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3 views

lecture 3.1

Uploaded by

jfd9vn2x4j
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Measurement

Learning Outcomes
After this class, you will be able to:
1. Explain what measurement means
2. Identify various measuring tools used in disciplines other than
natural sciences, e.g. interview, tests, …etc.
3. Tell whether a variable is categorical ( nominal, ordinal) or
numeric (discrete, continuous).
4. Explain what is meant by operationalizing a variable and give
examples of operationalization.
5. Differentiate between a variable and its indicator in the
measuring process.
6. State what is the meaning of accuracy, precision, validity ,
reliability and replicability in measurements.
Learning Outcomes
After this class, you will be able to:
7. Given a measurement scenario, identify whether the
measurement is accurate/ precise.
8. Given a measurement scenario, state whether it satisfies the
criteria of validity, reliability and replicability or not.
9.Know that any measurement is accompanied by a measurement
error.
10. Define, differentiate and identify random and systematic errors
in measurements.
11. Know that ( and how) the number of digits in a number
reporting a measurement is meaningful and reflects the precision
of measuring tool.
Worksheet: Fill in the table (not the last column)
Measure what? Using what What is the What are the possible What is the Does the tool If not, what does it What is the
tool? variable values the variable unit of the measure the variable measures? category of the
measured? can take? quantity directly? variable?
you
measure?
Your mass (weight) balance mass 30-120 kg yes
intelligence IQ test intelligence Genius, very No units no IQ score
intelligent, intelligent,
average, not
intelligent

The transportation means


used by TEDU students to
come to school

Your height
The temperature in TEDU
over a month
The social desirability level of
the population sample in the
Batman study

The achievement of learning


objectives in the LIBE 120
course
The average number of
people living in a house in
the Cebeci area
Whether TEDU’s students are
happy with the new food
company
Measurement: Definition
• Measurement is the assignment of values to quantities so that the
values represent some characteristic of these quantities.

• We use tools to make measurements.


- Examples from the worksheet: Balance, meter scale, IQ test,
interview.
Measurement: variables
• A variable is a characteristic that can be measured and that can
assume different values.

• Examples from the worksheet:


- length, mass
- Average number of people in a house in Cebeci
- The transportation means used by TEDU students
- Social desirability level
Measurement: Categories of variables
• Variables can be classified into two main categories, with sub-
categories for each:
• Categorical Variables: variables that do not assume numerical values
- Sub-categories:
- Nominal: A nominal variable is one that describes a name, label or
category without natural order
- Ordinal: An ordinal variable is a categorical variable whose values are
defined by an order relation between the different categories, e.g.
High, Low, or Excellent, Good, Fair.
Measurement: Categories of variables
• Numeric Variables: A numeric variable (also called quantitative
variable) is a quantifiable characteristic whose values are numbers
(except numbers which are codes standing up for categories).

• Sub-categories:
- Continuous : A variable that can assume an infinite number of real
values within a given interval, e.g. the height of a student.
- Discrete : A variable that can assume only a finite number of real
values within a given interval, e.g. the average number of students in
a course at TEDU.
Measurement: Units
• When numerical variables are measured, we usually assign units to
the measured variable.
• Examples from the worksheet:
- length, mass
- Average number of people in a house in Cebeci.

• The following variables do NOT have units:


-The transportation means used by TEDU students
- The color preferred by persons living in various geographic areas.
Worksheet: Fill in the last column
Measure what? Using what What is the What are the possible What is the Does the tool If not, what does it What is the
tool? variable values the variable unit of the measure the variable measures? category of the
measured? can take? quantity directly? variable?
you
measure?
Your mass (weight) balance mass 30-120 kg yes
intelligence IQ test intelligence Genius, very No units no IQ score
intelligent, intelligent,
average, not
intelligent

The transportation means


used by TEDU students to
come to school

Your height
The temperature in TEDU
over a month
The social desirability level of
the population sample in the
Batman study

The achievement of learning


objectives in the LIBE 120
course
The average number of
people living in a house in
the Cebeci area
Whether TEDU’s students are
happy with the new food
company
Measurement: Operationalization; indicators
• Do the “ Measuring the capacity of the working memory test”
worksheet.
• If you want to rate the capacity of the working memory variable for
some one you will probably use words as high, medium ,low, very
low.
• In the test, however, you get scores representing number of digits
recalled.
• You are operationalizing your variable here: Defining it in terms of the
measuring process. The scores are indicators of the variable.
Measurement: Operationalization; indicators
• Operationalization is very common in measurements made in social and
behavioral sciences, Psychology in particular.
• Other examples:
1. Definition of physical aggression by researcher Albert Bandura and his
colleagues (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1961):
- They let each of several children play for 20 minutes in a room that
contained a clown-shaped punching bag called a Bobo doll. They filmed
each child and counted the number of acts of physical aggression he or she
committed. These included hitting the doll with a mallet, punching it, and
kicking it. Their operational definition, then, was the number of these
specifically defined acts that the child committed during the 20-minute
period
Measurement: Operationalization; indicators

2. Researchers operationally measuring stress in terms of several


physiological indicators including blood pressure and levels of the
stress hormone cortisol.
3. Measuring Social Desirability using “The Two-Dimension Social
Desirability Scale” developed by Akin, used in the study of social
desirability in Batman.
4. Measuring whether some one has an MI (Myocardial Infarction or a
heart attack) by measuring the levels of the cardiac hormone Troponin

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