Developing Measures in HR Definitions Economist articles Types

Developing Measures in HR • Definitions – Economist articles • Types of Scales • Features of Criterion Measures – Census article

Definitions • Variable • Can take two or more ‘values’, exist in multiple states (e. g. , Supervisory rating) • Concept • General label used to describe observations (e. g. , performance) • Construct • Scientific concept used in theories (e. g. , job performance)

Definitions • Operational Definition • Translate characteristics of the concept into measurable features • Break down concept into dimensions that are further broken down into elements

Example of Learning Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sekaran/RESEARCH 4 E FIGURE 8. 2

Economist Articles • Identify the concept, construct, variable, dimensions & elements in the “measuring generosity” article • Identify the main constructs in the unemployment article • What are the two variables? • How are the variables measured? • What are their relative advantages & disadvantages?

Types of Scales Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sekaran/RESEARCH 4 E 8 B

Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sekaran/RESEARCH 4 E 8 C

Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sekaran/RESEARCH 4 E 8 D

Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sekaran/RESEARCH 4 E 8 E

Types of Scales • Nominal • Name-based differences between 2 or more exclusive categories (a. k. a. categorical variable) • e. g. , gender, nationality • Suggest 2 possible nominal variables and ways to measure them • Ordinal • Rank/order-based differences • e. g. , Letter grades, IV in career-services study

Types of Scales • Interval • Differences between categories are equal • Cannot square/take square roots • E. g rating scales, thermometer • 4 -2=5 -3 (but 6 is not the same as 2 x 3) • Ratio • Has an absolute zero-point, assesses proportion of differences • Cannot add/subtract a constant number • e. g. , GPA, absenteeism study, frequency scales, quantity scales

Exercise 1. Convert the following ratio scales to interval scales 1. In the past 3 months how often have you. . 1. Sought feedback from your supervisor on how well you are performing your job? 2. Checked w/your subordinates that what you are doing is not getting in the way of their efficient performance

Features of Criterion Measures • Criterion relevance • Assessing the concept • Criterion deficiency • Lacking important components of concept • Criterion contamination • Assessing irrelevant components • Leads to Bias, unreliability • Example: CIR admission criteria

Construct Measure Criterion deficiency Criterion relevance Criterion contamination

Features of Criterion Measures • Criterion Practicality • Criteria’s ability to discriminate b/w objects

Census Article • Discuss problems w/the following & apply defn of criterion relevance, contamination & deficiency: • • • Counting Immigrants Counting visible minorities Having high housing costs Having non-traditional households Having untrained researchers Allowing for Open-ended responses

Census Article • What is the item-order effect in the census? How can it be resolved? • How would you re-define place of residence? • How would you ask for race info? • How would you re-define marriage? • What is an example of a confidence interval given in the article?

Developing Measures in HR • Definitions – Economist articles • Types of Scales • Features of Criterion Measures – Census article