A social research methods class wants to study smoking. First the professor asks how many people in the class are smokers. Two people say yes. Then she asks how many people have smoked a cigarette in the past week, and ten people say yes. From this the class decides that, for the purposes of its survey, a smoker will be anyone who has had a cigarette in the past week and currently owns a pack of cigarettes. This is a(n):

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The definition of a smoker based on having smoked a cigarette in the past week and currently owning a pack of cigarettes is an operational definition. It operationalizes the concept of smoking into specific observable and measurable behaviors or criteria.

A Social Research Methods Class Wants to Study Smoking