Conceptualizing and Operationalizing Variables Social Sciences Essay

Conceptualizing and Operationalizing Variables
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Conceptualizing and Operationalizing Variables
Definitions
Race – refers to an individual’s physical characteristics
Ethnicity – this refers to a group of people that have common affiliations such as racial, national, cultural as well as religious origins.
Population – this refers to the count of the number of residents within a political or geographical boundary such as a nation, a town or the number of individuals identified as belonging to a particular group.
Social construct – this refers to the various social constructs that are basically and generally understood as the results of countless human choices rather than laws that result from nature.
Conceptual definition
This definition is a description of the perception that relates the term to other abstract opinions from different sources. The implication is that the provided description that is a representation of thought relates to its measurable characteristics that eventually distinguish the term from the rest of the thoughts that focus on and uses it as a unit of analysis. In this case, the conceptual definition refers to a detailed description of the various adjustable conditions with the application and right use of specified ideas or terms. Additionally, the conceptual definition could be referred to as the process that is applicable in the specification of the meaning upon the use of special terms in research. At the same time, it can be referred to as the intellectual step focused on making clear unclear notions and provide definite acceptable meaning (Babbie, 2013).
Operational definition
This refers to the nature of the description of a process of investigation that focuses on transforming a variable into a numerical value or rather a measurement. It is the development of specific research procedures that eventually results in empirical observation that represents the various concepts. In other words, the operational definition presents how the researcher resolves the measurement of variables. This term is identified as more explicit since it does not defines the research rather gives an association to the research at hand. The term exposes the different specified details of the procedures that entail the aspect of quantifying the variable of interest. Additionally, the operation definition describes a particular term as applicable in words. The term helps in the establishment of the existence of an object accurately and concisely by the use of a set of definitions (Bailey et al., 2018).
Conceptualizes race
This refers to the superior aspect of understanding the variable that provides a potential clue before understanding the exact application of the variable. The case of conceptualizing the variable race provides a rational process of creating the meaning of the term race. The application of race as a variable in research triggers debate concerning whether it is applicable as well as the associated implications that the variable has for different researches in different fields. Race is conceptualized as a social category variable that emphasizes the sharing of the social as well as a cultural heritage that highlights the deleterious impact of power differentials that exists within the society. In this case, the aspect of social interpretations focuses more on the importance of history, cultural practices and norms, geographical locations, language as well as traditional religion on the basis of common ancestry. Such emphasis makes it possible for some researchers to use the term “ethnicity” in place of “race”. Those supporting the social aspect of race also consider the fact that the idea of human races infiltrated the modern genetics and was applicable to create the concept of hierarchy that is a reflection of notions of moral as well as social classes of individuals. In this case, people are identified as either superior or inferior. In such a case, the perspective focuses on race as a proxy for the various influence of racism, the existing differences in socioeconomic status, the level of exposure to existing health risks of individuals considered to be from poor backgrounds alongside their neighborhood contexts. It could also be conceptualized in this context for the explanation of the nature of access to care alongside other life experiences that guarantee the human race limited opportunities for enjoyment (Byrd & Best, 2016).
There is evidence of incomplete description and the nature of variability that exists especially on how investigators apply the issues of race for the description of study samples during research. However, in the few cases where there is a description of the variable, there is always little rationale provided for the application of racial categories. Such variations used in the application of race as a variable within the scientific literature raises questions on the nature of critical thinking that investigators give the variable.
Operationalizes race
The aspect of reporting results by race demands the researchers to provide a theoretical statement that underlies the hypothesized alongside racial differences in the census. Caution is required while invoking either the biological or social constructs of race through demonstration of an appreciation of the nuances as well as implications associated with the use of such variables. Additionally, there is a range of views held by researchers on the concept of race, therefore, no assumption should be made on other’s perceptions of the term “race” within different published works (Babbie, 2013).
Census Bureau changes
In the Census Bureau in 2010, there were different progressions one of which involved the amendment of Hispanic origin and the race to reflect...