Explication and interpretation

1. Explication and interpretation The essence of empiricism

2. Explication • Explication is a deductive process where you take a general concept, refine it, determine how to test for it and then carry out the test • Interpretation reverses the process • Your handout is an idealized model of explication and interpretation Construct Measure Data Concept

3. Your literature review guides your explication • It helps assure that you include all of the major relevant theories and constructs in your study. • It provides examples of methods, measurement instruments and their use. • Prior studies should include their own explication of important concepts. • Were they successfully applied in earlier studies? • It helps you to anticipate common problems researchers studying your topic have faced • What traps did researchers fall into in the past?

4. Conceptualization • The process of defining concepts concretely and narrowly enough to develop valid measures • Developing constructs to use in research Concept Construct

5. Operationalization • You must come up with ways to measure your concepts and/or test your theories in the physical world • Choose a research method • Develop measures of your concepts • Includes defining the theoretical relationship in measurement terms Construct Measure

6. Data collection • Once you have designed your study you must carry out the research in the physical world • Things never go exactly as planned, so you have to make choices • You must try to limit/eliminate real-world ‘noise’ Chosen research methods, including measures Real-world data collection

7. Concept Conceptualization Construct (Variable) Expl icat ion Operationalization Measure/ manipulation Data collection Data/actual presentation of materials to groups

8. A medieval example of explication

9. Concept Reconceptualization Interpretat ion Construct (Variable) Evaluation Results Analysis Raw data

10. Multiple concepts in a given study • Up to now, we have only looked at a single concept, construct, method, data relationship • To test a theory, you have to explicate at least two concepts and the relationship between them • As you saw with regard to the models shown in class, there are often quite a large number of concepts explicated in a given study • To be practical, they all will most likely need to be measured in similar ways • Using different methods for different concepts leads to great difficulties and expanded costs, etc.

11. Theory Theoretical relationship Concept 1 (cause) Concept 2 (effect) Proposition Theoretical hypothesis Construct 2 (dependent variable) Construct 1 (independent variable) Research Hypothesis Empirical hypothesis Measure 1 (manipulation) Measure 2 Data collection and analysis Obtained data relationship Data 1 (Actual presentation of materials to groups) Data 2

12. Exposure to chick flicks Empathy Leads to Ability to understand your partner’s feelings Attending movies targeted to adolescent females Increases Empathy scale Laboratory exposure to A Walk to Remember Higher mean score Obtained G1 mean v. Obtained G2 mean Group 1 exposed Group 2 not exposed Obtained scores on Empathy scale

13. Interpretation • Interpretation reverses the process • Evaluate the findings • Revisit decisions made in explication with the benefit of hindsight