Vormistamine ülesanne 3
As a result, the concepts
finally adopted for research are often vaguely defined.
When thinking about the process that leads from theoretical constructs to survey questions, it is
useful to distinguish between conceptualization and operationalization. Before questions can be
formulated, researchers must decide which concepts they wish to measure. They must define they
intend to measure by naming the concept, describing its properties and its scope, and defining
important subdomains of its meaning. The subsequent process of operationalization involves
choosing empirical indicators for each concept or each subdomain. Theoretical concepts are often
referred to as ‘constructs’ to emphasize that they are theoretical concepts that have been invented or
adopted for a specific scientific purpose (Kerlinger, 1986). Fowler and Cosenza’s (Chapter 8)
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