Ch 2- Model of Empirical Research.pptVIP

A Model of Empirical Research Do?. Dr. Bülent Sezen Variables Variables are characteristics of objects or events that can take on two or more values. Age, height, and weight are variables that can be used to describe people. Alternatively, number of employees, gross income and total assets are variables that can be used to describe organizations. All these characteristics are variables, because they can take on different values. Variables… Variables are central to research. Most research is concerned with relationships between variables. For example, is there a relationship between education (one variable) and financial success (another variable)? A relationship in this case means that persons with different levels of education experience different levels of financial success. Conceptual Operational Variables Empirical research activities and our understanding of research outcomes exist at two different levels of abstraction: Conceptual and Operational. We understand at a conceptual level. To say, I know that education leads to financial success, expresses a belief about a causal relationship at a conceptual level. Conceptual Operational Variables… At this level of abstraction variables are called conceptual variables or constructs. Constructs are mental definitions of characteristics of objects or events that can vary. Definitions of characteristics such as education and financial success are examples. To illustrate, the construct education may be defined as the knowledge and problem-solving abilities one acquires from formal learning environments. Conceptual Operational Variables… Empirical research activities are carried out at an operational level of abstraction. Empirical research obtains scores from cases on measures. These measures represent operational variables. Variables are made operational by the measures used to obtain scores from the cases studied. For example, a question that asks respondents to report the number of years the