work operationally is a reflex action base on work
Chat with our AI personalities
Operationalization was an extremely important term in my first year university sociology class. In my own words, operationalization is determining how a concept; a word with an idea, will be measured. It is crucial to the research process. Researchers need to know what makes something what it is and how they would recognize something if they saw it.
Operationalization is easiest to understand in an example. The following is an example of a research question: Are children happy in kindergarten?
In order to collect data a researcher would need to operationalize the term "happy". They need to know what to look for and what qualifies as happy. For example, a child smiling can be a sign of happiness, while a child crying, screaming or isolating his/herself could be a sign of unhappiness. A researcher would have to establish this criteria before gathering their data.
operationalization
Conceptualization, Operationalization, and MeasurementCharles W. MuellerResearch begins with a "problem" or topic. Thinking about the problem results in identifying concepts that capture the phenomenon being studied. Concepts, or CONSTRUCTS , are ideas that represent the phenomenon. Conceptualization is the process whereby these concepts are given theoretical meaning. The process typically involves defining the concepts abstractly in theoretical terms. Describing social phenomena and testing hypotheses require that concept(s) be operationalized. Operationalization moves the researcher from the abstract level to the empirical level, where variables rather than concepts are the focus. It refers to the operations or procedures needed to measure the concept(s). Measurement is the process by which numerals (or some other labels) are attached to levels or characteristics of the variables. The actual research then involves empirically studying the variables to make statements (descriptive, relational, or causal) about the concepts