Research Methodology

Lecture No : 9

(Measurement of Variables/Operational Definition)

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Recap

• Research Design elements• Study setting• Time Horizon• Unit of analysis

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Measurement of Variables

• In order to find answers to our question and in order to test our hypothesis we need measure our variables of concern.

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Why the need for measuring

• To test the hypothesis the variables need to measured.

• Finding the answers to our questions is possible when we have some statistics/ numbers .

• Some variables are easily measurable e.g. Height, salary, hours worked.

• Some are not so easily measured motivation level, success level of projects, satisfaction, loyalty etc.

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• Questions like 1. How long have you been working in this

organization?2. What is your marital status ?3. How much is your salary ?4. What was the cost of last project ?• But some variables are abstract and subjective e.g.

satisfaction, happiness, achievement motivation, effectiveness of the organization.

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• One cannot simply ask what is the achievement motivation level of your employees.

• But before we start measuring the variables it’s abstractness needs to be addressed.

• There are ways to in which the abstractness of the notion could be simplified into observable characteristics.

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• For instance “Thirst” cannot be seen but we expect that a thirsty person would consume lots of liquid.

• Hence the behavior of the thirsty person is that he would drink fluids.

• If several individuals say they are thirsty we can measure thirst by measuring their consumption of liquid, although the concept itself is abstract.

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• Reducing abstract concepts so they are measurable is called operationalizing.

• Operationally defining a concept so that it becomes measurable is achieved by looking at the behavioral dimensions, facets , or properties represent by the concept.

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Steps to Operationalization

• one needs the define component of the concept.

• Under each concept possible quantitative measurable elements need to identified.

• Against each developed concepts specific questions could be formulated. The questions could be supported by secondary data, observation or self report

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Operational Definition

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• The operational definition of Learning could be stated as “The ability to recall the lesson, it is also the ability apply the lesson learned to practical situation and finally it is the understanding of a lesson”.

• Even though these dimension have to an extent reduced some of the ambiguity but we still need to further classify what is meant by understanding, application so that we can measure learning as a whole.

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• With some effort we can define what is meant by understanding , i.e. the ability to answer questions correctly and give appropriate answers. We also define what is application, which is the ability to solve problem by applying the lesson learned and integrate it with other relevant material.

• Now we are in better position to measure the concept learning.

• At this stage we can develop questions which address the synthesized concepts and obtain data on them.

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What is not operational definition

• It does not define the correlates of a concept • i.e. motivation and performance are two separate

concepts and they might be correlated we cannot substitute one with the other

• Motivation can lead to performance but we do not measure performance by motivation.

• We need to differentiate between the reasons (factors/antecedents) with dimensions.

• Dimensions are the sub components of a concept and factors/ antecedents the causes of the concept

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• We operationally define concepts and ask questions that are likely to measure the concept.

• So for abstract concepts we need to define the subjective feelings and attitudes.

• For straight forward variables , objective data is used such as salary, number of tee shirts.

• A number of subjective concepts have been opertionalized by the subject experts and we can use them for research.

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Recap

• Measurement is necessary to give answers or to the research question , or to test our hypotheses.

• The opeationalizing of certain subjective variables are necessary for measurement.

• The abstract concepts are broken down to dimensions and its elements.

• Questions are formulated on them• Not to confuse dimensions with antecedents

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