Chapter 4: From Concepts To Models Review

Match each response category set with the type that best fits. 1) Non-ordered categories (nominal) 2) Frequency (ordinal) 3) Binary or dichotomous (nominal) 4) Degree (ordinal) A) 0 times, 1-3 times, 4 or more times B) Not at all, a little, somewhat, very much C) None, baseball, dancing, basketball, other D) Yes/no

1) C 2) A 3) D 4) B

Match each type of variable with the example that best fits. 1) Ordinal 2) Nominal 3) Ratio 4) Interval A) Income in dollars B) Temperature in Celsius C) The height of four brothers (expressed as Johnny is taller than Matt, etc) D) Gender (male or female)

1) C 2) D 3) A 4) B

Match each of type of survey with the correct definition. 1) Longitudinal 2) Panel 3) Repeated cross-sectional 4) Cross-sectional A) A survey in which data are collected at only one time point B) A type of longitudinal survey in which data are collected on the same subjects at multiple time points C) A type of longitudinal survey in which data are collected at multiple time points but from different subjects at each time point D) A study in which data are collected at multiple time points

1) D 2) B 3) C 4) A

Which of the following is a possible indicator of an ordinal measurement of the variable age?

35-39 *Indicators are the values assigned to a variable. If age is measured as ordinal, it must be some form of categorical measurement with ranked categories, such as 0-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, etc.*

How many levels are there to conceptualization?

4 *The conceptualization process moves from the abstract and general to the concrete and specific in four steps: concept in hypothesis, dimension, variable, and indicator. The last step of this process marks the transition into operationalization (measurement).*

Which of the following is a conceptualization of poverty?

A definition of individuals who cannot provide food or shelter for themselves *Conceptualization is the process of precisely defining ideas and turning them into variables.*

Which of the following is an operationalization of poverty?

A measurement of individuals who make less than $12,000 per year *Operationalization is the process of linking the conceptualized variables to a set of procedures for measuring them.*

If a question has an ordinal outcome as the possible response, it must be which type of question?

Close-ended *A question that provides an ordinal outcome category, meaning that a few ordered options are available, such as "never," "sometimes," or "always," is close-ended because subjects can only respond in pre-set ways.*

Artifact counts/assessments are most closely associated with which type of method?

Content analysis *Artifact counts/assessments are tied to content analysis and similar materials-based methodologies. An artifact count involves the cataloging of social artifacts and objects, qualitatively or quantitatively.*

Observational measurement generally focuses on two dimensions: ____ and ____.

Degree; Amount/frequency *Observation, commonly used in qualitative studies, is the process of seeing, recording, and assessing social phenomena. Observational measurement generally focuses on two dimensions: degree and amount/frequency.*

A single concept can be studied with ____ unit(s) of analysis, in part because individual-level data can be ____.

Different; Aggregated *Conceptualization at different levels of analysis is not difficult, but measuring at different levels of analysis can be tricky because individual-level data are often added together (aggregated) to capture individual concepts at the group level.*

The concept "socioeconomic status" often incorporates income, education, and employment characteristics. What is this an example of?

Dimensions of conceptualization * General concepts often encompass multiple dimensions, or components that represent different manifestations, angles, or units of the concept. Dimensions are about conceptualization. A discussion of dimensions touches on different ways to slice a concept, different ways of conceptually defining it.*

Dr. Jordan has been collecting data on sporting events for his entire career. Some of his variables include the total score, the location, and the total attendance of football games. While running an analysis, Dr. Jordan finds that Big State University football games have a larger total attendance than Small State University football games. He concludes that Big State U. fans love football more than Small State U. fans. What mistake has Dr. Jordan made?

Ecological fallacy *The unit of analysis in Dr. Jordan's study is sporting events, or more specifically football games. He does not have data on football fans or individuals, but he made conclusions on individuals (a micro level) on the basis of an analysis of games (a more macro-level analysis).*

Manipulation is most closely associated with which type of method?

Experiments *Manipulation is usually paired with other forms of measurement during experiments. Rather than independently counting or evaluating reports, observations, or artifacts, experimenters need to "do something" to subjects and observe the results.*

Which of the following is a possible variable of the concept "academic achievement"?

GPA *Variables are representations that capture the presence or absence of a concept as well as the level of a concept. By definition, variables have to vary. Of the four listed options, only information on a student's GPA really tells us anything about a student's academic achievement.*

Unlike the process for quantitative work, qualitative research does not necessarily flow from abstract concepts into definition and measurement. Qualitative research is more ____, drawing general understanding from specific empirical observations.

Inductive *Quantitative research is largely deductive, meaning it involves the translation of general theory into specific empirical analysis. Qualitative research, in contrast, is more inductive, drawing general understanding from specific empirical observations.*

A survey presents respondents with the following question: "In the past 24 hours, how many times have you interacted with your friends? (circle one) None; 1 to 2 times; 3 to 5 times; 6 to 10 times, 10 or more times" Which problem does this question suffer from?

It is not mutually exclusive *In order for a response set to be mutually exclusive, respondents must have only one accurate response available to them. In this case, if you interacted with your friends exactly 10 times in the past 24 hours, two possible responses are accurate.*

Dr. Charles conducts a panel study but finds that respondents seem to answer a particular question quite differently over time. He thinks this may be an issue with their memories rather than the fact that their true answers actually change. What concept captures Dr. Charles's problem?

Low reliability *Reliability refers to how dependable a measure is. When a measure is reliable, it will consistently yield the same results no matter how many times it is given to the same samples. For example, in representative samples of families, a reliable measure of parental monitoring will show a similar minority of parents in the low-monitoring category every time it is administered.*

In general, there is (are) usually ____ correct way(s) to define or measure a concept.

No single * The range of possibilities for conceptualizing and operationalizing poverty seems infinite, which may be frustrating for scholars or policy makers seeking concrete answers. In general, there is usually no single correct way to define or measure a concept.*

____ and ____ variables are always categorical.

Nominal; Ordinal *Nominal and ordinal variables are always categorical. They have a finite set of possible values that are fixed and distinct from one another. Differences between categories in categorical variables can never be known.*

What type of question is the following: "What are your main goals in life?"

Open-ended *An open-ended question is a broad interview question to which subjects are allowed to respond in their own words.*

Dr. Thomas has collected data on poor households including variables on the number of children in each household, the weekly expenditures of each household, and the total income of each household. What is the unit of analysis?

Poor households *A unit of analysis is simply the entity being studied. This is usually individuals but in the case of Dr. Thomas's research, it's households. The variables capture information about the actual households, not the individuals comprising those households.*

____ researchers typically view operationalization as an end result of the conceptualization process; ____ researchers do not follow this same linear path.

Quantitative; Qualitative *Quantitative researchers typically view operationalization as an end result of the conceptualization process. Qualitative researchers do not follow this same linear path. Rather, they start with a more open conceptualization process and use observation to refine the process and come up with conceptual definitions. As a result, data collection procedures are established and followed (operationalized) earlier.*

A sociologist who suggests that local context of cost of living matters in calculating poverty would probably argue for which type of definition?

Relative *We can define poverty with a relative standard, identifying the poor by how deprived they are relative to the rest of a society. In this approach, someone is labeled poor if she has much less than those around her, regardless of how much she has overall.*

Moving from the stages of conceptualization to operationalization requires increasing levels of ____.

Specificity *https://services.wwnorton.com/aws/image?u=0&file=/wwnorton.college.public/coursepacks/soc/tassr/imgs/ARTSCISOC_FIG04.01.jpg* *Figure 4.1 shows the process of conceptualization and operationalization for quantitative research. Researchers must define (conceptualize) these issues in some meaningful way so that they and their audiences are thinking and talking about the same things. Once a definition is in place, the challenge is to come up with a systematic plan for observing or measuring that issue as it has been defined.*

Which of the following is a continuous variable?

Temperature in Fahrenheit *Continuous variables are those that could have an infinite set of possible values that exist on a continuum from low to high with meaningful and identifiable differences.*

What do researchers often do to make comparisons with prior studies?

Use the same exact respondent sample *Operationalization is a choice, and researchers must justify their choice so that everyone knows how to assess the study and compare the findings to the results of other studies. Often, researchers decide to use a "tried and true" operationalization from other related studies so that they can compare their results with prior studies.*

Operationalization involves two steps: (1) converting a conceptual definition into an operational definition that sets the parameters for measurement, and (2) ____.

Using the operational definition to collect data *Operationalization can be broken down into two steps: First, the conceptual definition is converted into an operational definition. Second, this operational definition is used to collect data.*