Conceptions, Construct, Attribute, Variables, 

Hypotheses

Conception

The first step in the measurement process is to define the concepts we are studying.
Researchers generate concepts by generalizing from particular facts. Concepts are based
on our experiences. Concepts can be based on real phenomena and are a generalized idea
of something of meaning. Examples of concepts include common demographic measures:
Income, Age, Eduction Level, Number of SIblings.

We can measure concepts through direct and indirect observations:

 Direct Observation:We can measure someone’s weight or height. And, we can record the
color of their hair or eyes.
 Indirect Observation:We can use a questionnaire in which respondents provide answers
to our questions about gender, income, age, attitudes, and behaviors.

Constructs

Constructs are measured with multiple variables. Constructs exist at a higher level of

abstraction than concepts. Justice, Beauty, Happiness, and Health are all constructs.
Constructs are considered latent variable because they cannot be directly observable or
measured. Typical constructs in marketing research include Brand Loyalty, Purchase Intent,
and Customer Satisfaction. Constructs are the basis of working hypotheses.

Brand loyalty is a construct that marketing researchers study often. Brand loyalty can be
measured using a variety of measures:

 Number of items purchased in the past

 Monetary value of past purchases
 Frequency of past purchase occasions
 The likelihood of future purchases
 The likelihood of recommending the brand to a friend or family member
 The likelihood of switching to a competitive brand

An attribute is a single feature or dimension of a construct.

Measurement: Measurement is the assignment of numbers or symbols to phenomena.

Measurement requires a scale. A scale provides a range of values—a yardstick—that
corresponds to the presence of the properties of the concept under investigation. A scale
provides the rules that associate values on the scale to the concept we are studying.
Variables

Variables are measurements that are free to vary. Variable can be divided
into Independent Variables or Dependent Variables. A dependent variable changes in
response to changes in the independent variable or variables.

A variable can be transformed into a constant when the researcher decides to control the
variable by reducing its expression to a single value. Suppose a researcher is conducting a
test of consumers’ taste preference for three brands of frozen pizza. There are a number of
variables in this test:

(1) Respondents’ ratings of the taste of each brand of pizza,

(2) The manner in which is each pizza is presented, the type of the plates and table cloths
used, and

(3) The manner in which each brand is prepared. To get an accurate measure of the first
variable—respondents’ ratings of the taste of the three pizza brands—the researcher will
hold the second and third variables constant. By serving all three pizzas on the same kind
of plates with the table dressed in the same manner, preparing the pizzas in identical ways,
and serving them at identical temperatures, the research controls for these variables. In
doing so, the researcher has removed, or controlled for the affect of the second and third
variables on respondents’ taste preferences. 

Hypotheses

A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a

hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it.
Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous observations that cannot
satisfactorily be explained with the available scientific theories. Even though the words
“hypothesis” and “theory” are often used synonymously, a scientific hypothesis is not the
same as a scientific theory. A working hypothesis is a provisionally accepted hypothesis
proposed for further research, in a process beginning with an educated guess or thought.

A different meaning of the term hypothesis is used in formal logic, to denote the antecedent
of a proposition; thus in the proposition “If P, then Q”, P denotes the hypothesis (or
antecedent); Q can be called a consequent. P is the assumption in a (possibly
counterfactual) What If question.

The adjective hypothetical, meaning “having the nature of a hypothesis”, or “being assumed
to exist as an immediate consequence of a hypothesis”, can refer to any of these
meanings of the term “hypothesis”.