Method of Mass Communication Research: Conceptualization and Measurement

1. Study on Method of Mass Communication Research传播研究方法 （4）Dr. Yi Mou 牟怡

2. Conceptualization, Operationalization, Measurement

3. Measuring Anything that Exists • Measurement – Careful, deliberate observations of the real world for the purpose of describing objects and events in terms of the attributes composing the variable. • How would you measure… • age? • grade? • satisfaction with college? • “哪儿人”/籍贯？

5. Conceptualization • Conceptualization – The mental process whereby fuzzy and imprecise notions (concepts) are made more specific and precise. • We cannot meaningfully answer a question without a working agreement about the meaning of the outcome. • Conceptualization processes a specific agreed-on meaning for a concept for the purposes of research.

6. Conceptualization • Kaplan (1964): Three classes of things that scientists measure • Direct observables, e.g., color • Indirect observables, e.g., gender in a questionnaire • Constructs, e.g., IQ • Concepts as Constructs （结构） • Concepts are constructs derived by mutual agreement from mental images. • Conceptions summarize collections of seemingly related observations and experiences.

7. Conceptualization Violence (暴力)

8. 中国法律规定： 暴力是侵犯公民人身权利、民主权利、财产权利和其他合法权益的一种犯罪手段。是指直接对被害人的身体实施物理性的强制力和破坏力,使其无力反抗或不能反抗。常见的暴力方式有捆绑、殴打、凶器伤害等。 Definition of Violence by Smith et al. (1998, p.30): Any overt depiction of a credible threat of physical force or the actual use of such force intended to physically harm an animate being or group of beings. Violence also included certain depictions of physically harmful consequences against an animate being/s that results from unseen violent means.

9. Indicators and Dimensions • Indicator – An observation that we choose to consider as a reflection of a variable we wish to study. • Violent behaviors • Dimension – A specifiable aspect of a concept. • Physical violence vs. Verbal violence

10. Identify appropriate indicators and dimensions for… • College success • Poverty • The Interchangeability of Indicators • If several different indicators all represent the same concept, all of them will behave the same way the concept would behave if it were real and could be observed.

11. Real, Nominal, and Operational Definitions • Specification – The process through which concepts are made more specific. • E.g., Beauty • A nominal (名义的)definition is one that is simply assigned to a term without any claim that the definition represents a “real” entity. • An operational definition specifies precisely how a concept will be measured – that is, the operations we will perform.

12. Creating Conceptual Order • Conceptualization • Nominal Definition • Operational Definition • Real World Measurement

13. Conceptualization – Practice • Anomie 失范 社会的反常状态 (尤其指社会的沉沦状态和个人精神上的颓废状态) ; 无目的性; 杂乱

14. Operationalization Choices Conceptualization is the refinement and specification of abstract concepts. Operationalization is the development of specific research procedures that will result in empirical observations representing those concepts in the real world.

15. Operationalization Choices • Range of Variation • To what extent is the research willing to combine attributes in fairly gross categories? • Variation between the Extremes • To what degree is the operationalization of variables precise? • Dimensions

16. Defining Variables and Attributes • An attribute is a characteristic or quality of something (ex: female, old, student). • A variable is a logical set of attributes (ex: gender, age). • Every variable must have two important qualities. • The attributes composing it should be exhaustive. • Attributes must be mutually exclusive. e.g. Gender

17. Levels of Measurement • Nominal （定性） • Ordinal （定序） • Interval （定距） • Ratio （定比）

18. Levels of Measurement – Nominal • Variables who attributes have only the characteristics of exhaustiveness and mutually exclusiveness. • Examples: gender, college major, hair color, birthplace, nationality

19. Levels of Measurement – Ordinal • Variables with attributes we can logically rank order. • Examples: socioeconomic status, level of conflict, prejudice, conservativeness, hardness • The distance between attributes has NOmeaning.

20. Levels of Measurement – Interval • Variables for which the actual distance between attributes has meaning. • Examples: temperature (Fahrenheit 华氏度, Celsius 摄氏度), IQ score

21. Levels of Measurement – Ratio • Variables whose attributes meet the requirements of a interval measure, and has a true zero point. • Examples: temperature (Kelvin 开氏度), age, length of time, number of groups, number of As received in college

23. Implications of Levels of Measurement • Analyses require minimum levels of measurement. • Some variables can be treated as multiple levels of measurement. • Single or Multiple Indicators

24. Criteria of Measurement Quality Precision （精确性）and Accuracy （准确性） Reliability（信度） Validity（效度）

25. Criteria of Measurement Quality • Precision and Accuracy • Precise measures are superior to imprecise ones. • Precision is not the same as accuracy.

26. Criteria of Measurement Quality Reliability (信度) – That quality of measurement method that suggests that the same data would have been collected each time in repeated observations of the same phenomenon. Reliability is not the same as accuracy.

27. Criteria of Measurement Quality • Test-Retest Method • To make the same measurement more than once. • Split-Half Method • Multiple sets of randomly assigned variables should produce the same classifications • Established Measures • Reliability of Research Workers

28. Criteria of Measurement Quality • Validity (效度) – a term describing a measure that accurately reflects the concept it is intended to measure. • Face Validity (表面效度) – That quality of an indicator that makes it seem a reasonable measure of some variable. • Criterion-Related Validity (标准关联效度) – The degree to which a measure related to some external criterion. • Construct Validity (建构效度) – The degree to which a measure relates to other variables as expected within a system of theoretical relationships. • Content Validity (內容效度) – The degree to which a measure coves the range of meanings included within a concept.

29. Criteria of Measurement Quality