The Vocabulary of Science

1. Concepts2. Hypotheses3. Direction of the relationship4. Operationalization

Concepts

Concept is an abstraction/representation of an object or a behavioral phenomenon

Each discipline develops its unique set of concepts

Political science: “power”, “social status”, “relative deprivation”

Psychology: “depression”, “perception”, “learning”

Sociology: “social status”, “role”, “Anomie”

Why do we need concepts?

Concepts provide a common language, which enables scientists to communicate with one another within an area

“Power” can mean different thing to different people

Science cannot progress with ambiguous and imprecise language

Vocabulary of science

Vocabulary of science

Conceptual Definitions (definitions that describe concepts by using other concepts)

Power has been conceptually defined as the ability of an actor (group/the state) to get another actor to do something that the latter would not otherwise do

Concepts ability, actor, group, state can be defined by other concepts, and so on.

Vocabulary of science

At a certain point in this process, scientists encounter concepts that cannot be defined by other concepts

These are called primitive terms For example, a group is two or more individuals Use of primitive terms is less efficient than use of

more complex concepts; it is easier to say the word “group” than constantly repeat the primitive terms that compose the definition of “group”.

Concepts – Variables

A variable is any entity that can take on different values.

Anything that can vary can be considered a variable

For instance, age can be considered a variable because age can take different values for different people or for the same person at different times

Age

What is your age? <10 11-15 16-25 26-46 >47

Variable (example)

Similarly, country can be considered a variable because a person's country can be assigned a value

What country are you from? ___________________

Variables or not?

Male GPA Blue Marital Status Hair Length of hair

Variables

Variables aren't always 'quantitative' or numerical

The variable 'gender' consists of two text values: 'male' and 'female'.

We can, if it is useful, assign quantitative values instead of (or in place of) the text values, but we don't have to assign numbers in order for something to be a variable

Attribute

An attribute is a specific value on a variable The variable sex or gender has two

attributes: 1 = male 2 = female

Ethnicity

What is your ethnicity (Please select one) Asian African American/Black Caucasian/White Hispanic/Latino Native American Pacific Islander Other (Please Specify) ___________

Attribute

The variable agreement might be defined as having five attributes:

1 = strongly disagree 2 = disagree 3 = neutral 4 = agree 5 = strongly agree

Variable should be exhaustive

Each variable should be exhaustive, it should include all possible answerable responses/attributes

Variable “Religion" 1. "Protestant", 2. "Jewish“ 3. "Muslim"

The list does not exhaust all possibilities. The way to deal with this is to explicitly list the most

common attributes and then use a general category like "Other" to account for all remaining ones.

Exhaustive or not?

Where do you live during the current school yeas while you are at college? (Choose one answer)

Residence Hall Apartment House

Exhaustive or not?

Where do you live during the current school yeas while you are at college? (Choose one answer)

Residence Hall Apartment on campus Apartment off campus House on campus House off campus Fraternity/Sorority Housing Other (Specify)___________

Attributes should be mutually exclusive

No respondent should be able to have two attributes simultaneously

With whom do you currently live? Alone Roommate(s) Housemate(s Spouse Partner Parent(s) Other relative(s) Other________________

Mutually Exclusive Attributes

With whom do you currently live? (Choose all that apply)

Alone Roommate(s) Housemate(s Spouse Partner Parent(s) Other relative(s) Other________________

Mutually Exclusive

What is your age? <10 10-15 15-25 25-46 >46

Hypotheses

Ultimately we are interested in relationships between different variables

A hypothesis states the expected relationship between two variables

H1: Age effects income H1: People in different age groups tend to

earn different amounts of money

Hypotheses

H2: Social class affects attitude toward abortion

H3:Children are more likely than adults to take naps

H4: Older people tend to be less fearful of dying than younger people

Types of Variables

Independent Variable (Causal variable, variable you change

Dependent variable (Effect, variables you are trying to predict)

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Types of variables

Gender Occupation

MaleFemale

Attributes

Independent Variable

Gender Income

Male < $5,000

Attributes

Dependent Variable

> $ 5,000

Attributes

Relationship between Variables

Positive An increase/decrease in the independent

variable yields an increase/decrease in the dependent variable

Independent variable/ dependent variable

Independent variable/ dependent variable

Example of positive relationship

H1: People with higher education are more likely to earn more money

Dependent variable: Independent variable:

Negative An increase/decrease in the independent

variable yields a decrease/increase in the dependent variable

Independent variable/ dependent variable

Independent variable/ dependent variable

Relationship between Variables

Example of negative relationship

H1: Increased exercise causes decreased weight

H2: The higher your social class the less likely you are arrested for committing a crime

Dependent variable: Independent variable:

Relationship between Variables

Undetermined H1: Males are more likely to earn more money

than females are

Practice

Let say you want to test the relationship between exercise and weight

Formulate the hypothesis which posits a positive relationship between these two variables

Operational Definition

After we select variables and formulate the hypothesis, we must create operational definition for each of our variables

Operational definition – transforming a variable into something we can observe

Listing attributes

Operationalizing

Gender Female Male

Operationalizing

Occupation Professional Manager or owner of business Skilled laborer Unskilled laborer Not employed Other

Operationalizing

Income $5,000 or less $5, 001-15,000 $15,001-25,000 $25,001-35,000 $35,001-50,000 $50,001 or more

Practice in Operationalizing

Marital status Never married Married Divorced Separated Widowed Other

Operationalization

“Love”

Sternberg (1988) The Psychology of Love

Emotional Intimacy dimension focuses on friendship, trust and feelings of emotional closeness that result from being able to share one's innermost thoughts and feelings with a partner

The passion dimension focuses on those intense feelings of arousal that arise from physical attraction and sexual attraction

The commitment dimension of love is often viewed as the decision to stay with one's partner for life. Commitments may range from simple verbal agreements (agreements not to become emotionally and/or sexually involved with other people) to publically formalized legal contracts (marriage)

Example (Strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, strongly disagree)

I experience happiness with my partner I have high regard for my partner I am able to count on my partner in times of need I have mutual understanding with my partner I receive emotional support from my partner I have intimate communication with my partner I can name my partner’s best friends I can tell you what stresses my partner is currently facing I can tell you some of my partner’s life dreams I am very familiar with my partner’s religious beliefs and ideas I can tell you about my partner’s basic philosophy of life I can list the relatives my partner likes the least I know my partner’s favorite music I feel that my partner knows me pretty well