Concept and Operational Definitions

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Short Paper #3 Concept and Operational Definitions In this short paper (200-300 words), I would like you to propose two variables you wish to study for your final project. To identify these variables, I would like you to cite a previous content analytic study that used these variables. Remember, variable selection is done in part on using previous research. We have talked about some different types of variables throughout the quarter. One of your variables should be based on the message content itself. For example, in my research about the political messages of American leaders, I looked for references to climate change. This is a variable based on the message content because it is contained within the text of the speeches I examined. The second type of variable we talked about is a contextual variable. These are often used to connect the source to the message or the message to the receiver. For example, in my study on presidential communication about climate change, I was interested in the party membership of each leader I studied. A contextual variable I used was political party. I would like you to propose two variables, one of which must be a message content variable. The second one can either be a message content variable or a contextual variable. Answer the following questions to discuss the variables you wish to study. You can write it as an essay, which might be helpful for your final project, or you can simply respond to each question. Variable #1: Message Content Variable 1) What message content variable do you want to study? 2) What is the conceptual definition of your variable? Remember, this is like a dictionary definition. For example, my conceptual definition of climate change was: “Climate change refers to any significant change in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time. In other words, climate change includes major changes in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns, among others, that occur over several decades or longer.” 3) What is the operational definition of your variable? Remember, this is how you would actually measure your variable. For example, in my dissertation codebook, I measured the climate change variable in the following way: “Each invocation will include at least one of the search terms. To identify if the invocation meets the conceptual definition, we will use the following operational definition: “0 = Does not meet conceptual definition; 1 = Meets conceptual definition.” 4) Why is this variable important for your study? This is where you can also discuss the previous study you identified. Variable #2: Message Content OR Contextual Variable 1) What additional variable do you want to study? 2) What is the conceptual definition of your variable? Remember, this is like a dictionary definition. For example, my conceptual definition of climate change was: “Climate change refers to any significant change in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time. In other words, climate change includes major changes in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns, among others, that occur over several decades or longer.” 3) What is the operational definition of your variable? Remember, this is how you would actually measure your variable. For example, in my dissertation codebook, I measured the climate change variable in the following way: “Each invocation will include at least one of the search terms. To identify if the invocation meets the conceptual definition, we will use the following operational definition: “0 = Does not meet conceptual definition; 1 = Meets conceptual definition.” 4) Why is this variable important for your study? This is where you can also discuss the previous study you identified. (THE TWO FILES I HAVE ADDED UNDER THIS ORDER WERE MY FIRST TWO PROJECTS THAT I HAVE WRITTEN IN ORDER TO PROCEED THIS SHORT ESSAY. PLEASE READ THROUGH THOSE FILES IN ORDER TO WORK ON THIS ASSIGNMENT) Rubric: Length and Grammar: Is the paper between 200-300 words? Is it readable and generally free of grammatical errors? (20 points) Conceptual definition: Does the student conceptualize the variables? (20 points) Operational definition: Does the study operationalize the variables? (20 points) Justification: Does the student justify the importance of the variable to their study? (20 points) Previous Studies: Does the student identify two previous studies that used similar variables? (20 points)