Learning and Evaluation/Archive/Learning modules/3Operationalize

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Part 1: Introduction

Welcome!
Why Survey?
Why Surveys Are Useful
Constructs
Operationalize
Survey instruments
Types of information
Attributes - a special case
Survey Objective and Planning

Part 2: Reliability & Validity

Reliability & Validity
Reliability
Validity
Face Validity
Content Validity
Criterion Validity
Construct Validity

Part 3: Question Construction

Writing Good Questions
Questions from Existing Surveys
Constructing your own Questions
Be Specific
Be Concise
Avoid Double Negatives
Minimize Social Desirability Bias
Avoid Double-barreled questions
Avoid abbreviations, jargon, technical terms, or slang
Avoid leading questions
Avoid loaded questions
Use appropriate wording
Ask useful questions
Rely on second-hand data sparsely
Use caution when asking personal questions

Part 4: Response Options

Question types
Fill-in-the-blank
Dichotomous pairs
Multiple choice
Check all that apply
Ranking
Scales
Choosing response options

Part 5: Questionnaire structure

Important considerations
Questions order
Additional Resources
Feedback

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Operationalize

Construct

Operationalize

Survey Questionnaire


Before writing the survey questionnaire, one needs to operationalize the construct—or identify the strategy for measuring the construct. Constructs are often operationalized as proxy measures, using peripheral indicators that suggest the presence or absence of the underlying construct. These are typically a person's perception of the phenomenon or measures of a related phenomenon.


If this is confusing, the example at the bottom might be helpful. But, let's continue...


Surveys are "proxy measures" because they do not measure a phenomenon directly; instead, they obtain information about the phenomena through the perceptions of the survey respondents. These perceptions could be either observations of others or observations of oneself, which is also known as a self-report.


The proxy measures that result from operationalizing constructs lead to the development of survey objectives, like in the example below.


Example
The construct A person's interest in editing Wikipedia can be operationalized with the proxy measures of their "behaviors" and "attitudes" around editing Wikipedia.
The following survey question objectives can be developed and used when writing survey questions:
The question objective is to understand a person's interest to edit Wikipedia in terms of their:
(1) editing behaviors
(2) intentions to edit