Lesson 1: More Concepts in Science
In the social sciences, we usually want to be able to generalize our findings from a small sample to a larger population. We want to do a study that applies to all creative people everywhere – not just the ones on our small sample at UCF.
A Population refers to all the people you want your study to apply to. All adults? All English speakers? All artists? All students? All creative people?
A Sample is all the people you have included in your study. We may want our study to apply to all adults in the world, but we may have included only 30 UCF psychology students. This could be a problem because we want our sample to be representative.
Representative Sample: A sample that truly reflects the population under investigation. Usually, a large, random sample is desired to increase representativeness.
Let’s turn now to Operational Definitions and Conceptual Definitions.
a Conceptual Definition, which is a general, abstract, or theoretical definition, like a dictionary definition. In contrast, an Operational Definition is how the concept is defined in a specific study. An operational definition serves to quantify the concept in order to investigate it.
Here are Some Examples of Conceptual Definitions:
Creativity: The ability to routinely generate work that is both novel and meaningful
Madness: The state of being severely mentally ill; having a condition of the mind which dramatically interferes with rational though?
These are general, dictionary-like definitions. But to study these concepts, we may need to quantify them.
Now, lets look at the corresponding Operational Definition examples:
Creativity:
Score on the Torrance test of creativity.
Number of paintings completed during a lifetime.
Having won a Nobel Prize or not
Madness:
Score on a test of mental illness.
Number of times person has been committed to a mental health institution.
Whether or not the participant has ever tried to commit suicide
These definitions can be specifically applied to a study. Note that there may be many different operational definitions for each conceptual definition. That is why it is important to notice how each study within a field is operationally defining the same concept - or you may be comparing apples to oranges!
Also, notice that sometimes we rely on tests to quantify concepts. When we refer to a score on a test – like an IQ test – this is a measurement variable.
Using Measurement Variables as Operational Definitions requires that we know the test is both Reliable and Valid
Reliability reflects whether or not the test measures consistently over time and situations. If you get on a bathroom scale and it says you weigh 100 lbs, then get right back on and it says 200, then 10 --- there is something wrong with the scale and it cannot be used to accurately reflect your weight. Likewise, if we have a test of creativity that at one point says a person is a creative genius and the next a total robot – we can not rely upon that scale to assess creativity.
A measure is Valid when it faithfully reflects the conceptual definition. Say we have a reliable scale of creativity … but it asks people to draw figures. We may actually be measuring drawing ability more than creativity. Also, we could have a reliable test of creativity that is verbal in nature. We need to be sure that we are really measuring what we want to investigate – creativity- and not verbal fluency. Indeed tests of creativity have been criticized on these grounds, which will be discussed.
This was a very basic overview of the scientific terms you are likely to be exposed to in this course. I am sure I have overlooked some – but this is a good start before we get into the readings. I have a posted a review sheet and you may refer to that or this video any time you need to throughout the course.
Take a minute to take some notes: What is the difference between and operational definition and an conceptual definition? Why is knowing the operational definition important when you are reading a study?
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE: Take this End-of-Chapter Quiz
Now that we have an understanding of what Psychology is and some of the terms and principles that well be useful in this course, let's look at the world of Art.
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