Defining and measuring social constructs in psychological science

25. apr 201911:00-11:30
Veslefjellhall 2 og 3
Kategori
Konseptuell
Format
Forelesning
Presentør
Espen SjøbergOslo Metropolitan University 
Abstract
Many measurements in science reflect arbitrary constructs. This works elegantly when the construct represents a physical property in nature or when unified definitions exist, as seen in e.g. mathematics or physics. By contrast, abstract social constructs are often not universally defined, even if they are universally understood. Concepts such as “culture”, “intelligence”, even “behaviour”, are ultimately arbitrary words created by humans to label or categorize a fleeting concept or a collection of units. This raises a question: if a concept is man-made, without reflecting a real property in nature, how can it be operationalized and quantifiably measured? This has profound impact on scientific testing: concepts such as culture can arguably not be measured if there is no pre-existing agreement on its definition, although we can accept varied operationalizations. The language trap of social constructionism gives importance to arbitrary and hypothetical constructs, which questions the validity of any concept we choose to measure before an experiment even begins. Even if a concept is testable, how can we begin to measure it when no true definition exists? This issue will be addressed and discussed.