What is the difference between conceptual and operational variables?

Research studies usually include terms that must be carefully and precisely defined, so that others know exactly what has been done and there are no ambiguities. Two types of definitions can be given: conceptual definitions and operational definitions.

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What is the difference between operational and conceptual?
What is a operational variable?
What is a conceptual variable?
What is an operational variable example?

Loosely speaking, a conceptual definition explains what to measure or observe (what a word or a term means for your study), and an operational definitions defines exactly how to measure or observe it.

For example, in a study of stress in students during a university semester. A conceptual definition would describe what is meant by ‘stress.’ An operational definition would describe how the ‘stress’ would be measured.

Definition 2.1 (Conceptual definition) A conceptual definition articulates what exactly is to be measured or observed in a study.

Definition 2.2 (Operational definition) An operational definition articulates how to capture (identify, create, measure, assess etc.) the value.

Sometimes the definitions themselves aren’t important, provided a clear definition is given. Sometimes, commonly-accepted definitions exist, so should be used unless there is a good reason to use a different definition (for example, in criminal law, an ‘adult’ in Australia is someone aged 18 or over).

Sometimes, a commonly-accepted definition does not exist, so the definition being used should be clearly articulated.

Example 2.2 (Operational and conceptual definitions) Players and fans have become more aware of concussions and head injuries in sport. A Conference on concussion in sport developed this conceptual definition (McCrory et al. 2013):

Concussion is a brain injury and is defined as a complex pathophysiological process affecting the brain, induced by biomechanical forces. Several common features that incorporate clinical, pathologic and biomechanical injury constructs that may be utilised in defining the nature of a concussive head injury include:
Concussion may be caused either by a direct blow to the head, face, neck or elsewhere on the body with an “impulsive” force transmitted to the head.
Concussion typically results in the rapid onset of short-lived impairment of neurological function that resolves spontaneously. However, in some cases, symptoms and signs may evolve over a number of minutes to hours.
Concussion may result in neuropathological changes, but the acute clinical symptoms largely reflect a functional disturbance rather than a structural injury and, as such, no abnormality is seen on standard structural neuroimaging studies.
Concussion results in a graded set of clinical symptoms that may or may not involve loss of consciousness. Resolution of the clinical and cognitive symptoms typically follows a sequential course. However, it is important to note that in some cases symptoms may be prolonged.

While this is all helpful… it does not explain how to identify a player with concussion during a game.

Rugby decided on this operational definition (Raftery et al. 2016):

… a concussion applies with any of the following:
The presence, pitch side, of any Criteria Set 1 signs or symptoms (table 1)… [Note: This table includes symptoms such as ‘convulsion,’ ‘clearly dazed,’ etc.];
An abnormal post game, same day assessment…;
An abnormal 36–48 h assessment…;
The presence of clinical suspicion by the treating doctor at any time…

Example 2.3 (Operational and conceptual definitions) Consider a study requiring water temperature to be measured.

An operational definition would explain how the temperature is measured: the thermometer type, how the thermometer was positioned, how long was it left in the water, and so on.

In contrast, a conceptual definition might describe the scientific definition of temperature.

Example 2.4 (Operational definitions) Consider a study measuring stress in first-year university students.

Stress cannot be measured directly, but could be assessed using a survey (like the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (Cohen et al. 1983)).

The operational definition of stress is the score on the ten-question PSS. Other means of measuring stress are also possible (such as heart rate or blood pressure).

For example, in a study of stress in students during a university semester, a conceptual definition would describe what is meant by 'stress'. An operational definition would describe how the 'stress' would be measured.

Definition 1.1 (Conceptual definition) A conceptual definition articulates what exactly is to be measured or observed in a study.

Definition 1.2 (Operational definition) An operational definition articulates how to capture (identify, create, measure, assess etc.) the value.

Sometimes the definitions themselves aren't important, provided a clear definition is given. Sometimes, commonly-accepted definitions exist, so should be used unless there is a good reason to use a different definition (for example, in criminal law, an 'adult' in Australia is someone aged 18 or over).

Sometimes, a commonly-accepted definition does not exist, so the definition being used should be clearly articulated.

Example 1.2 (Operational and conceptual definitions) A student project at my university used this RQ:

Amongst students[...], on average do student who participate in competitive swimming have greater shoulder flexibility than the remainder of the able-bodied USC student population?

In this RQ, how shoulder flexibility is being measured is not clear. An operational definition is needed (which the student did not provde...).

Example 1.3 (Operational and conceptual definitions) Players and fans have become more aware of concussions and head injuries in sport. A Conference on concussion in sport developed this conceptual definition (McCrory et al. 2013):

Concussion is a brain injury and is defined as a complex pathophysiological process affecting the brain, induced by biomechanical forces. Several common features that incorporate clinical, pathologic and biomechanical injury constructs that may be utilised in defining the nature of a concussive head injury include:
Concussion may be caused either by a direct blow to the head, face, neck or elsewhere on the body with an "impulsive" force transmitted to the head.
Concussion typically results in the rapid onset of short-lived impairment of neurological function that resolves spontaneously. However, in some cases, symptoms and signs may evolve over a number of minutes to hours.
Concussion may result in neuropathological changes, but the acute clinical symptoms largely reflect a functional disturbance rather than a structural injury and, as such, no abnormality is seen on standard structural neuroimaging studies.
Concussion results in a graded set of clinical symptoms that may or may not involve loss of consciousness. Resolution of the clinical and cognitive symptoms typically follows a sequential course. However, it is important to note that in some cases symptoms may be prolonged.

While this is all helpful... it does not explain how to identify a player with concussion during a game.

Rugby decided on this operational definition (Raftery et al. 2016):

... a concussion applies with any of the following:
The presence, pitch side, of any Criteria Set 1 signs or symptoms (table 1)... [Note: This table includes symptoms such as 'convulsion', 'clearly dazed', etc.];
An abnormal post game, same day assessment...;
An abnormal 36--48 h assessment...;
The presence of clinical suspicion by the treating doctor at any time...

Example 1.4 (Operational and conceptual definitions) Consider a study requiring water temperature to be measured.

An operational definition would explain how the temperature is measured: the thermometer type, how the thermometer was positioned, how long was it left in the water, and so on.

In contrast, a conceptual definition might describe the scientific definition of temperature.

Example 1.5 (Operational definitions) Consider a study measuring stress in first-year university students.

Stress cannot be measured directly, but could be assessed using a survey (like the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (Cohen, Kamarck, and Mermelstein 1983)).

The operational definition of stress is the score on the ten-question PSS. Other means of measuring stress are also possible (such as heart rate or blood pressure).

What is the difference between operational and conceptual?

A conceptual definition tells you what the concept means, while operational definitions only tell you how to measure it. If you have only an operational definition, you may know how to measure it, but you won't know what you are measuring.

What is a operational variable?

Operational variables (or operationalizing definitions) refer to how you will define and measure a specific variable as it is used in your study. This enables another psychologist to replicate your research and is essential in establishing reliability (achieving consistency in the results).

What is a conceptual variable?

In statistics, a conceptual variable represents some abstract construct or entity that we want to measure. However, we can't directly measure a conceptual variable so we instead use an actual measure to quantify the conceptual variable.

What is an operational variable example?

Example One: A researcher wants to measure if age is related to addiction. Perhaps their hypothesis is: the incidence of addiction will increase with age. Here we have two variables, age and addiction. In order to make the research as clear as possible, the researcher must define how they will measure these variables.