The Vocabulary of Science 1.Concepts 2.Hypotheses 3.Direction of the relationship 4. Operationalization

Concepts Concept is an abstraction/representation of an object or a behavioral phenomenon Each discipline develops its unique set of concepts Political science: “power”, “social status”, “relative deprivation” Psychology: “depression”, “perception”, “learning” Sociology: “social status”, “role”, “Anomie”

Why do we need concepts? Concepts provide a common language, which enables scientists to communicate with one another within an area “Power” can mean different thing to different people Science cannot progress with ambiguous and imprecise language Vocabulary of science

Conceptual Definitions (definitions that describe concepts by using other concepts) Power has been conceptually defined as the ability of an actor (group/the state) to get another actor to do something that the latter would not otherwise do Concepts ability, actor, group, state can be defined by other concepts, and so on.

Vocabulary of science At a certain point in this process, scientists encounter concepts that cannot be defined by other concepts These are called primitive terms For example, a group is two or more individuals Use of primitive terms is less efficient than use of more complex concepts; it is easier to say the word “group” than constantly repeat the primitive terms that compose the definition of “group”.

Concepts – Variables A variable is any entity that can take on different values. Anything that can vary can be considered a variable For instance, age can be considered a variable because age can take different values for different people or for the same person at different times

Age What is your age? < >47

Variable (example) Similarly, country can be considered a variable because a person's country can be assigned a value What country are you from? ___________________

Variables or not? Male GPA Blue Marital Status Hair Length of hair

Variables Variables aren't always 'quantitative' or numerical The variable 'gender' consists of two text values: 'male' and 'female'. We can, if it is useful, assign quantitative values instead of (or in place of) the text values, but we don't have to assign numbers in order for something to be a variable

Attribute An attribute is a specific value on a variable The variable sex or gender has two attributes: 1 = male 2 = female

Ethnicity What is your ethnicity (Please select one)  Asian  African American/Black  Caucasian/White  Hispanic/Latino  Native American  Pacific Islander  Other (Please Specify) ___________

Attribute The variable agreement might be defined as having five attributes: 1 = strongly disagree 2 = disagree 3 = neutral 4 = agree 5 = strongly agree

Variable should be exhaustive Each variable should be exhaustive, it should include all possible answerable responses/attributes Variable “Religion" 1. "Protestant", 2. "Jewish“ 3. "Muslim" The list does not exhaust all possibilities. The way to deal with this is to explicitly list the most common attributes and then use a general category like "Other" to account for all remaining ones.

Exhaustive or not? Where do you live during the current school yeas while you are at college? (Choose one answer)  Residence Hall  Apartment  House

Exhaustive or not? Where do you live during the current school yeas while you are at college? (Choose one answer)  Residence Hall  Apartment on campus  Apartment off campus  House on campus  House off campus  Fraternity/Sorority Housing  Other (Specify)___________

Attributes should be mutually exclusive No respondent should be able to have two attributes simultaneously With whom do you currently live? Alone Roommate(s) Housemate(s Spouse Partner Parent(s) Other relative(s) Other________________

Mutually Exclusive Attributes With whom do you currently live? (Choose all that apply)  Alone  Roommate(s)  Housemate(s  Spouse  Partner  Parent(s)  Other relative(s)  Other________________

Mutually Exclusive What is your age? < >46

Hypotheses Ultimately we are interested in relationships between different variables A hypothesis states the expected relationship between two variables H1: Age effects income H1: People in different age groups tend to earn different amounts of money

Hypotheses H2: Social class affects attitude toward abortion H3:Children are more likely than adults to take naps H4: Older people tend to be less fearful of dying than younger people

Types of Variables Independent Variable (Causal variable, variable you change Dependent variable (Effect, variables you are trying to predict) Independent VariableDependent Variable

Types of variables Gender Occupation MaleFemale Attributes Independent Variable Gender Income Male< $5,000 Attributes Dependent Variable > $ 5,000 Attributes

Relationship between Variables Positive An increase/decrease in the independent variable yields an increase/decrease in the dependent variable Independent variable/ dependent variable Independent variable/ dependent variable

Example of positive relationship H 1 : People with higher education are more likely to earn more money Dependent variable: Independent variable:

Negative An increase/decrease in the independent variable yields a decrease/increase in the dependent variable Independent variable/ dependent variable Relationship between Variables

Example of negative relationship H 1 : Increased exercise causes decreased weight H 2 : The higher your social class the less likely you are arrested for committing a crime Dependent variable: Independent variable:

Relationship between Variables Undetermined H 1 : Males are more likely to earn more money than females are

Practice Let say you want to test the relationship between exercise and weight Formulate the hypothesis which posits a positive relationship between these two variables

Operational Definition After we select variables and formulate the hypothesis, we must create operational definition for each of our variables Operational definition – transforming a variable into something we can observe Listing attributes

Operationalizing Gender  Female  Male

Operationalizing Occupation  Professional  Manager or owner of business  Skilled laborer  Unskilled laborer  Not employed  Other

Operationalizing Income  $5,000 or less  $5, ,000  $15,001-25,000  $25,001-35,000  $35,001-50,000  $50,001 or more

Practice in Operationalizing Marital status  Never married  Married  Divorced  Separated  Widowed  Other

Operationalization “Love”

Sternberg (1988) The Psychology of Love The Psychology of Love Emotional Intimacy dimension focuses on friendship, trust and feelings of emotional closeness that result from being able to share one's innermost thoughts and feelings with a partner The passion dimension focuses on those intense feelings of arousal that arise from physical attraction and sexual attraction The commitment dimension of love is often viewed as the decision to stay with one's partner for life. Commitments may range from simple verbal agreements (agreements not to become emotionally and/or sexually involved with other people) to publically formalized legal contracts (marriage)

Example (Strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, strongly disagree) I experience happiness with my partner I have high regard for my partner I am able to count on my partner in times of need I have mutual understanding with my partner I receive emotional support from my partner I have intimate communication with my partner I can name my partner’s best friends I can tell you what stresses my partner is currently facing I can tell you some of my partner’s life dreams I am very familiar with my partner’s religious beliefs and ideas I can tell you about my partner’s basic philosophy of life I can list the relatives my partner likes the least I know my partner’s favorite music I feel that my partner knows me pretty well