Putting Measurement to Work

This exercise gives you the opportunity to develop a measurement strategy of your own.

1. Identify an area of the social sciences you know something about (aging, marriage and the family, crime and criminal justice, social problems, social class, and soon). Crime and criminal justice

2. Identify a concept (e.g., attitudes toward the elderly, marital satisfaction, delinquency, social class) that receives attention in this area and that interests you. Social class

3. Describe how you might conceptualize this concept.

4. Describe one or more measurement strategies you might use to operationalize this concept. List at least one or more indicators and two or more categories.

5. Identify the level of measurement of this concept given the operationalization you suggested. Give support for your answer.

6. Discuss the reliability of your measurement strategy. How might you check the reliability of this strategy?

7. Discuss the validity of your measurement strategy. How might you check the validity of this strategy?