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

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The decision to define a smoker as someone who has smoked a cigarette in the past week and currently owns a pack of cigarettes is an operational definition, which is a clear and concise definition of a variable that can be measured and observed in a research study. This definition helps to ensure that all participants in the study are classified consistently and that the results are reliable and valid.

A Social Research Methods Class Wants to Study Smoking