Journalism 614:Concept Explication

Research Concepts What do we mean when we want to study…

– Prejudice?, Participation?, or Patriotism? Research concepts

– Labels given to:• Objects and ideas

– Basic functions of concepts:• Organize our everyday experiences• Facilitate communication with others

– Research functions of concepts:• Classification• Comparison

– Require careful explicit definitions• Conceptual• Operational

Desirable Concept Qualities

Abstractness– applies to more than one case

Clarity– label conveys the meaning of the concept

Operationalizability– translates into observation

Precision– Exact, consistent, and reproducible

Concept Explication

The process by which abstract concepts are systematically linked to observed variations in those concepts in the real world– Conceptual definitions

• Essential properties the researcher intends to be included within the concepts meaning

– Operational definitions• Procedures by which the concept is to be observed,

measures, or manipulated

Processes of Concept Explication

MeaningAnalysis

EmpiricalAnalysis

Observation

Meaning Analysis Logical procedures are used to:

– define concepts clearly – connect conceptual and operational definitions

Stages:– Preliminary identification of concept– Literature review– Empirical description– Define conceptually– Define operationally– Data gathering

Concepts, Dimensions, Indicators

Reconstructing Concept Definitions

Relationship Between Theory and Research

Measuring Concepts: Operationalization Simple concepts:

– Can be measured with single items– E.g., gender, age

Complex concepts have many dimensions– Necessitating multiple items– Items get combined in indexes or scales– E.g., SES, Racism

Value of Using Multiple Items

1. Capturing various dimensions– Representing the complexity of the concept

– Capturing range, depth and complexity of an opinion

2. Creating a more sensitive measure 3. Scales reduce complex info from multiple items 4. Assessing reliability of items

– Items measuring the same concept should be correlated

Likert items

Likert scale items:– Statements with range of responses:

• Strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree

– Alternative:• Averaging responses across multiple items:

– “I am interested in politics”

– “Elections are fascinating”

Strength and direction of opinions– Can be used to compare:

• People

• Items

Semantic differential items

Paired antonyms– Fast vs. slow, good vs. bad– Subjects allowed to indicate gradations on

continuum– Scales from matched pairs of antonyms:

• Brave vs. Cowardly, Unafraid vs. Afraid

Forced choice alternatives

Useful when agreement is high due to social desirability:– Which would you prefer, hiring more teachers

or police officers?• Measures whether education or crime is seen as a

more important issue

– People often agree with both; forced to choose

Thermometer scales

Open-ended vs. Closed-ended

Open:– E.g., What is the most important reason you

watch reality shows?_____________________

Closed:– E.g., On a five-point scale, how much do you

agree or disagree with the following statements:• “I watch reality shows to escape daily stress”• “I watch reality shows to bond with my friends”• “I watch reality shows to learn about life”

Problematic questions: Social desirability– “On a scale from 1 to 10, how comfortable are you

working with people from other ethnic backgrounds?” Pseudo-opinions– “Do you agree with U.S. policy in the Balkans?”

Hypothetical questions lack valid answers– “If you won the lottery, would you quit your job?”

Leading questions– “Should the government increase funding for education

in order to improve our schools?”

More problematic questions:

Double-barreled questions– “Do you favor building new schools and increasing

money for teachers?”

Question-ordering– “Have you been a victim of a crime in the last year?”– “What’s the most important problem facing the country?”

Questions requiring difficult mental calculus– “On the average, how many minutes per day do you spend

composing email messages?”

Interviewing

Training interviewers how to accurately collect data and complete a survey– Two parts:

• (1) preparing for basics of interviewing and

• (2) learning the specific interview questionnaire

– Best learned through experience• A mutual exchange between interviewer/interviewee

Interviewing Skills

Interviewing is an communication skill Interviewing is a learned skill

– Read interviewing instructions– Read and listen to instructions– Practice with someone else– Be positive and confident– Edit each interview immediately afterwards

Questionnaire Construction

Objective:– To develop a standardized instrument:

• gathers reliable and valid information

– To elicit a response:• accurately and completely reflects each respondent’s

position or behavior

– To help the interviewer:• motivate respondent to build and maintain “rapport”

Question Wording Language: Need to approximate general parlance

– Must communicate with least sophisticated without appearing over-simplified to most sophisticated

Frame of reference: Words have multiple meanings– Words like “news” can mean many things

Information level: Complexity of language– Confusing terms and technical language - Ex. “Cookies”

Skewed phrasing: Biases response in a direction– Ex. “Feed the starving homeless women and children”

Questionnaire Construction

Length:– :30 for telephone, longer for personal/self-administered

Ordering: – Put easy questions first, funnel toward specific– Save sensitive question for later

Transitions:– Ease them from one section to another

Probes:– Encouragement, Explanation, Emphasis, Instruction