10 – Operationalization

Why Should I Care?

How the data is gathered can affect the results, and the amount of time and resources needed to complete the project. You need to think this through before you start the project.

Definitions

Operationalization: Setting up systems of measurement of variables.

Operational definition:  A precise definition of a variable which details how it will be measured. The operational definition specifies the variable, the measurement object, the observation method, and the possible categories of observation.

Research Process

Your research has begun with some casual observations. You have variables and a hypothesis.

Now you have to design a way to observe, and measure, what you want to study.

The observation phase will allow you to confirm the hypothesis. A true scientist lets the data do the talking.

Accuracy: The measurement has to observe the actual variable.

Precision: The measurement has to be graduated (scaled) to measure small variations.

Reliability: The technique must provide the same result over and again.

Validity: Read the textbook. 

In-Class Activity – Link each tool to one, or many, methods that may typically use it to collect data.

Data Collection Tool	Method
Recorded Observation	Survey
Laboratory	Field Work
Interview	Experiment
Questionnaire	Unobtrusive Field Work
Documents	Content Analysis
	Case Study

Think Piece

How to measure learning? With tests? With grades?

Is there a difference between learning, and level of knowledge?

How would you operationalize “learning” ?

So now you think that regular tests don’t measure learning.

Fine.

But can tests be part of the learning process?

Ex: Student A takes test, gets 73 percent. Student revises the test and notices his mistakes. He is very upset about it. He looks up the correct answer and swears to a higher power that never again will he forget this particular bit of information. Two decades later, he is joking around with friends at a dinner party, and reminds everyone that he still remembers, To This Day, the difference between a thesis, and a hypothesis.

So a student who does poorly on a test might remember more about the material, over the course of his life, than a student who did well. But maybe not. Some students do poorly and forget even more after the test is over. Other students did very well and will remember a lot of material later in life.

So, what should schools do? Is failing a test bad for learning?

Handout

Variable	Measurement Object	Observation Tool	Answer Categories
Gender	Physical attributes and/or Self-Attribution	Question (direct)	Male Female Other
Income	Pecuniary Wealth ($)	Income Tax (Survey)	Rich (100,000 $ or more) Average (50,000 $ to 99,999 $) Poor (49,999 $ or less)
Happiness	well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy (wiki)	Video Recording (direct)	Very Happy (smiling + LOL) Happy (some giggling) Contentment (smiling) Sad (pouting, frowning) Very Sad (crying, hunching)
Curiosity	When you want to know more about something (JD)	Interview (ex: questions about curiosity)	Very curious (willing to watch hours of documentary channel) Somewhat curious (willing to be told about docs for 10 min.) Not curious (unwilling) Extremely disinterested (willing to go away for discussing)
Interest for National History	Having a professional or amateur past-time of learning history out of personal interest	Reading History Books and Watching Documentaries, High Knowledge	High Interest (owns 1,000 books) Medium Interest (watches H channel) Low Interest (reads newspaper) No Interest (watches YTV)

NOTE – Operational definition of gender:  In the past, we defined gender as the mutually exclusive categorization of male, or female as observed strictly by the physical attributes associated to each gender. Today, many researchers are defining gender in different ways. Some use the categorization of male, female, and other, as declared by the respondent. The operational definition is now changed by what we are measuring. Gender is now self-attributed, which makes room for more categories. Depending on the type of research, you will need to define if these categories are mutually-exclusive, or not (ex: gender fluid).