Operationalisation
Definition
The process of turning an abstract concept, such as fear of crime or recidivism, into a measurable variable with a stated procedure for recording it.
Related terms
- Dissemination
- The stage at which findings are written up, peer reviewed, published and communicated to academic, policy and practitioner audiences so the study...
- Hypothesis
- A proposed explanation for observed evidence. In reconstruction, competing hypotheses are evaluated against the physical facts and background knowledge. A good hypothesis...
- Interpretivism
- The view that human action has to be understood through the meaning actors themselves attach to it, which requires closeness to lived...
- Pilot Study
- A small-scale trial run of the data collection instrument and procedure, carried out before the full study, to catch unclear questions, timing...
- Positivism
- The view that social phenomena, including crime, can be studied through observation, measurement and causal explanation in the manner of the natural...
- Reliability
- The extent to which a measurement procedure produces the same result when repeated under the same conditions or by a different researcher.
- Research Design
- The overall plan for answering the research question, such as a cross-sectional survey, a longitudinal cohort study, or a case study, chosen...
- Research Problem
- A specific, answerable question that narrows a broad area of interest into something a study can actually investigate with available data and...
- Thick Description
- A detailed account of behaviour that includes its social and cultural context, so a reader understands the meaning of an act and...
- Validity
- The degree to which evidence and theory support the interpretation of test scores for a specific purpose; modern standards treat it as...
- Data Analysis
- Cleaning, coding and interpreting collected data, quantitative or qualitative, in relation to the original hypothesis or research question.
- Ethnography
- A qualitative method that places the researcher inside a setting for an extended period, using participant observation.
Explained in these topics
- Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods in Criminology
- Quantitative vs Qualitative Research (UGC-NET Unit VI)The step of turning an abstract concept into a measurable definition before data collection, such as deciding how gang membership will be counted.
- Main Steps in the Criminological Research ProcessThe process of converting an abstract concept into a measurable variable, such as turning "fear of crime" into scores on a fixed survey scale.
- Main Steps in Criminological Research (UGC-NET Unit VI)Turning an abstract concept, such as reoffending or fear of crime, into something measurable, such as a conviction count or a survey scale.