| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Concept | Collections of seemingly related observation/experiences; Mental creation. A construct, something we create such as compassion, prejudice. created from our conception of them. Cant be observed directly or indirectly because they aren't real (we made them up) |
| Construct | Theoretical creations that are based on observation but can't be observed directly or indirectly. (example= IQ) |
| Conceptualization | The mental process whereby fuzzy and imprecise notions (concepts) are made more specific and precise; Refinement & specification of abstract concepts. |
| Nominal Measure | Variables whose attributes have only the characteristics of exhaustiveness & mutual exclusiveness; level of measurement describing a variable that has attribues that are merely different. (example: Sex, College Major) |
| Ordinal Measure | Variable with attributes we can logically rank-order along some dimension . (example: alienation, prejudice. physical level: diamonds) |
| Interval Measure | Variable whose attributes are rank-ordered and have equal distances between adjacent attributes. (ex. Fahrenheit temp scale) |
| Ratio Measure | Variable w/ attributes that have all the qualities of nominal, ordinal, interval measures and in addition based on a "true zero" point. (ex. Age) |
| Reliability | quality of measurement method that suggest that the same data would have veen collected each time in repeated observations of the same phenomenon; if a particular technique yields same reult each time. |
| Validity | refers to extent to which an empirical measure accurately reflects the real meaning of the concept under consideration; a measure that accurately reflects the concept it is intended to measure. |
| Face validity (method to improve validity/reliability) | quality of an indicator that makes it seem a reasonable measure of some variable. (ex. frequency of attended @ church= some indication of person's religiosity) |
| criterion-related validity (method to improve validity/reliability) | the degree to which a measure relates to some external criterion; aka Predictive validity. (ex. written driver's test predicts driving record) |
| construct validity (method to improve validity/reliability) | the degree to which a measure relates to other variables as expected w/in a system of theoretical relationships |
| content validity (method to improve validity/reliability) | the degree to which a measure covers the range of meanings included w/in a concept. |
Combine with other sets
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