

In order to evaluate this operational definition, it would be useful to know what it means to "learn" something. Discuss why (or why not) this is an adequate operational definition of learning. A professor is studying learning and academic performance and uses GPA as a measure of how much her students have learned. On the other hand, your operational definitions describe the variables you will use as indicators for youor constructs and the procedures you will use to observe or measure the variables.Ĥ. This explanation and all of the constructs it refers to are abstract. A conceptual definition tells what your constructs are by elplaining how they are related to other constructs.
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What is the difference between conceptual and operational definitions?Ī conceptual definition tells you what the concept means, while an operational definition only tells you how to measure it. A concept defined only operationally may make a nice little ceremony as you carry out the steps described by the operational definition, but it doesn't mean anything and it is not related to other concepts.ģ. This means that your measurements won't be worth much, considering that you don't know what the concept is, so you don't know what you measured. If you have only an operational definition, you may know how to measure it, but you won't know what you are measuring. why is it also necessary to have a conceptual definition?Ī conceptual definition tells you what the concept means, while operational definitions only tell you how to measure it. Why can't you skip the conceptual definition and use only an operational definition to define your concept? i.e. You need an operational definition because you can't measure anything without one, no matter how good your conceptual definition might be.Ģ. Your operational definitions describe the variables you will use as indicators and the procedures you will use to observe or measure them. This process is called operationalization. To work with your constructs, you must establish a connection between them and the concrete reality in which you live. This explanation and all of the constructs it refers to are abstract their existence is only as real and concrete as the thoughts you have while you watch a seagull soar past on a stiff breeze. In your conceptual definitions you explain what your constructs are by showing how they relate to other constructs. Why do you need an operational definition when you already have a perfectly good conceptual definition?
