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Social Measurement

Social Measurement. Properties of the System are complex Probe must be constructed. Uses of Social Measurement. Description of non-physical systems Psychological States and attitudes : “hostility”, “President’s Approval Rating” Institutions : “University”, “High Tech Industry”

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Social Measurement

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  1. Social Measurement Properties of the System are complex Probe must be constructed

  2. Uses of Social Measurement • Description of non-physical systems • Psychological States and attitudes: “hostility”, “President’s Approval Rating” • Institutions: “University”, “High Tech Industry” • Systems of Institutions • Specific: “The United Nations” • Categories: “Hierarchies”, “Democracies” • Patterns of Behavior: “Well-Managed”, “Revolution”, “Sabotage” • Policy Analysis

  3. Characteristics of Social Systems • Complexity • Ambiguity (because we use “common language”) • Affective tone • Self-Reflection • Long Time Frames

  4. Special Aspects of Social Measurement • Quantitative vrs Qualitative information: beware “premature quantification” • Subject/Object confusions and ethics • Bias and Interest: the political role of measurement

  5. Creating Social Measures: Examples • How would you recognize “Hopscotch”? • How would we know if Iraq was in compliance with the UN Resolution on Weapons of Mass Destruction? • Has the world “speeded up” and what’s the effect? • Which States are managed well? • How do you compare States tax policies? • How do you measure “social progress”? • GDP or PQLI • Are we winning the war? • Are women more concerned with their bodies and what effect does this have on their self-esteem? • What is the relative contribution of males and females to our society?

  6. Steps in Constructing a Social Measure • A. Definition of the Concept • B. Selection of a Direct or Indirect observation • C. Operationalization of the variables

  7. Definition of the Concept • Understand the “usage” of terms • “Propositional Inventory” • Open-ended questions • Literature search to discover other attempts to construct measurement tool, as well as critiques of these tools

  8. Direct and Indirect Observations • Direct Observation • Concealed or overt? • Pitfalls of “participant-observer” • Easy to observe AND record: counts, check offs, video/audio tape • experiments (ethical problems?) • Indirect Observation • Official reports and documents (coding problems) • Physical traces: “garbology”, Material Culture • Structured interviews • Substitute observations (needs a theory of the “correlation” with target

  9. Operationalization • Operationalization is a detailed description of how to proceed, so that it is reproducible by anyone. [Vietnam body count: illustrates the mediating role of institutions] • Variables may be measured in different units: eg. $ spent; number of employees, ratios: combining them may involve converting this to a % of maximum or collapsing a range of values into a single category.

  10. Operationalization, continued • End result is typically an Index or Scale which represents the system by a single number or a group of numbers. • INDEX: researcher “reads” the tool: assigning score, rating • SCALE: multiple expert judges assign scores, which are averaged. • “Polling” is NOT the center of social science research. It is a specialized tool to measure only one thing: “instantaneous public opinion”

  11. Examples of Social Measures/Dilemmas • Use of “Instant Replay” in Sports • Movie Ratings: how much nudity, sex, violence, bad language? • PQLI: literacy, infant mortality, life expectancy at age 1, replaces consumption, income measures • Management Practices of States • The Price of Pleasure • Happiness index

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