MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES: OPERATIONAL

DEFINITION AND SCALES

By Prof. Dr. Farooq Anwar

Connect @: Farooq.anwar1@lbs.uol.edu.pk
 QUIZ 4
START TIME: 2:15 PM
END TIME: 2:55 PM
DURATION 40 MINUTES (INCLUDING UPLOAD TIME)
BEST OF LUCK
MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES: OPERATIONAL
DEFINITION AND SCALES
HOW VARIABLES ARE MEASURED

Objects that can be physically measured by some calibrated instruments pose no

measurement problems. For example, the length and width of a rectangular office
table can be easily measured with a measuring tape or a ruler. The same is true for
measuring the office floor area. Data representing several demographic characteristics
of the office personnel are also easily obtained by asking employees simple,
straightforward questions.

But when we get into the realm of people‘s subjective feelings, attitudes, and
perceptions, the measurement of these factors or variables becomes difficult. This is one
of the aspects of organizational behavior and management research that adds to the
complexity of research studies.
OPERATIONAL DEFINITION: DIMENSIONS AND
ELEMENTS
Operationalizing, or operationally defining a concept to render it measurable,
is done by looking at the behavioral dimensions, facets, or properties denoted
by the concept. These are then translated into observable and measurable
elements so as to develop an index of measurement of the concept.
Operationally defining a concept involves a series of steps. An example will
help to illustrate how this is done.
EXAMPLE
Let us try to operationally define achievement motivation, a concept of interest to educators,
managers, and students alike. What behavioral dimensions or facets or characteristics would we
expect to find in people with high achievement motivation? They would probably have the
following five typical broad characteristics, which we will call dimensions.

Dimensions Elements (Dimension 1)

1) Driven by work, sense of ‘achievement and
(1) how often do you think about work
accomplishment’
while you are away from the
2) No mood to relax and directing attention to
workplace?
other than work related activity.
3) Prefer to work on their own (2) what are your hobbies? and
4) Engage in challenging jobs (not excessively (3) how do you spend your time when
challenging) you are away from the workplace?
5) Required instant, direct feedback (360 feedback)

You should refer page 178-180 after the class to get an idea of elements of other dimensions
WHAT AN OPERATIONAL DEFINITION IS NOT?

Just as important as it is to understand what an operational definition is, equally

important is it to remember what it is not. An operational definition does not
describe the correlates of the concept. For example:
Success in performance cannot be a dimension of achievement motivation, even
though a motivated person is likely to meet with it in large measure. Thus,
achievement motivation and performance and/or success may be highly
correlated, but we cannot measure an individual‘s level of motivation through
success and performance.
THUS,

Thus, it is clear that operationally defining a concept does not consist of

delineating the reasons, antecedents, consequences, or correlates of the concept.
Rather, it describes its observable characteristics in order to be able to measure
the concept. It is important to remember this because if we either operationalize
the concepts incorrectly or confuse them with other concepts, then we will not
have valid measures. This means that we will not have good data, and our
research will not be scientific.
THE FOUR TYPES OF SCALES
Now that we have learned how to operationalize concepts, we need to measure
them in some manner.
A scale is a tool or mechanism by which individuals are distinguished as to how
they differ from one another on the variables of interest to our study. The scale
or tool could be a gross one in the sense that it would only broadly categorize
individuals on certain variables, or it could be a fine-tuned tool that would
differentiate individuals on the variables with varying degrees of sophistication.

Types of scales:
1) Nominal 2) Ordinal 3) Interval 4) Ratio
1) Nominal Scales
A nominal scale is one that allows the researcher to assign subjects to certain
categories or groups. For example, with respect to the variable of gender, respondents
can be grouped into two categories—male and female. These two groups can be
assigned code numbers 1 and 2.
(nominal scaling is to calculate the percentage (or frequency) of males and females in our sample of respondents)

2) Ordinal Scale
An ordinal scale not only categorizes the variables in such a way as to denote
differences among the various categories, it also rank-orders the categories in some
meaningful way. With any variable for which the categories are to be ordered
according to some preference, the ordinal scale would be used. The preference would
be ranked (e.g., from best to worst; first to last) and numbered 1, 2, and so on. For
example, respondents might be asked to indicate their preferences by ranking the
importance they attach to five distinct characteristics in a job that the researcher might
be interested in studying. Such a question might take the following form:
ORDINAL SCALE LOOKS LIKE
3) Interval Scale
An interval scale allows us to perform certain arithmetical operations on the data
collected from the respondents.
This helps us to compute the means and the standard deviations of the responses on the
variables. In other words, the interval scale not only groups individuals according to
certain categories and taps the order of these groups, it also measures the magnitude
of the differences in the preferences among the individuals.
4) Ratio Scale
The ratio scale overcomes the disadvantage of the arbitrary origin point of the interval
scale, in that it has an absolute (in contrast to an arbitrary) zero point, which is a
meaningful measurement point. Thus the ratio scale not only measures the magnitude of
the differences between points on the scale but also taps the proportions in the
differences. It is the most powerful of the four scales because it has a unique zero
origin (not an arbitrary origin) and subsumes all the proper- ties of the other three
scales. The weighing balance is a good example of a ratio scale.

For Instance:
For instance, a person weighing 250 pounds is twice as heavy as one who weighs 125 pounds. Note that
multiplying or dividing both of these numbers (250 and 125) by any given number will preserve the ratio of 2:1.
The measure of central tendency of the ratio scale could be either the arithmetic or the geometric mean and the
mea- sure of dispersion could be either the standard deviation, or variance, or the coefficient of variation. Some
examples of ratio scales are those pertaining to actual age, income, and the number of organizations individuals
have worked for.
INTERNATIONAL DIMENSIONS OF OPERATIONAL
DEFINITION
In conducting transnational research, it is important to remember that certain variables
have different meanings and connotations in different cultures. For instance, the term
love is subject to several interpretations in different cultures and has at least 20
different interpretations in some countries. Likewise, the concept knowledge is equated
with ‘jnana’ in some Eastern cultures and construed as realization of the Almighty. Thus,
it is wise for researchers who hail from a country speaking a different language to
recruit the help of local scholars to operationally define certain concepts while
engaging in cross-cultural research.
SCALES READING ACTIVITY

Please read the page no 190 to 192 from example 8.7 to review of scales
(text book), and discuss specifically all four scales:
READING TIME 30 MINUTES
Followed Discussion (2-5 minutes each student)
DATA COLLECTION METHODS

Once you have understood the operation definition, dimensions and elements
and scaling for variables the next step is to decide on data collection methods.
SOURCES OF DATA

• Primary Data
Primary data refer to information obtained firsthand by the researcher on the
variables of interest for the specific purpose of the study.
• Secondary Data
Secondary data refer to information gathered from sources already existing
PRIMARY SOURCES OF DATA
• Focus Groups
Focus groups consist typically of 8 to 10 members with a moderator leading the discussions for
about 2 hours on a particular topic, concept, or product. Members are generally chosen on the
basis of their expertise in the topic on which information is sought.
Role of moderator:
The selection of and role played by the moderator are critical. The moderator introduces the
topic, observes, and takes notes and/or tapes the discussions. The moderator never becomes an
integral part of the discussions, but merely steers the group persuasively to obtain all the
relevant information, and helps the group members to get through any impasse that might occur.
Nature of Data Obtained:
Qualitative
• Video conferencing
Focus groups through video conferencing, use of technology (e.g.,
COVID)
• Panels
panels (of members) meet more than once. In cases where the effects of
certain interventions or changes are to be studied over a period of time,
panel studies are very useful. Individuals are randomly chosen to
serve as panel members for a research study.
• Static and dynamic panels
Panels can be either static (i.e., the same members serve on the panel
over extended periods of time) or dynamic (i.e., the panel members
change from time to time as various phases of the study are in progress).
SECONDARY SOURCES OF DATA

Secondary data refer to information gathered by someone other than the

researcher conducting the current study. Such data can be internal or external
to the organization and accessed through the Internet or perusal of recorded or
published information.

e.g., journals, periodicals, reports, financial reports, research papers, working

papers, patents, web sources etc.
DATA COLLECTION METHODS

• Interviews
• Questionnaires
• Observation
• Motivation Techniques
PART 1: INTERVIEWING

One method of collecting data is to interview respondents to obtain information

on the issues of interest. Interviews could be unstructured or structured, and con-
ducted either face to face or by telephone or online.
• Unstructured Interviews
Unstructured interviews are so labeled because the interviewer does not enter the
interview setting with a planned sequence of questions to be asked of the respondent.
The objective of the unstructured interview is to bring some preliminary issues to the
surface so that the researcher can determine what variables need further in-depth
investigation.
Example: ―Tell me something about your unit and department, and perhaps even the organization as a
whole, in terms of work, employees, and whatever else you think is important.‖

• Structured Interviews
Structured interviews are those conducted when it is known at the outset what
information is needed. The interviewer has a list of predetermined questions to be
asked of the respondents either personally, through the telephone, or through the
medium of a PC.
Visual aids such as pictures, line drawings, cards, and other materials are also sometimes used
in conducting interviews.
READ PLEASE

The main purpose of the unstructured interview is to explore and probe into the several
factors in the situation that might be central to the broad problem area. During this
process it might become evident that the problem, as identified by the client, is but a
symptom of a more serious and deep-rooted problem. Con- ducting unstructured
interviews with many people in the organization could result in the identification of
several critical factors in the situation. These would then be pursued further during the
structured interviews for eliciting more in- depth information on them. This will help
identify the critical problem as well as solve it. In applied research, a tentative theory
of the factors contributing to the problem is often conceptualized on the basis of the
information obtained from the unstructured and structured interviews.
GENERAL TIPS TO FOLLOW IN INTERVIEWING

• Interviewees’ Bias
Interviewees can bias the data when they do not come out with their true
opinions but provide information that they think is what the interviewer expects
of them or would like to hear.
• Situational Bias
• Trust level and rapport establish
• Physical setting of the interview