D)a nominal variable.
E)a dependent variable.

Question 10

Verifying the validity of a measurement using an outside source of information, such as SAT scores or GPA, when examining a measure of academic performance is using:

A)face validity.
B)construct validity.
C)criterion-related validity.
D)content validity.
E)correlational validity.

Question 11

A researcher entering gender data collected from a mailed survey is working with:

A)constructs.
B)direct observables.
C)indirect observables.
D)reification.
E)a conceptualization.

Question 12

Professor Tyler wrote a proposal to study the impact of authoritarianism on child rearing practices. She began her research by reviewing the meaning of authoritarianism. Based on this review, she formulated her own definition of authoritarianism. This process illustrates:

A)operationalization.
B)the interchangeability of indicators.
C)conceptualization.
D)validity assessment.
E)reliability assessment.

Question 13

Measuring how people feel about proposed income tax hikes when you really want to know how well informed they are on the proposal is a problem of operationalization concerning:

A)the use of single or multiple indicators.
B)how observations are going to be made.
C)the specific dimensions of the variable to be studied.
D)the relevant range of variations.
E)the degree of precision needed between extremes.

Question 14

When we fall into the trap of believing that terms have real meanings we are guilty of:

A)reification.
B)measurements that lack reliability.
C)measurements that lack validity.
D)confusing reliability with validity.
E)confusing validity with reliability.

Question 15

The variable "educational level" of students was measured as last year in the school was completed (i.e., by using attributes such as none, 1st, 2nd, 3rd grades)This type of measurement falls under _____ measures.

A)nominal
B)interval
C)ratio
D)ordinal
E)not enough information to decide

Question 16

Jeremy can't decide whether he should ask people whether they "very strongly agree," "agree," "disagree," "very strongly disagree," or simply "agree" or "disagree" with statements about the war in Iraq. Jeremy is dealing with the problem of:

A)whether to use single or multiple indicators of a concept.
B)the range of variation.
C)whether to use a ratio or ordinal measurement.
D)whether to use a ratio or interval measurement.
E)whether to use single or multiple dimensions.

Question 17

Validity refers to the extent to which an empirical measure adequately reflects the real meaning of the concept under consideration.

Question 18

Which of the following is a sign of the presence or absence of the concept that one is studying?

A)Indicator
B)Concept
C)Direct observable
D)Indirect observable
E)Dependent variable

Question 19

Considering the fact that low marital satisfaction should lead to divorce, Professor Rogers checked his measure of marital satisfaction by examining whether couples with low marital satisfaction scores got divorced and those with high levels of marital satisfaction were still married. This illustrates the use of:

A)criterion-related validity.
B)face validity.
C)content validity.
D)construct validity.
E)test-retest validity.

Question 20

Precision and accuracy are synonyms.

Question 21

Please conceptualize child abuse (or another abstract concept of your choice). What indicators would you use to measure the concept? Are there dimensions to the concept?

Question 22

Professor Smith gave the class an exam on Monday. On Wednesday Professor Smith gave the same class the same exam. Professor Smith was clearly interested in assessing the exam's:

A)reliability.
B)validity.
C)face validity.
D)conceptualization.
E)precision.

Question 23

The specification of concepts in scientific inquiry depends on:

A)nominal, operational, and real definitions.
B)real definitions.
C)nominal and operational definitions.
D)nominal and real definitions.
E)operational and real definitions.

Question 24

A nominal definition:

A)is a statement of the essential nature of some entity.
B)is a statement detailing what will be involved in measuring some entity.
C)is a statement that allows us to observe some entity.
D)is a statement that assigns a definition to a concept.
E)is a statement that identifies the value of a concept.

Question 25

A level of measurement describing a variable whose attributes are rank-ordered and have equal distances between adjacent attributes are _____ measures.

A)ratio
B)interval
C)ordinal
D)nominal
E)theoretical

Question 26

Definitions are more problematic for descriptive research than for explanatory research.

Question 27

If unsure as a researcher how specific a measurement needs to be, it is best to be more general to simplify data collection.

Question 28

Changing definitions almost inevitably results in different descriptive conclusions.

Question 29

Conceptions are:

A)empirical measurements.
B)variables.
C)mental images.
D)hypotheses.
E)definitions.

Question 30

Hudson et al. developed a series of questions to examine sexual attitude scale (SAS). The SAS scores of religious fundamentalists-a group believed to be conservative regarding sexual expression-were compared with the scores of social work graduate students-a group believed to be liberal regarding sexual expression. The researchers were examining the instrument's:

A)split-half reliability.
B)split-half validity.
C)criterion-related validity.
D)criterion reliability.
E)construct validity.

Question 31

What is validity in terms of social science research? How do social science researchers evaluate the relative validity of their measurements? Identify.

Question 32

Provide one example each of how definitions are used in descriptive and explanatory studies. Why might a social scientist say that definitions are more important in descriptive studies than in explanatory ones?

Question 33

Dr. Brown is conducting a study on opinions about gun control in the United States. How might she conceptualize and measure this subject? What are some potential biases that might affect the outcomes of her research?

Question 34

How would you measure family size at the nominal, ordinal, and ratio levels?

Question 35

One only needs a nominal definition of a concept before beginning the process of data collection.

Question 36

Precise measurement is more important than accurate measurement.

Question 37

Number of arrests would be an example of an interval measurement.

Question 38

Professor Spence decided to define socioeconomic status as a combination of income and education. Spence then determined the questions to be asked in a survey and the categories of responses. Spence was assigning socioeconomic status:

A)a nominal definition only.
B)an operational and a real definition.
C)a real definition only.
D)a nominal and a real definition.
E)a nominal and an operational definition.

Question 39

It is impossible to have several indicators of only one concept.

Question 40

Dr. Ross is looking to examine if the indicators that make up her measurement of romantic attraction are truly related to one another and make for an accurate representation of the variable she is researching. What sort of validity is she examining?

A)Split-half validity
B)Face validity
C)Criterion-related validity
D)Content validity
E)Construct validity