Concepts and Variables

Concept
Concepts are building block of thinking. They allow us to organise knowledge in systematic ways.
A Concept is a set of features connected by some rule (Hulse, Egeth, Deese 1980)
Concept also represents properties, abstraction and relations between the features.
A Concept is defined as any describable regularity of real or imagined events or objects (Bourne,
Ekstrand, & Dominowski, 1971).
Concept represents objectives of activities, ideas or living organism.
A Concept is an abstraction formed from “generalizations” from “particular observations”.
A concept is a set of specific objects, symbols, or events which are grouped together on the basis of
shared characteristics and which can be referenced by a particular name or symbol (Merrill &
Tennyson, 1977).
Ausubel et al. (1978) assert that concepts are designated by some sign or symbol, viewed as objects,
events, situations or properties and possess common attributes. An attribute is a single feature or
dimension of a construct.
According to Morse (1995) a poorly defined concept may result in faulty construction of research
methods.
Concept: an idea or a general mental formulation of a specific occurrence
A label for a phenomenon, matter, thing that enables us to link separate observations, make
generalizations, communicate and inherit ideas.
Concepts can be concrete, abstract, tangible or intangible.
o Concrete or tangible : Height, Weight
o Abstract or intangible: Happiness, Love
Concrete vs Abstract
Concrete
 Enables individual to register information directly through five senses
 Sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing
Abstract
 Allows individuals understand information, Visualize, Conceive Ideas or believe that which
cannot be seen but through
 Intuition, imagination, looking beyond what is actual
Direct/ Concrete: Concepts
Some attributes can be measured directly.
Examples:
1. Height (in inches or cm)
2. Weight (in lbs or kg)
3. Blood Pressure (in mmHg)
Example: Academic Achievement
The Concept of Academic Achievement is abstracted (i.e. generalized) from educational activities/
behaviors like Reading, writing, calculation, drawing pictures, etc. that children must learn/ master
The concept, Academic Achievement, captures the variety of activities and the mastery of these
activities in a single phrase/ word.
Indirect/ Abstract: Construct
In the behavioral and social sciences, more indirect ways are used to measure constructs, so a number of
items are developed to assess the construct.
Examples:
 1. Depression - Scales for depression often consist of 10 to 20 items or more and the score for
depression is a sum of scores on these items.
2. Happiness - Happiness is a narrower construct than depression, but a happiness scale might still
require 5 to 10 items or more to assess
Construct
 Constructs are mental abstractions (not directly observable) that is used to express about ideas,
people, organisations, events, objects of interest.
 The Construct is a proposed attribute of anything that cannot be directly measured, but assessed
using a number of indicators/ manifest variables.
 When measuring behavioral outcomes in the social sciences, the personal characteristic assessed is
called Construct (Cronbach & Meehl, 1955; Messick, 1995).
 Constructs are specifically invented for a given research and/or are the building blocks of theories,
helps to explain how and why certain phenomena behave the way they do.

Types Examples of constructs

self-esteem, poverty, Ageism, sexism, racism, trust, affluence, morality,
Ideas
tolerance, air pollution, euthanasia, marriage, taboos
People Age, gender, ethnicity, height, obesity, morbidity, energy, muscle soreness, fatigue
Quality of service, organisational culture, corporate governance,
Organisations
outsourcing, Financial performance, corporate social responsibility,
Events tsunamis, famine, urban regeneration, secularism
Objects/ Things Sun, trees, flowers, amino acids, stem cells

Concept & Construct

o Intelligence is a Concept generalized from/ is an abstraction of observations of behaviors related to
knowledge, skill, and aptitude.
o Verbal, Numerical, and Spatial abilities are Concepts of Intelligence.
o Intelligence is a Construct. Scientists consciously and deliberately created the construct and use it for
specific/ systematic purpose.
o The observed scores on the three ability tests used to measure these concepts are positively and
substantially related.
o As the three concepts are related to the same underlying construct, the observed variables of the
three ability tests measure the Construct of Intelligence.
Making Concept/ Construct measurable: Variable
 Constructs need to be translated from the abstract (i.e., mental ideas; abstractions)
to concrete (i.e., measureable/testable) form of Variables. In other words, the constructs are re-
stated as variables.
Variable
o A representation of concept/ constructs in its variation of degree, varieties or occurrence.
o A characteristic of a thing that can assume varying degrees or values.
o Thus it is a symbol or representation to which numbers or values can be assigned.
 A Variable, as the name implies, is something that varies. It is
 “A thing that is changeable” or “A quantity that has a number of different values.”
 A Variable is something that has at least two values: however,
 The values of the variable is observable/ measurable.
 For eg, the outcome of throwing a dice is a Variable. This variable has six possible values (each side
of the dice have one to six dots on it), each of which can be observed.
  Most variables are truly variable = multiple categories or variables
 Kerlinger (1986) defined Variable ‘a property that takes different values’.
 According to D’Amato (1970) Variables may be defined as those Attributes of Objects, Events,
Things and Beings, which can be measured.
 According to Postman and Egan (1949) a Variable is a characteristic or attribute that can take on a
number of values.
 For eg, number of items that an individual takes on a particular test like IQ, Sex and Level of Anxiety
 The terms construct, concept, and variable are often used synonymously to refer to the
phenomenon or properties of the phenomenon studied.
 Levels of measurement: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio guide the numbers or values assigned.
 During analysis, researchers often change a continuous into a categorical variable, change/ collapse
the number or categories and/or combine/ construct variables:
o These details and rationale are essential to evaluate results.
o These details should be in the Methods section of a research article or proposal.
 In practice reducing a continuous variable into a dichotomous/ polytonomous variable may be
convenient, useful conceptually, but in terms of analysis, a lot of information is lost
Ease of Measurement !!!
 Concept or Constructs vary in their ease of measurement, with some constructs being relatively easy
to assess and others requiring more subtle or indirect measurement.
 Ease or directness of measurement is not an indicator of how closely related a scale score is to an
underlying construct or
 How important the attribute is for a given problem.
Terms like attributes, characteristic, behavior
Some Variables are attributes of a person, can be active, random, a state.
For example, a participant's Anxiety
o Anxiety is a Trait (fixed) of a person if measured at one point is treated like a pre-existing condition.
o Anxiety can also be a State (random) if manipulated during the research by inducing different
degrees of stress
Terminology
 An Attribute is a single feature or Dimension of a construct.
 Measurement: is the assignment of numbers or symbols to phenomena. It requires a scale. A scale
provides a yardstick to measure of the presence of the properties of the concept under
investigation. The values of measurement can classify into two broad categories: 1) Variables and
2) Constants.
o Variables: Measurements of Variables vary. There are many types of Variable.
o Constants: Constants, on the other hand, do not vary. Eg:
 Speed of light (186,000 miles/second) in vacuum does not vary - is a constant
o Variable can be transformed into a constant if the researcher decides to Control the variable
Variable Attribute Choices
 An ATTRIBUTE is a single feature or DIMENSION of a construct.
 Variable attributes need to be Exhaustive and Mutually Exclusive
o Exhaustive: Represent full range of possible variation
o Degree of Precision: selection depends on the research interest

Example: Concept and Variable

 Concept:
o Political participation
 Variables:
o Voted or not
o How many times a person has voted
o What party a person votes for
Operationalization
Conceptualization of the concept
 Conceptualisation is the process of narrowing down, confining, defining and explaining, what it is,
that is being examined. It is concerned with what is meant by a term (Geraghty, 2008).
 The process includes coming to some agreement about the meaning of the concept
 Sometimes a name have to “made up” to encompass concept.
 For example, the chosen topic is Poverty. There are different elements that need to be considered.
Poverty could include income, living conditions, diet or any other element that prohibits people
from fully partaking in society (Lister, 2004).
 As the pieces or aspects of a concept are researched, the dimensions are seen- subgroups of a
concept.
  With each dimension, the indicators must be decided upon – signs of the presence or absence of
that dimension.
o Dimensions are usually concepts themselves.

Conceptual Definition: The meaning Construct

Prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a person's age Ageism
The state of being grossly fat or overweight - among children Child obesity
The formal union of a man and a woman, typically recognized by law, by which they
Marriage
become husband and wife
Extreme scarcity of food Famine
The painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in
Euthanasia
an irreversible coma
A long, high sea wave caused by an earthquake or disturbance Tsunami

Operational Definition
 The role of the operational definition is to precisely describe how to measure the characteristics of
a construct.
 The Operational Definition is critical!
o It enables researchers to measure variables
o It is the bridge between the Abstract/Theoretical/ Conceptual Level and the Level of
Observation.
o No scientific research without observations
o No observations without clear and specifics about what and how to observe.
o The Operational Definition gives all those details: the instructions.
 Operational Definitions limit the significant gap between theory and reality.
 Defining in empirical research is the process of conceptualization and operationalization.
o Going from Construct-to-Concept-to-Variable
 Two general ways to define:
o Defining the word by using other words: Conceptual Definition
o Define using expressed or implied behaviors: Operational Definition
 An Operational Definition assigns meaning to concept or variable by specifying the activities or
“operations” necessary to measure it and evaluate the measurement.

Construct Perspectives/ approaches to the construct

Perspective 1: Bio-medical approach
Views disability as a medical or physical condition that can be prevented or reduced
Disability through interventions that are biological, medical or genetic in nature.
Perspectives/
Perspective 2: Functional approach
approaches
Disability is viewed again as an individual condition, but focus is placed on ways to
to disability
treat the functional incapacity this creates.
from Rioux
(1997) Perspective 3: Rights-outcome approach
Views disability as a consequence of the way in which society is organised, and the
relationship between society and the individual.

Steps in operationalization
1. Theoretical or nominal definitions are used to provide conceptual clarity, using synonyms to express.
These theoretical or nominal definitions can be found
 (a) in academic journals (usually the Abstract/Introduction/Literature Review; often early on);
(b) in subject specific or standard dictionaries; or
(c) created specifically where no definition exist.
(d) can be expressed using words (e.g., marriage, depression) or symbolic notations (e.g., % to denote
percentages, µ to denote the mean).
2 Make a choice between possible (i.e., multiple) theoretical or nominal definitions;
3 Settle on a particular definition, based on:
(a) why this choice was made over many definitions, in terms of
(i) how it fits with your research agenda and
(ii) support for definition in the literature amongst other researchers
(b) how the conceptual definitions relates to other constructs, whether
(i) in the same area or
(ii) another conceptual area of interest.
Operational Definition
The three main steps in these processes are defining concepts, identifying variables and developing
measurement indicators (Geraghty, 2008).
1. Defining concepts involves researching current and previous definitions on the subject. Researching
such definitions helps to give a clearer aspect of a concept and may be useful in identifying other
relevant elements for consideration.
2. Identifying variables involves examining different dimensions of a topic that need to be considered
to capture exactly what is being observed. it is important to research previous studies to capture
what variables other researchers used and how they applied them.
3. The third and final step is a need to measure the information and data accumulated under each
variable or show what was used to determine the data. Indicators are measures that link to the
variable. There can be numerous indicators for each variable that could be broken down to further
indicators
What are dimensions and indicators?
Complicated concepts have dimensions and indicators
Dimensions are specific aspects of a concept.
Indicators are groups by dimensions.
The end of conceptualization is the specification of a set of indicators that shows the presence or
absence of the concept
Conceptualization and Operationalization
Step 1. Determine dimension(s) of the concept you want to study by looking at your topic
Example: The impact of communication on depression. The concept of depression of interest is severity of
depression. Other dimensions could be “People’s belief of whether depression is caused by chemical
imbalance or by psychological problems? ” In this case, only one dimension is studied. Thus only one
variable is usually needed.
Step 2. Finding out the Indicators for the particular dimension of the concept to study
Example: Develop 12 Indicators for the Severity of Depression
1. Feel bothered by things that usually don't bother you
2. Poor appetite
3. Feel that you could not shake off the blues even with help from your family or friends
4. Feel distracted
5. Feel depressed
6. Feel that everything you do is an effort
7. Feel fearful
8. Sleep restlessly
9. Do not feel like to talk
 10. Feel lonely
11. Feel sad
12. Feel you cannot get going
Step 3. Decide on operationalization issues.
Based on the indicators, determine what questions to ask, what observations to make, what scores to give
and what attributes to have for the measurement.
Example:
In the past seven days, how many days did you feel ...?
Score range: 0-84
Level of measurement: covert from interval to ordinal
Decision: 1-28 no depression, 29-56 moderate depression, 57-84 severe depression
Step 4. End product of operationalization - a variable and its attributes
Example: Variable: severity of depression
Attributes: no depression, moderate depression, severe depression

Example 1: Child abuse as:

 ‘The wilful, reckless or negligent infliction of physical injury on, or failure to prevent such injury to,
the child.
 The use of the child by a person for sexual arousal or sexual gratification of that person or another
person.
 Failure to care for the child, which results in serious impairment of the physical or mental health or
development of the child or serious adverse effects on his or her behaviour or welfare.
 Any other act or omission towards the child which results in serious impairment of the physical or
mental health or development of the child or serious adverse effects on his or her behaviour or
welfare.’
From this definition it can be deducted, there are four main types of abuse that constitute the concept
of Child Abuse. These are physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse and emotional abuse.
In undertaking research on Child Abuse, the researcher may confine the study to one aspect, such as
neglect. This may be further refined by looking at neglect as a topic. By narrowing down and focussing on
specific research questions related to the topic it is easier to produce a relevant, meaningful and practical
research study.
In taking the variable of neglect for example, One indicator may be a physical indicator from which
other indicators may be, such as loss of weight, poor or inadequate shelter or poor health. Another
indicator such as behavioural could be broken down to further indicators such as leaving school early,
alcohol abuse or crime.

EXAMPLE 2: Study on the mental health outcomes for older adults with physical disabilities
(1) CONCEPTUALIZATION
What is Conceptualization? Defining and agreeing on the definition of a concept. When researchers
conceptualize a topic they search for existing definitions of a given concept both generally and
academically (e.g., in journal articles, textbooks and definitions given by a respected academic/
professional group) and use the results from their search to conceptualize.
Purpose: Refinement and specification of abstract concepts
Example: Study on the mental health outcomes for older adults with physical disabilities.
Thus three things need to be conceptualized (1) mental health, (2) older adults, (3) physical disabilities.
(1) Mental Health: a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being.
(2) Older Adults: people who are 55 and older
(3) Physical Disabilities: is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina
(2) OPERATIONALIZATION
What is Operationalization? Development of specific research definitions that will result in empirical
observations representing those concepts in the real world. This is a process of strictly defining variables
into measurable factors. This process defines concepts and allows them to be measured empirically.
Purpose: To remove vagueness- all variables in the study must be defined.
Example: Study of mental health outcomes for older adults with physical disabilities.
Thus three conceptualizations need to be operationalized (1) mental health, (2) older adults, (3) physical
disabilities.
(1) Mental Health: a person's condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being
including stress, anxiety, depression, and loneliness.
(2) Older Adults: people who are 55-85 years old
(3) Physical Disabilities: a limitation on a person's physical functioning that is related to accomplishing
instrumental activities of daily living (IADLS)
(3) INDICATORS
Purpose: To generate questions that directly relate to a study's topic
Example: Study on mental health outcomes for older adults with physical disabilities.
Operationalization for mental health: a person's condition with regard to their psychological and emotional
well-being including stress, anxiety, depression, and loneliness.
Indicators for stress: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)
(1) In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the important things in your
life?
o Never
o Almost never
o Sometimes
o Fairly often
o Very often
(2) In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal
problems?
o Never
o Almost never
o Sometimes
o Fairly often
o Very often
(3) In the last month, how often have you felt that things were going your way?
o Never
o Almost never
o Sometimes
o Fairly often
o Very often
(4) In the last month, how often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you could not
overcome them?
o Never
o Almost never
o Sometimes
o Fairly often
o Very often
The process of operationalizations will repeated to generate indicators until every area is covered.

Example 3: Attitude toward Money (Medina, Jose, Saegart & Gresham, 1996)
The concept: Attitude toward Money
Attitude has more to do with the psychological value of money than its relative economic value.
End of conceptualization: 4 Dimensions, a total of 31 indicators
Dimension 1: Power/ Prestige, 8 indicators
 Dimension 2: Retention/ Time, 7 indicators
Dimension 3: Distrust/ Anxiety, 11 indicators
Dimension 4: Quality, 5 indicators
End of operationalization: Seven-point Likert Scale from ALWAYS (1) and NEVER (7)
31- 93 unfavourable attitude;
94-155 neutral attitude
156-217 favourable attitude
Dimension 1: Power/Prestige, 8 indicators
1. I tend to judge people by their money rather than their deeds
2. I behave as if money were the ultimate symbol of success
3. I find that I seem to show more respect to those people who possess more money than I do.
4. I own nice things in order to impress others
5. I purchase things because I know they will impress others
6. People that know me tell me that I place too much emphasis on the amount of money people have,
as a sign of their success.
7. I enjoy telling people about the money I make.
8. I try to find out if other people make more money than I do.
Dimension 2: Retention/Time, 7 indicators
1. I put money aside on a regular basis for the future.
2. I do financial planning for future.
3. I save now to prepare for my old age.
4. I have money available in the event of an economic depression.
5. I follow a careful financial budget.
6. I am prudent with the money I spend.
7. I keep track of my money.
Dimension 3: Distrust/Anxiety, 11 indicators
1. It bothers me when I discover I could have gotten something for less elsewhere.
2. I complain about the cost of things I buy.
3. I show worrisome behavior when it comes to money.
4. I worry about not being financially secure.
5. When I make a major purchase, I have suspicion that I have been taken advantage of.
6. I show signs of anxiety when I don’t have enough money.
7. After buying something, I wonder if I could have gotten the same for less elsewhere.
8. I hesitate to spend money, even on necessities.
9. It is hard for me to pass up a bargain.
10. I automatically say, “I cannot afford it”.
11. I am bothered when I have to pass up a sale.
Dimension 4: Quality, 5 indicators
1. I am willing to spend more to get the very best.
2. I buy top-of-the-line products.
3. I buy name brand products.
4. I pay more for some things because I know I have to in order to get the best.
5. I buy the most expensive items available.
TYPES of VARIABLES
Independent Variable and Dependent Variable
The Dependent Variable is the variable that depends upon (is caused by) the independent variable and
the researcher measures it.
The Independent Variable is the one that the researcher manipulates.
 Ex: while studying the effects of a new educational program on student achievement, the program is
the independent variable and the measures of achievement are the dependent variables.
A variable is not only something that you measure, but also something that you can manipulate and
control for.
An Independent Variable (sometimes called an Experimental or Predictor variable) is a variable that is
being manipulated in an experiment in order to observe the effect this has on a dependent variable.
The Dependent Variable (sometimes called an outcome variable) is a variable that is dependent on an
independent variable(s).

Example
A tutor asks 100 students to complete a Knowledge test and decides to investigate the effect of revision
time and intelligence on the test performance of the 100 students.
 Some students spend more time revising for their test; and
 Some students are naturally more intelligent than others.
Extraneous Variables
 Any and all Variables that may ‘mask’ the relationship between independent and dependent
variable are known as Extraneous Variables.
 Extraneous Variables may directly affect the dependent variable or may combine with the
independent variable to produce an effect.
 Therefore, extraneous variables must be controlled so that the changes in dependent variable is
ONLY due to the independent variable.
 These factors when not measured, may increase/decrease the magnitude or strength of the
relationship between independent and dependent variables. Example of Extraneous variables
include age, sex, intelligence, personality, noise, temperature, humidity and adaptation, fatigue or
practice effects which make the results difficult to interpret.
Confounding Variables
 Confounding Variables is one that varies with the independent variable.
 Two variables may get combined so that the effect of one cannot be separated from the effect of
other. This is known as confounding.
 For instance, in a study of the effect of television viewing on perception of violence and the
experimental group contained only adolescents, whereas the control group only adults, the age of
participants would be confounded with the independent variable under study.
  Confounding makes the conclusions of the study doubtful. It is, therefore, necessary that effort
should be made to unconfound the variables.
Intervening Variables
 An intervening variable is construct which has no meaning apart from context in which it is utilised.
 According to Clark Hull, a behaviourist who utilised intervening variables in the formation of
learning theory, Reaction Potential is an intervening variable and defined it as the combination of
habit strength and drive (Hilgard & Bower, 1966) and has meaning only in relation to them.
 Another example of intervening variable is, hostility which is inferred from hostile and aggressive
acts.
Eg INTERVENING variable:
Social class  education  attitudes
(IND VAR) (INT VAR) (DEP VAR)
NO link between social class and attitudes.
Moderating Variables
Eg:
 What is the effect of the crowd upon performance?
 What is the effect of the Weather upon performance?
 What is the effect of the Referee upon performance?
 What is the effect of the Luck upon performance?
 What is the effect of the Opposition upon performance? etc.
Fewer moderating variables = more confidence in findings. Less chance of spurious relationship.
Active and Attribute Variables
 Any variable that is manipulated is called Active Variables.
 Examples of active variables are methods of teaching, creating anxiety, instructions and so on.
 Attribute Variable is that variable which is not manipulated but measured by the researcher.
 Variables like human characteristics like intelligence, Aptitudes, sex, socio economic status,
education, dependence and need for achievement are the example of attributes variables.

Types of Variables: Hierarchy of Levels

 Qualitative Variable: Composed of categories that are not comparable in terms of magnitude
 Quantitative Variable: Ordered in magnitude on some dimension
  Categorical/ Discrete Variable: A Qualitative variable where values can differ by well-defined steps.
It is generally counted. Categorical variables have categories or levels used to classify as nominal,
binary/ dichotomous, polytonomous or ordinal variables. Each variable have descriptions given to it
attributes that explain how it is measured, manipulated/ controlled.
 Continuous Variable: Also known as Quantitative Variables and further classified as interval or ratio
variables. A quantitative variable, which can be measured with an arbitrary degree of precision. It is
generally measured.
Eg: Career Choices of university students
Q 1: What is the occupation of your choice?
Variables with categories

Q 2: On a scale of 1 to 5, what factors influence your career choice?

Variables with levels

Nominal Variables
The following are examples of nominal variables:

These examples highlight TWO characteristics of nominal variables:

1. Nominal variables have two or more categories.
2. Nominal variables do not have an intrinsic order.
Nominal variables do not have an intrinsic order, they only have categories (e.g., black, blond, brown and
red hair); not levels (e.g., a Likert scale from 1 to 5).
Dichotomous variables
Dichotomous variables are nominal variables with two categories.

Dichotomous variables are designed to give an either/or response

Dichotomous variables can either be fixed or designed
Eg: Variable- SEX (male/ female) is fixed. In other cases, it is designed by the researcher, like ‘do you watch
TV’? the response is YES/ NO. However, in another research it may have more than two categories like
‘most of the time, sometimes, hardly ever’. Where more than two categories are used, these variables are
known as nominal variables.
Ordinal variables
Ordinal Variables have two or more categories. However, unlike nominal, the levels of ordinal variables can
also be ordered or ranked
Distance between levels does not have meaning
 lower class, middle and upper class
One response is more or less than another

Continuous variables
Also known as Quantitative Variables and further classified as interval or ratio variables. These variable
have numerical values by which it is measured, manipulated and/ or controlled.
Interval Variables have a numerical value. Distance between levels is equi-distant, measured along
a continuum, and has meaning. “0” value does not mean a variable is not present

This is because 0°C does not mean there is no temperature.

Ratio Variables
Ratio Variables meet an additional condition: a measurement value of zero, has a “true zero point”, which
means that at ‘0’ there is none of that variable

Thus,
 Nominal measures are variables with attributes that have exhaustiveness + mutual exclusiveness only.
Example: gender, occupation
 Ordinal measures are variables with attributes that have exhaustiveness + mutual exclusiveness + can
be logically ordered. Example: social status, marital happiness
  Interval measures are variables with attributes that have the exhaustiveness + mutual exclusiveness +
logically ordered + the distances separating attributes have meanings. Interval measures are not very
common. GPA is an example
 Ratio measures are variables with attributes that have the exhaustiveness + mutual exclusiveness +
logically ordered + the distances separating attributes have meanings + the attributes a distances
separating attributes have meanings + the attributes are based on a true zero point. Example: age,
income

REFERENCES
Alberto, P.A. & Troutman, A.C. (2006). Applied Behaviour Analysis for Teachers (7th ed). Columbus: OH:
Merill.
Bourne, L.E., Ekstrand, B., & Dominowski, R. 1971. The Psychology of Thinking. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall
Butler, R. N. (1975). Why Survive? Being Old in America. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
D’ Amato, M. R. (1970). Experimental Psychology: Methodology, Psychophysics and Learning. Tokyo:
McGraw-Hill Kogakusha, Ltd.
Hilgard, E., & Bower, G. Theories of Learning. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Kerlinger, F. N. (1986). Foundations of Behavioural Research. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston.
Medina, Jose, Joel Saegart & Alicia Gresham (1996). Comparison of Mexican-American and American and
Anglo-American attitudes toward money. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 30(1), 124-145.
Messick, S. (1995). Validity of psychological assessment: Validation of inferences from persons’ responses
and performances as scientific inquiry into score meaning. American Psychologist, 50, 741-749.
Oxford Dictionaries (2011). Dictionary: www.oxforddictionaries.com
Postman , L. and Egan, J.P. (1949). Experimental Psychology. New York; Harper & Row
Rioux, M. H. (1997). When myths masquerade as science. In L. Barton & M. Oliver. Disability Studies: Past,
Present and Future. Leeds: The Disability Press.
Townsend, J. C. (1953). Introduction to Experimental Methods. New York: McGraw-Hill.