Term
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Definition
a type of composite measure that summarizes and rank-orders several
specific observations; it represents
general dimensions. |
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Term
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Definition
| a type of composite measure composed of several items that have a logical or empirical structure among them. |
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Term
Both scales and indexes are WHAT
measures of variables. |
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Definition
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Term
| composite measures of variables |
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Definition
| measurements based on more than one data item. |
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Term
The benefit to using indexes and scales
rests on that fact that they are WHAT? |
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Definition
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Single indicators are problematic because
they… |
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Definition
1. Seldom capture all dimensions of a concept.
2. Seldom have sufficiently clear validity to
warrant their use.
3. Seldom permit the desired range of variation to allow ordinal rankings. |
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Term
| Scales are generally superior to indexes, because scales take into consideration the WHAT with which different items reflect the variable being measured. |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| the simple cumulation of indicators of a variable. |
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Term
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Definition
logical or empirical intensity structures that exist among a
variable’s indicators. |
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Term
There are four main steps in the
construction of an index: |
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Definition
1. Item selection
2. Examination of empirical relationships
3. Index scoring
4. Index validation |
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Term
| Item selection (Index Construction) |
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Definition
The first step in creating an index is to select items for a composite index. This is created to measure some variable.
a. Face validity
b. Unidimensionality
c. Generality vs. specificity
d. Variance |
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Term
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Definition
E.g. if one was to create an index of morality, items such as compassion, justice, honesty,
and caring would be logical representations of
“morality.”
These items have face validity: it makes sense
that they represent the meanings of morality. |
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Term
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Definition
A composite measure should only represent one dimension of a concept.
E.g. items representing religious fundamentalism should not be included in a measure of political conservatism. |
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Term
| Generality vs. specificity |
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Definition
E.g. an index measuring general aspects of religiosity might include ritual participation, belief, etc.
An index measuring specific aspects of religiosity (such as ritual participation) might select attendance at church, confessions, bar mitzvah's etc. |
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Term
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Definition
These two procedures can guarantee
variance within an item:
1. Select several items will divide people into equal groups concerning the variable.
2. Select items differing in variance. |
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Term
| Examination of empirical relationships (Index Construction) |
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Definition
s established when
respondents’ answers to one question help one
predict how they will answer other questions.
Two types of relationships exist:
Bivariate relationships
Multivariate relationships |
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Term
| Index Scoring (Index Construction) |
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Definition
After choosing the best items for an index, one assigns scores for particular responses, following this two step process:
1. Determination of the desirable range of the index scores.
2. Determination of whether to give each item in the index equal or different weights. |
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Term
| There is a conflicting desire for a range of measurement in the index and a WHAT of cases at each point in the index, so one must determine the desirable range. |
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Definition
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Term
| WHAT should be weighted equally unless there are compelling reasons for differential weighting. |
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Definition
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Term
| Index validation (Index Construction) |
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Definition
1. Item analysis
2. External validation |
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Term
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Definition
An item analysis is an assessment of
whether each of the items included in a
composite measure makes an
independent contribution or merely
duplicates the contribution of other
items in the measure. |
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Term
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Definition
External validation is the process of
testing the validity of a measure, such
as an index or score, by examining its
relationship to other presumed
indicators of the same variable. |
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Term
Missing data can be problematic. One
may do the following five things
regarding missing data: |
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Definition
1. If there are few cases with missing data, one may decide to exclude them from the construction of the index and analyses.
2. Treat missing data as one of the available responses.
3. Analyze the missing data to interpret their meaning.
4. Assign missing data the middle value, or the mean value.
5. Assign values to the proportion of
variables scored. |
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Term
WHAT may fail to take into account
that not all indicators of a variable are equally important. |
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Definition
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Term
Scales offer more assurance of
ordinality by tapping the WHAT among indicators. |
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Definition
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Term
| The following are common examples of scales used in social research: |
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Definition
1. Bogardus social distance scales
2. Thurstone scales
3. Likert scales
4. Semantic differential scales
5. Guttman scales |
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Term
| Bogardus social distance scale (BSDS) |
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Definition
Is a measurement technique for determining the willingness of people to participate in social relations – of varying degrees of closeness – with other kinds of people.
Differences in intensity suggest a structure among items. |
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Term
| example of a Bogardus social distance scale |
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Definition
1. Are you willing to permit sex offenders to live in your own country?
2. Are you willing to permit sex offenders to live in your community?
3. Are you willing to permit sex offenders to live in your neighborhood?
4. Are you willing to let a sex offender live next door to you?
5. Would you let your child marry a sex offender? |
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Term
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Definition
| a type of composite measure constructed in accord with the weights assigned by “judges” to various indicators of some variables |
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Term
| Are Thurstone scale's common or rare |
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Definition
| rare; their creation is labor intensive. |
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Term
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Definition
| one could determine the strength of 5 indicators of “aggression” by having many people rank the indicators from 1 to 5 in terms of which indicator they feel are the best and worst indicators of aggression. |
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Term
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Definition
is a type of composite measure, designed to improve the levels of measurement in social research through the use of standardized response categories to determine the relative intensity of
different items. |
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Term
| WHAT are ordinal; they often measure something in terms of whether one “strongly disagrees…disagrees…agrees…strongly agrees.” |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| Rosenburg Self-Esteem Scale |
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Term
| semantic differential scale |
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Definition
| is a questionnaire format in which the respondent is asked to rate something in terms of two, opposite adjectives. |
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Term
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Definition
| type of composite measure used to summarize several discrete observations and to represent more general variables. |
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Term
| Guttman scaling is based on |
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Definition
| idea that anyone who is defined by a strong indicator of some variable will also be defined by the weaker indicators. |
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Term
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Definition
attitudes toward women’s right to have an
abortion. |
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Term
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Definition
| classification of observations in terms of their attributes on two or more variables. |
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Term
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Definition
E.g. one could create a typology to
classify people in terms of their opinions about capital punishment (CP) and abortion (A).
People fit into one of four categories: +CP/+A, +CP/−A, −CP/+A, −CP/−A |
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