Assignment Task:
Concepts vs. Measurements
This exercise is designed to help you start paying attention to the decisions researchers make regarding conceptual definitions and operationalization, and to begin thinking critically about whether those decisions constitute good research design. Your grade will mainly be a reflection of the effort you make to engage seriously and creatively with the research design issues this assignment highlights. There is no length requirement, but I expect it will require a couple of pages to complete.
Part I: Read the Coppedge et al. article and use it to answer the questions below.
What is the core concept the authors are interested in?
What are 5 of the key dimensions of the concept identified by the authors (do not use the dimensions shown in Table 2)?
What are the specific indicators used to measure these 5 dimensions? (Hint: You may have to look outside the article itself to find the answer to this! Read the article to figure out where to look.)
Part II: Decisions about operationalization are often heavily debated when evaluating political science work. Which of the indicators mentioned above do you think are effective ways to operationalize the dimensions they correspond to? Why? Which strike you as ineffective? Why? (Note: The article itself discusses some issues with measures other scholars have used - this discussion may help you think more deeply about this.).