Measurement (Babbie, Chapter 5)

1. Measurement (Babbie, Chapter 5) Geography 237Geographic Research: Methods and Issues • Basis For Measurement in Social Science • Conceptualization • Levels of Measurement • Evaluating Measurement Quality Geog 237a

2. Basis for Measurement in the Social Sciences • Concepts not “real” (in traditional sense) • Social creations • E.g., class, alienation, social network, environmentalist, prejudice, compassion • What basis?: Shared meanings/shared understandings • Mutual agreement that concept is useful. Geog 237a

3. Classes of Observation Direct Observation • through the senses • e.g., gender (visually verified) Indirect Observation • through proxy – but verifiable through senses • e.g., gender tick box on a survey (not visually verified); historical archives Constructs (Concepts) • cannot observe directly or indirectly • theoretical creations from conceptualization • e.g, prejudice, social network Geog 237a

4. Danger With Constructs/Concepts Reification • elevation of a construct through common use • considered “real” (separate from human definition) rather than “abstract” • e.g., “technology”, “community” • Why might this be a “danger”? Geog 237a

5. Conceptualization • mental process • increase precision • lay  researchable Geog 237a

6. Conceptual Specification and Operational Definition Specification • part of process of conceptualization • process of making concepts specific Operational Definition • distinguished from “the” definition • for purposes of research • e.g., SES = job category + education • e.g., gentrification = housing stock improvement + reputation Geog 237a

7. Conceptual Dimensions Conceptual Dimensions • parts that comprise a concept • elements of a concept • e.g., social network – hubs, closeness back to validity Geog 237a

8. Indicators Indicator • measures of dimensions of a concept • E.g., environmentalist = Source: General Social Survey (see link p. 124 in text) Geog 237a

9. Exercise: Conceptualizing“Respect for Authority” Postulate: Respect for authority determines the likelihood of obedience. • Outline the dimensions of “respect for authority” • Devise some indicators for “respect for authority” Geog 237a

10. One View on “Respect for Authority” Milgram obedience experiment Geog 237a

11. One View on “Respect for Authority” Milgram obedience experiment Geog 237a

12. “Respect for Authority” in GSS Geog 237a

13. Conceptualization Example: Anomia Durkheim – anomie  suicide (society) • society’s agreements unclear • social instability • unclear what is “normal” Merton – anomie (society) • disparity between goals and means Powell – anomia (individuals) • action ≠ desired effect • emptiness, apathy, meaninglessness Geog 237a

14. Conceptualization Example: Anomia Srole – anomia (individuals) • breakdown of moral norms that limit desires and aspirations • social malintegration • social alienation • scale (p. 127 text): e.g., In spite of what some people say, the lot of the average (hu)man is getting worse. Geog 237a

15. Conceptualization Example: Anomia in GSS Geog 237a

16. Conceptualization Example: Anomia in GSS Geog 237a

17. Conceptualization Example: Anomia in GSS Geog 237a

18. Impact of Choice of Indicators Descriptive • problematic • choice of indicator major determinant of patterns • e.g. health status: days of work lost due to illness OR infant mortality Explanatory • less problematic – use multiple indicators • social relationships much more stable • e.g., relationship health status and age Geog 237a

19. Example of Indicator ChoiceHealth Status Canada worse or better over time? Geog 237a

20. Levels of Indicator Measurement Nominal Measures • no ranked relationship • mutually exclusive • e.g., gender, province, hair colour Ordinal Measures • ranked relationship • relative “distance” between levels • mutually exclusive • e.g., SES Geog 237a

21. Levels of Indicator Measurement Interval/Ratio • ranked relationship • absolute “distance” between levels • mutually exclusive • ratio has a true 0 point • e.g., temperature, IQ, income, age Q: How would you represent age as an ordinal variable? Q: How would you represent income as a nominal variable? Geog 237a

22. Exercise: Levels of Indicator Measurement For the indicator racial prejudice devise categories and questions to produce: • Nominal data • Ordinal data • Interval data Geog 237a

23. What Level Do I Choose? • it depends… • statistical requirements • robustness of data • generally: • interval/ratio most preferred • nominal least preferred Geog 237a

24. Measurement Quality Precision • level of measurement • e.g., ordinal vs interval • $42,854 vs $40,000 - $50,000 • NB. fine precision is not always crucial Reliability • repeated measurement elicits the same response • e.g, observation, several researchers, agree who is “leader” of a group Geog 237a

25. Measurement Quality Validity • degree to which measure what you intend to measure • reference to conceptual dimensions face validity • most common • direct appeal to “shared understandings” criterion validity (predictive validity) • relates to external criterion • e.g., LSAT good measure of ability to be lawyer if predicts performance in law school Geog 237a

26. Measurement Quality Validity construct validity • how well indicator relates to other indicators (see postulates, theory) • e.g., crime co-varies with drug use Q: How good a measure of validity is this? content validity • breadth of coverage of conceptual dimensions • e.g., a scale that measure racial, gender and ethnic minority prejudice Geog 237a