Journalism 614:
Concept Explication
Research Concepts
 What do we mean when we want to study…
– Prejudice?, Participation?, or Patriotism?
 Research concepts
– Labels given to:
• Objects and ideas
– Basic functions of concepts:
• Organize our everyday experiences
• Facilitate communication with others
– Research functions of concepts:
• Classification
• Comparison
– Require careful explicit definitions
• Conceptual
• Operational
Desirable Concept Qualities
 Abstractness
– applies to more than one case
 Clarity
– label conveys the meaning of the concept
 Operationalizability
– translates into observation
 Precision
– Exact, consistent, and reproducible
Concept Explication
 The process by which abstract concepts are
systematically linked to observed variations
in those concepts in the real world
– Conceptual definitions
• Essential properties the researcher intends to be
included within the concepts meaning
– Operational definitions
• Procedures by which the concept is to be observed,
measures, or manipulated
Processes of Concept Explication
Meaning
Analysis
Observation
Empirical
Analysis
Meaning Analysis
 Logical procedures are used to:
– define concepts clearly
– connect conceptual and operational definitions
 Stages:
– Preliminary identification of concept
– Literature review
– Empirical description
– Define conceptually
– Define operationally
– Data gathering
Concepts, Dimensions, Indicators
Reconstructing Concept Definitions
Relationship Between Theory and Research
Measuring Concepts:
Operationalization
 Simple concepts:
– Can be measured with single items
– E.g., gender, age
 Complex concepts have many dimensions
– Necessitating multiple items
– Items get combined in indexes or scales
– E.g., SES, Racism
Value of Using Multiple Items
 1. Capturing various dimensions
– Representing the complexity of the concept
– Capturing range, depth and complexity of an opinion
 2. Creating a more sensitive measure
 3. Scales reduce complex info from multiple items
 4. Assessing reliability of items
– Items measuring the same concept should be correlated
Likert items
 Likert scale items:
– Statements with range of responses:
• Strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree
– Alternative:
• Averaging responses across multiple items:
– “I am interested in politics”
– “Elections are fascinating”
 Strength and direction of opinions
– Can be used to compare:
• People
• Items
Semantic differential items
 Paired antonyms
– Fast vs. slow, good vs. bad
– Subjects allowed to indicate gradations on
continuum
– Scales from matched pairs of antonyms:
• Brave vs. Cowardly, Unafraid vs. Afraid
Forced choice alternatives
 Useful when agreement is high due to social
desirability:
– Which would you prefer, hiring more teachers
or police officers?
• Measures whether education or crime is seen as a
more important issue
– People often agree with both; forced to choose
Thermometer scales
Open-ended vs. Closed-ended
 Open:
– E.g., What is the most important reason you
watch reality shows?_____________________
 Closed:
– E.g., On a five-point scale, how much do you
agree or disagree with the following statements:
• “I watch reality shows to escape daily stress”
• “I watch reality shows to bond with my friends”
• “I watch reality shows to learn about life”
Problematic questions:
 Social desirability
– “On a scale from 1 to 10, how comfortable are you
working with people from other ethnic backgrounds?”
 Pseudo-opinions
– “Do you agree with U.S. policy in the Balkans?”
 Hypothetical questions lack valid answers
– “If you won the lottery, would you quit your job?”
 Leading questions
– “Should the government increase funding for education
in order to improve our schools?”
More problematic questions:
 Double-barreled questions
– “Do you favor building new schools and increasing
money for teachers?”
 Question-ordering
– “Have you been a victim of a crime in the last year?”
– “What’s the most important problem facing the country?”
 Questions requiring difficult mental calculus
– “On the average, how many minutes per day do you spend
composing email messages?”
Interviewing
 Training interviewers how to accurately
collect data and complete a survey
– Two parts:
• (1) preparing for basics of interviewing and
• (2) learning the specific interview questionnaire
– Best learned through experience
• A mutual exchange between interviewer/interviewee
Interviewing Skills
 Interviewing is an communication skill
 Interviewing is a learned skill
– Read interviewing instructions
– Read and listen to instructions
– Practice with someone else
– Be positive and confident
– Edit each interview immediately afterwards
Questionnaire Construction
 Objective:
– To develop a standardized instrument:
• gathers reliable and valid information
– To elicit a response:
• accurately and completely reflects each
respondent’s position or behavior
– To help the interviewer:
• motivate respondent to build and maintain “rapport”
Question Wording
 Language: Need to approximate general parlance
– Must communicate with least sophisticated without
appearing over-simplified to most sophisticated
 Frame of reference: Words have multiple meanings
– Words like “news” can mean many things
 Information level: Complexity of language
– Confusing terms and technical language - Ex.
“Cookies”
 Skewed phrasing: Biases response in a direction
– Ex. “Feed the starving homeless women and children”
Questionnaire Construction
 Length:
– :30 for telephone, longer for personal/self-administered
 Ordering:
– Put easy questions first, funnel toward specific
– Save sensitive question for later
 Transitions:
– Ease them from one section to another
 Probes:
– Encouragement, Explanation, Emphasis, Instruction