Quantitative and Qualitative Measurement

The process of developing clear, rigorous, systematic conceptual definitions for abstract ideas/ concepts.

A careful, systematic definition of a construct that is explicitly written down

The process of moving from construct's conceptual definition to specific activities or measure that allow a researcher to observe it empirically.

a variable in terms of the specific actions to measure or indicate it in the empirial world.

standards that researchers use to connect abstract constructs with measurement operations in empirical social reality

a type of hypothesis in which the researcher expresses variables and the relationships among them in abstract, conceptual terms (208)

a type of hypothesis in which the researcher expresses variables in specific terms and expresses the association among the measured indicators of observable, empirical evidence

Developing cases in qualitative research

the dependability or consistency of the measure of a variable

Measurement reliability across time; a measure that yields consistent results at different time points assuming what is being measured does not itself change

measurement reliability across groups; a measure that yields consistent results for various social groups

Measurement reliability across indicators; a measure that yields consistent results using different specific indicators, assuming that all measure the same construct

The use of multiple procedures or several specific measures to provide empirical evidence of the levels of a variable

how well an empirical indicator and the conceptual definition of the construct that the indicator is supposed to measure "fit" together

a type of measurement validity in which an indicator "makes sense" as a measure of a construct in the judgment of others, especially in the scientific community

a type of measurement validity that requires that a measure represent all aspects of the conceptual definition of a construct.

measurement validity that relies on some independent, outside verification

measurement validity that relies on a preexisting and already accepted measure to verify the indicator of a construct

measurement validity that relies on the occurrence of a future event or behavior that is logically consistent to verify the indicator of a construct.

a type of measurement validity that uses multiple indicators and has two sub-types: how well the indicators of one construct converge or how well the indicators of different constructs diverge.

A type of measurement validity for multiple indicators based on the idea that indicators of one construct will act alike or converge.

a type of measurement validity for multiple indicators based on the idea that indicators of different constructs diverge

A system for organizing information in the measurement of variables into four levels, from nominal level to ratio level.

variables that are measured on a continuum in which an infinite number of finer gradations between variables attributes are possible.

variables in which the attributes can be measured with only a limited number of distinct, separate categories.

the lowest, least precise level of measurement for which there is only a difference in type among the categories of a variable

a level of measurement that identifies a difference among categories of a variable and allows the categories to be rank ordered as well