Finding Operational Definitions in the Research Literature

Finding Operational Definitions
in the Research Literature

The text focused on the process of measuring a variable be defining the detailed procedures by which it would be measured. You need to be able to conceptualize the process of measuring variables. However, in most psychological research, you will conceptualize the question and measure the variables using operational definitions that have already been developed and used in previous studies. In fact, when good measures already exist, it would be foolish to not use them.

For each of the following variables, search the research literature and identify various ways in which they have been operationalized in the past. In most cases, these concepts have been operationalized in half a dozen or more ways, so try to find as many operational definitions for the concepts as possible. If you are uncertain about how to search the research literature, you may want to check out the Library Research tutorial on this website. You can access this tutorial at any time by selecting tutorials from the menu at the top of the screen.

You may find with some of these variables that there is considerable controversy about what they are and how they should be measured. With others you will find that there are many subtypes of the variables that have been discovered as part of the efforts to develop effective measures.

frustration
anger
prejudice
anxiety
distraction
spatial skills
social skills
emotional sensitivity
depressive affect
drive for success
fear of failure
love
quality of parenting
verbal skills
talkativeness
masculinity
femininity
memory ability
hunger
fear