operational definition

English

Noun

operational definition (plural operational definitions)

1. A showing of something — such as a variable, term, or object — in terms of the specific process or set of validation tests used to determine its presence and quantity.

   Hypernyms: definition; meaning; identity; characterization

   Coordinate terms: conceptual definition, ostensive definition

   The operational definition of a well-behaved student might be set at the threshold of "no more than 2 detentions in each semester".

   To divide the spectrum of spicy sauces into three categories of "mildly spicy", "moderately spicy", and "extremely spicy", we set the operational definitions of "mild", "moderate", and "extreme" as (a) 0 to 3 × 10³ Scoville units, (b) more than 3 × 10³ up to 100 × 10³, and (c) more than 100 × 10³, respectively.

   • 1942, George A. Lundberg, Operational Definitions in the Social Sciences[1]:

     The position of certain recent publications is examined and criticized because they seem to imply (a) that under some circumstances ambiguous concepts are more useful than precise ones and (b) that operational difinitions are of limited usefulness in sociology because of their dependence upon quantitative characteristics, whereas some items referred to by sociological concepts are "essentially qualitative in nature." Both assumptions are here questioned.

   • 1943, Stuart C. Dodd and Ethel Shanas, Operational Definitions Operationally Defined[2]:

     Those sociologists who advocate greater use of operational definitions have been challenged to define "operational definition" operationally. This paper attempts to meet that challenge.

   • 2017, Leonardo Bich & Sara Green, Is defining life pointless? Operational definitions at the frontiers of Biology[3]:

     By analysing the practical utility of definitions of life in scientific practice, we propose that definitions of life in these domains should be considered in a non-standard and weaker sense, as operational definitions. This choice of terminology is inspired by the use of the same term in the scientific literatures of Origins of Life and Synthetic Biology (e.g., Fleischaker, 1990; Luisi 1998). We use the term ‘operational’ in a wide sense, referring both to (1) the possibility to define something by means of operations (e.g., defining an entity by measuring or building it following a specific procedure), and (2) the idea that the contents of the definition (e.g., the conditions for life) can be operationalised for empirical research, that is, can be built, manipulated and tested in the laboratory.

Related terms

• operationalism
• operationalization
• operationalize

 

Translations

definition in terms of operations or measurements

• Czech: operacionální definice f, operační definice f

Further reading

• “operational definition”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• operational definition in APA Dictionary of Psychology
• Operationalism, plato.stanford.edu
• 2.2 Conceptual and operational definitions, bookdown.org