Conceptualization and Operationalization...Conceptualization and Operationalization ESP 178 - Applied Research Methods Calvin Thigpen 1/12/17 Research gives us knowledge of how the

Conceptualizationand

Operationalization

ESP 178 - Applied Research MethodsCalvin Thigpen

1/12/17

Research gives us

knowledge of how the world works

Knowledge of how the world works

gives us the power to fix things

Evidence-based policy

Policy draws on research

Research supports policy

Research Policy

Research PolicyExample: Street connectivity

and cul-de-sacs

https://chrisnorstrom.com

/2011/10/the-great-cul-de-sac-problem-and-how

-to-fix-alleviate-it/

Source: Handy, Paterson, and Butler 2003

Street Connectivity Ordinances

City of HerculesMaximum Block Size“The maximum perimeter of any block shall be no more than 1,600 ft. The minimum dimension of each block face shall be no more than 500 ft. Pedestrian passages leading from the street to the middle of the block shall be provided at intervals no greater than 250ft.”

City of EugeneMaximum Block Size

“The End of the Road for Cul-de-Sacs?”dc.streetsblog.org

http://dc.streetsblog.org/2010/02/08/the-end-of-the-road-for-cul-de-sacs/

http://dc.streetsblog.org/2010/02/08/the-end-of-the-road-for-cul-de-sacs/

Village Homes, Davis

Davis Greenbelt System

http://www.citylab.com/housing/2013/10/sociologists-defense-cul-de-sac/7262/

2004

Do cul-de-sacs promote children’s outdoor play?

Factor Outcome

Examples Examples

Pollution

Driving

Sprawl

Health

Pollution

Driving

Factor Outcome

Living on a cul-de-sac

Independent variable

Outdoor play

Dependent variable

The Research Cycle

Inductive=

Theorybuilding

Empirical Generalizations

Deductive=

Theory testing

Observation

Theory

Hypothesis

What is a theory?

Types of Explanation

Idiographic Nomethetic

The Research Cycle

Inductive=

Theorybuilding

Empirical Generalizations

Deductive=

Theory testing

Observation

Theory

Hypothesis

ExplanatoryExploratory(Usually) Qualitative (Usually) Quantitative

Descriptive(Usually) Quantitative

At the most basic level…Quantitative Qualitative

Type of Question

Explanatory Exploratory Descriptive

Type of Research

Deductive Inductive Observational

Type of Data Quantitative Qualitative Quantitative

How things (usually) go together…

Explanatory Exploratory

Descriptive

Type of Question


Type of Research


Type of Data Quantitative Qualitative QuantitativeSampling Probabilistic

RandomRepresentativeLarger

Non-probabilisticConvenient, purposefulIllustrativeSmaller

ProbabilisticRandomRepresentativeLarger


Type of Question


Type of Research




Non-probabilisticConvenient,purposefulIllustrativeSmaller


Data Collection SurveysAvailable data Observation

In-depth interviewsFocus groupsObservation

SurveysAvailable dataObservation


Type of Question


Type of Research









Data Analysis Statistical analysis Content analysis Descriptive statistics


Type of Question


Type of Research









Data Analysis Statistical analysis Content analysis Descriptive statisticsOther Qualities…

Nomothetic explanationFocus on provingDissective

Idiographic explanationFocus on understandingHolistic

Not an explanationFocus on characterizing


Factor Outcome

Quantitative…

What is the distribution of the factor?

Is there a relationship?How big is it?

What is the distribution of the outcome?

What share of streets are cul-de-sacs?What share of households live on cul-de-sacs?

How much more timedo children spend playing outdoors if they live on a cul-de-sac?

How much time do kids play outdoors on average?What share of kids play outdoors at least once per week?

EXPLANATORYDESCRIPTIVE DESCRIPTIVE

Factor Outcome

Qualitative…

What is the nature of the factor?Are there others?

What is the nature of the relationship? How does it work?

What Is the nature of the outcome?Are there others?

Are there different kinds of cul-de-sacs?What are key characteristics of cul-de-sacs?

What is it about cul-de-sacs that influences children’s outdoor play?

What kinds of things do children do when playing outside?How do they use the street versus sidewalks?

EXPLORATORYDESCRIPTIVE DESCRIPTIVE

Thinking like a researcher

Unit of Analysis

Unit of Analysis

INDIVIDUALChildren

GROUPHouseholds

GEOGRAPHIC UNITNeighborhoods

vs. Unit of Observation

INDIVIDUALChildren

INDIVIDUALChildren

INDIVIDUALChildren

From Conceptual to Operational


Cul-de-sacs outdoor play for children

Concept ConceptProposition

leads to more


number of days children play outside

Variable VariableHypothesis

is positively associated with

Note: Concept versus Construct“Explanations require development of concepts or generalizable properties or characteristics associated with objects, events, or people. While objects such as a person, a firm, or a car are not concepts, their specific characteristics or behavior such as a person’s attitude toward immigrants, a firm’s capacity for innovation, and a car’s weight can be viewed as concepts.”

“A construct is an abstract concept that is specifically chosen (or “created”) to explain a given phenomenon. A construct may be a simple concept, such as a person’s weight, or a combination of a set of related concepts such as a person’s communication skill, which may consist of several underlying concepts such as the person’s vocabulary, syntax, and spelling. The former instance (weight) is a unidimensional construct, while the latter (communication skill) is a multi-dimensional construct (i.e., it consists of multiple underlying concepts).”

Parent’s attitude re. outdoor play

Safety concernsHealth benefits

Neighbors’ views

Unit of Analysis

Note: Variables by Unit of Analysis

INDIVIDUALChildren

GROUPHouseholds

GEOGRAPHIC UNITNeighborhoods

Variable

Number of days child played outside per week

Share of children in household who played outside at least once per week

Share of households in neighborhood who had children who played outside at least once per week

Conceptual Model = Nomological Network

Field of StudyControl variable

It’s all relative…

healthpollutiondrivingsprawl

drivingsprawl

pollutiondriving

healthpollution

pollutiondrivingsprawl

It’s all relative…

drivingsprawl

pricing

drivingpricing

sprawl

Outdoor play

Theory versus Conceptual Model

Theory of Planned Behavior Conceptual Model

Intention to have kid play

Attitude about

outdoor play

Is outdoor play is

normal?

Can my kid do it?

Note: could do kid’s perspective or parent’s perspective or both


Indicator/measure

Indicator/measure


Cul-de-sacs outdoor play for children

Concept ConceptProposition

lead to more


number of days children play outside

Variable VariableHypothesis

is positively associated with

“What type of street do you live on?”

“How many days last week did your oldest child play outside?”

Indicator/Measure

Indicator/Measure

Levels of measurementLevel Definition ExampleNominal Categorical, no order Outdoor play or not: yes, no

Type of outdoor play: active, passive

Location of outdoor play: sidewalk, street, park




Ordinal Categorical, with order Frequency of play: low, medium, high





Interval Continuous, with no fixed 0 point

Rare in social sciences… e.g. IQ





Interval Continuous, with no fixed 0 point

Rare in social sciences… e.g. IQ

Ratio Continuous variable Frequency of play: # times children played outside

Amount of play: # minutes children played outside

Deriving one kind of variable from another…

Number of days in last 7 days that child played outside

Child played: infrequently, moderately frequently, frequently

Child played: yes, no

What kind of variable is it?How could you convert the variable?

Why might you want to do this?Why might you not want to do this?

How do we know our measures are good?

Reliable = Precise/ConsistentValid = Accurate

Reliability testing…

Test Re-test

Do you get the same answer the second time?

What’s close enough?

Why might you get different answers?

Validity testing…

Translational – How well is theoretical concept translated into measure?

Face Validitymakes sense “on its face”

Content Validityfully covers the concept within the domain you are considering

Validity testing…

Criterion: Does measure behave the way it should?

“Does your child play outside frequently or infrequently?”

Convergent Validity: Compare measure to a different measure of the same concept

vs. 24-7 observations of outdoor play ORGPS + accelerometer

vs. “How many times did your child play outside last week?”

Second question in the survey

Term Definition Criteria/Tests ExampleReliability Repeated

measures of a variable yield consistent results

Test-Retest Ask children how often they play in the street in a typical week, then ask them again two weeks later; compare responses for each individual

Measurement Validity

The measure of a variable is accurate (passes at least one test)

Translational How well is theoretical construct translated into measure? Face Validity –makes sense “on its face”

The number of times a child played in the street in the last week is clearly related to the concept of street play

Content validity –fully covers the concept

Asking about playing basketball and playing hopscotch doesn’t add up to total street play

Criterion Does measure behave the way it should? Convergent validity -compare measure to a different measure of the same concept

Compare the reported frequency of street play in the last week to a question on whether they play in the street frequently or infrequently

“Gold standard” – compare to the most accurate possible measure

Do a test that compares reported street play to observed street play for a small sample of children

Recap

For the class exercises:Bicycling!

54http://www.diseaseproof.com/bicycle-benefits-image.jpg

https://www.itdp.org/the-benefits-of-shifting-to-cycling/

http

s://

ww

w.it

dp.o

rg/t

he-b

enef

its-o

f-shi

ftin

g-to

-cyc

ling/

1% 1% 1% 2% 2% 3% 3% 4% 5% 6%8%

10% 10% 11%

18%

27%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Percent of Trips by Bicycle

Source: Pucher and Buehler 2008

0.30.6

0.3

0.9 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.8

1.6 1.5

1.0 1.0

1.7

1.10.9

1.11.5

1.8

2.4 2.42.6

3.33.6 3.7 3.7

4.14.4

6.8

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Bike

Sha

re o

f Reg

ular

Com

mut

es

1990 (USA) / 1996 (Canada)

2011 (USA and Canada)

* 2011 figures for Canadian cities are preliminary estimates

Source: Pucher, J. and Buehler, R. City Cycling, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2012.

Boom in Cycling to Work

Percent Biking to Work in Smaller Cities

Source: Handy, Heinen, and Krizek, 2012

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

* has major university

Bicycling in Davis

60

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Davis workersbicycle

commuting

UCD staff in Davisbicycle

commuting

UCD faculty inDavis bicyclecommuting

UCD students inDavis bicyclecommuting

Davis residentsbicycling >=1 per

week

Source: Handy, Access, 2012

Not Bicycling in Davis

61

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Davis workersbicycle

commuting

UCD staff inDavis bicyclecommuting

UCD faculty inDavis bicyclecommuting

UCD students inDavis bicyclecommuting

Davis residentsbicycling >=1 per

week

Source: Handy, Access, 2012

Not bicycling!

Policy question: How do we get more people bicycling?

Research question:Why do or don’t people bicycle?

To do

• Read proposal assignment – overall and stage 1• Think about possible topics for proposal

• Readings – catch up on assigned readings if you didn’t read them yet.

• Take the course overview and syllabus quiz on Canvas (by 8 pm tonight!)… 1% of your grade

• Attend section tomorrow!

Documents

Conceptualization and Operationalization...Conceptualization and Operationalization ESP 178 - Applied Research Methods Calvin Thigpen 1/12/17 Research gives us knowledge of how the