Resarch Methodotokw

Assignment class 9:

Measurement, operationalisation and

scaling

1. Synthesis

Measurement operationalization and scaling

The role of measurement in research

Measurements are observations of reality, this can be either systematically registered or other relevant information. A quantitative measurement assigns values to each case, keeping in mind the unit of analysis and what the member is of the sample. These are generally numerical values and give a value for each variable that is being studied. This data is then being brought into matrices which allows further analysis.

A qualitative measurement however offers rich information for each case. There are barely any numerical or objective measurements and there are often thick descriptions with a very deep meaning. The information should be related to the research topic, and the data often consists of transcripts and interpretations of situations from interviews or case studies.

The nature of measurement scales

A measurement scale is an operation procedure for measuring a certain variable. You do this by assigning numbers or symbols to a property of objects (coding), and if there are more than one indicants of a specific property they are considered items. There are various scaling techniques that can be used to construct these measurement scales. There are some important factors to consider in designing these measurement scales. For example the objective of the study, the amount of dimensions, levels of measurement...

Operationalization of variables

To be able to operationalize variables, one should make the distinction between objective and subjective variables. If there is a direct and objective observation available for the variable there is no further operationalization required to begin structuring or analyzing the data. If the data that has been collected consists of abstract concepts: opinions, attitudes, perceptions, it becomes much harder to structure this data in such a way that it can be analyzed. This...