Measurement of Variables
Operational Definition
Learning Outcomes
• Students should be able to formulate
operational definition among variables in
business research
Outlines
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Operational definition
Variable and sub variable
Type of scale
Measuring variables
How Variables Are Measured
• Measurement of the variables in the theoretical
framework is an integral part of research and an
important aspect of research design
• Objects that can be physically measured by some
calibrated instruments pose no measurement
problem
• Example:
– The length and the width of a rectangular office table
can be easily measured with a ruler
– The office floor area can be as well measured with a
measuring tape
• Data representing several demographic
characteristics of the office personnel are
obtained easily by straight forward asking
employees such questions:
– How long have you been working in this organization?
– How long have you been working on this particular
assignment?
– What is your job title?
– What is your marital status?
• One can also check the company records to
obtain or verify certain information
• However, it is not easy for someone to deal
with managerial decisions when he has to
make careful interpretation about deciding to
fire factory worker.
• The number of incidents, the motivation of
the worker and the tenure are likely to play an
important part in decision making
Operational Definition
• Is a statement of the specific dimensions and
elements through which a concept will
become measureable
• It can be done by looking at the behavioral
dimensions, facets, or properties denoted by
the concept
Operationalizing the Concept of
Achievement Motivation
• How do we expect behavioral dimensions or facets or
characteristics people with high achievement
motivation?
• They probably have five typical broad characteristics
called dimensions:
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Driven by work
No mood to relax
Prefer to work on their own than with others
With mind and heart set on accomplishment and
achievement, love challenging job rather than easy ones
– Yearning to know their job’s progress
Elements of Dimension 1
• It is possible to describe the behavior of a
person who is driven by work:
– Be at work all the time
• count the number of beyond working hours at the
workplace
– Be reluctant to take time off from work
• how many hours they are likely to pursue their
unfinished assignment at home
– Persevere even in the face of some setbacks
• not give up easily
Elements of Dimension 2
• The degree of unwillingness to relax can be
measured by asking persons such questions as:
– How often do you think about work while You are
away from the workplace?
– What are your hobbies?
– How do you spend your time when you are away from
the workplace?
• Thus we can place employees on a continuum
ranging from those who relax very well to those
who relax very little. This dimension the becomes
measurable
Elements of Dimension 3
• Individuals with high achievement motivation
have no patience with ineffective people and
are reluctant to work with others
• There are others who are not highly
achievement motivated and rather willing to
work with almost anybody
• Thus impatience with ineffectiveness can also
be measured by observing behavior
Elements of Dimension 4
• A measure of how excited people are at seeking
challenging jobs can be had by asking employees
what kinds of jobs they prefer.
• A number of different job descriptions can be
presented– stereotyped work of routine nature
until challenging ones.
• Employee preferences for different types of jobs
could then be placed on a continuum ranging
from those who prefer fairly routine jobs to those
who prefer jobs with a progressive increase in
challenge
Elements of Dimension 5
• Those who desire feedback would seek it from
their superiors, co-workers, and subordinates
• Either positive or negative feedback would
indicate them how much they are achieving and
accomplishing
• By keeping track of how often individual seeks
feedback from others during a certain period of
time, employees can be placed on a continuum
ranging from those who seek extensive feedback
from all sources to those who never seek any
feedback from anyone at anytime
Example
Scales
• A scale is a tool or mechanism by which
individuals are distinguished as to how they
differ from one another on the variables of
interest.
• Type of scales:
– Nominal
– Ordinal
– Interval
– Ratio
Nominal Scale
• Nominal scale splits data into certain
categories or groups
– Men and women, these two groups can be
assigned code numbers 1 and 2
Ordinal Scale
• Ordinal scale not only categorizes the variables’
differences among the various categories, it also
ranks (orders) data in some meaningful way
– Exercising for 20 minutes is good, for 30 minutes is
better, for 40 minutes is best
Interval Scale
• Interval scale sets data on a continuum thus
allows us to perform certain arithmetical
operations on the data collected
– From very low………………….………..to very high
Ratio Scale
• Ratio scale overcomes the disadvantage of other
scales, since it starts with absolute zero and
indicates proportion
– Ten is twice as big as five
Comparisons of Four Scales