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Operationalizing and Managing Data
You may recall that operational definitions provide specific details about how a dependent
variable is measured. These definitions are included in research studies so others will understand
what was measured and the study can be replicated. After the variables have been
operationalized, the behavior is assessed and analyzed.
Let’s consider an example of a study looking at whether brain lesions in a specific area of the
brain will alter their ability to navigate a maze.
Operational Definition: Example
When conducting a research study, you can choose to measure your variables in any one scale of
measurement. Consider the rats and the maze learning illustration. You can use an ordinal scale
to determine which rat came in first, second, or third. You can also measure the time it took for
the rats to complete the maze, which would be a ratio scale. Regardless of the scale of
measurement, when you specify the way to measure the variable, you are providing an
operational definition.
In the study referred above, you talked about the variables in the table:
Variable Type
o Independent
o Dependent
Action Taken
o Manipulate
o Measure
Example
o Brain lesion or not
o Time to run maze
The dependent variable was operationalized as a ratio scale measurement. Recall that the
operational definition was the time it took the rats to run through a maze as measured with a
timing device. You were provided with examples from the other scales of measurement,
including nominal, ordinal, and interval.
Now let's discuss how operationalizing variables and scales of measurement are related to
analyzing data using Microsoft Excel. You will begin by learning how to enter data into
Microsoft Excel.

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