This session of the
Things-You-Should-Have-Learned-in-School methods workshop
will discuss how to operationalize concepts, i.e.,
how to bridge the world between abstract theory and
empirical research by creating real-world indicators of
theoretical concepts.
It will cover these topics: the difference between a
scale and an index; types of scales (Thurstone, Guttman,
Likert, etc.); the difference between reliability and
validity in measurement; and how to assess the
reliability of a composite scale (one built from multiple
items), with particular emphasis on computing Cronbach's
alpha coefficient of reliability.