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Topic: Operationalism

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	Percy Williams Bridgman Summary
		Operationalism required scientists to define things with respect to how their physical qualities are measured.
		Operationalism did nothing to resolve this dilemma, but as it turned out, the discussions of quantum mechanics were indebted to operationalism for their vocabulary.
		Bridgman is known also for his studies of electrical conduction in metals and properties of crystals and for his writings on the philosophy of modern science where he advanced the idea of operationalism.
	www.bookrags.com /Percy_Williams_Bridgman (2596 words)

	Rednova NEWS \| On Operationalisms and Economics (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		Operationalism was most stridently promoted in economics by Paul Samuelson, who offered it as the methodological backdrop for many of his early theoretical contributions, particularly Foundations (1947) and revealed preference theory (1938a).
		Operationalism was just what Bridgman and other physicists did in the laboratory: activities far more mundane and yet scientifically far more interesting than the abstract armchair philosophizing of the positivists.
		This certainly is not the standard positivist-inspired reading of Bridgman's operationalism, but it is an interpretation of knowledge that is fundamentally contingent on the purposeful operations of knowledge-seeking agents in the context of their interaction with the physical environment.
	www.rednova.com /modules/news/tools.php?tool=print&id=112364 (6155 words)

	On operationalisms and economics. - Journal, Magazine, Article, Periodical
		Operationalism was most stridently promoted in economics by Paul Samuelson, who offered it as the methodological backdrop for many of his early theoretical contributions, particularly Foundations (1947) and revealed preference theory (1938a).
		Although operationalism continues to receive a certain amount of ritual endorsement from practicing economists, few, if any, actually abide by (or even attempt to abide by) its methodological maxims.
		The discussion will focus on the variation among operationalist views (hence the title), and even though the standard interpretation admits that operationalism was more of a broad general framework than a single unified position, I will argue that the variation was actually much greater than commonly recognized.
	goliath.ecnext.com /coms2/summary_0199-3517875_ITM&referid=2090 (1110 words)

	[No title]
		You want a recipe that operationally defines the ingredients, their amounts, the exact cooking time and temperature, etc. In other words you want an operational definition of how the entrée was prepared so you can replicate it.
		When the variables in the hypothesis are operationally defined it is with the intent that they be valid measures of the constructs of the theory.
		Relative to validating operationally defined variables against theoretical constructs, Meta-analysis provides a means of determining the extent to which the multiple measures of supposedly the “same thing” correlate, as reported in the literature.
	www.shsu.edu /~icc_cmf/cj_787/research3.doc (3980 words)

	[No title]
		“Operationalism promised to put an end to subjectivism and to add to these notions the inherent rigor of science.
		Yaroshevsky points out that in Skinner’s article, published in 1931 (9) “for the first time the conditional reflex was interpreted not as the act of a real organism, but as derived from an experimental operation” (6, 197-198).
		In the 1940s Skinner came to the conclusion that operationally represented notions of stimulus and reactions were indiscernible.
	www.okstate.edu /osu_orgs/casa/artic/artikovs.html (1522 words)

	Scientific Realism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
		The depth of the theory dependence of scientific methods, and the extent to which they seem to depend on knowledge of unobservables, has posed a deeper challenge for logical empiricists and their allies.
		Operationalism was a proposal for rationally reconstructing the use of "theoretical terms" (terms that apparently refer to unobservables) in science by treating those terms as being completely defined in terms of particular operational procedures, thereby eliminating the apparent references to unobservables.
		Operationalism is not, for example, the idea that electron density is defined as whatever magnitude instruments of sort E reliably measure.
	plato.stanford.edu /entries/scientific-realism (8955 words)

	[No title]
		Since a single theoretical construct may be operationally defined in a number of different ways, discuss how this compounds the problem of linking the resulting variables with the theoretical construct they purport to measure.
		Given the concept of operationalism, defend the proposition that as the operational definition of a concept changes, so also does the concept being measured.
		Discuss the critical interdependence between the test of a hypothesis, operationalizing the variables, and the state of the art in measurement technology.
	www.shsu.edu /~icc_cmf/cj_787/research16.doc (4838 words)

	Psych 200 Unit 13 Module 3
		There are other approaches, such as logical positivism, but our discussion of operationalism will include all of the major factors to be considered in deciding how to accumulate, record, and present scientific information.
		Operationalism requires that an event be replicable, that is, capable of being repeated.
		Operationally, we might define happiness for a child (a /a Schultz) as "an opportunity to play with a puppy for 10 minutes."
	online.sfsu.edu /~psych200/unit13/133.htm (2555 words)

	States of Consciousness
		Operationalism is a way of rigorously defining some concept by describing the actual operations required to produce it.
		Operationalism, then, which uses external, physical, and behavioral criteria, is inadequate for dealing with many of the most important phenomena of d-ASCs.
		The level of precision of understanding and communication that an experiential operationalism will bring is very high; nevertheless, we should not overvalue operationalism and abandon hope of understanding a phenomenon we cannot define operationally.
	www.psychedelic-library.org /soc13.htm (3666 words)

	FREE WILL AND OPERATIONALISM (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		It is operationally impossible to measure c, given that we have measured a and b.
		Combining this observation with the success of operational definitions in relativity theory, the fundamental theory of space and time, and in quantum mechanics, the fundamental theory of matter, we can conclude that reality itself is operational.
		In one of the hypotheses in Bell's theorem, we assume the existence of a quantity which cannot be defined operationally.
	www.informationphysics.com /KBH/freewill.html (5158 words)

	Glossary of Terms: Pr
		The demobilisation of a subject in the aftermath of a successful struggle, and struggles which achieve victory in the form of binding agreements, bureaucratic incorporation or legal regulations, typify Sartre’s concerns with the “practico-inert.” Once a group “cools down” it leaves behind only an inert trace of its activity.
		Pragmatism is a current of philosophy associated with the name of Charles Sanders Peirce (Semiotics), William James, John Dewey, George Herbert Mead and Percy Bridgman (Operationalism), and often regarded as the quintessentially American philosophy.
		Operationalism takes Pragmatism to an extreme in demanding that every concept be given an operational definition, whereas in Pragmatism generally, it would be accepted that provided the theory of which a concept is a part can be tested, then the concept is legitimate.
	www.marxists.org /glossary/terms/p/r.htm (8268 words)

	[No title] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		Operationalism is the doctrine that all theoretical terms must have operational definitions.
		Note that operationalism goes far beyond the good advice to carefully specify what your technical terms mean and what criteria you use for them.
		It requires that theoretical terms are legitimate only if they can be shown not really to be theoretical terms at all.
	www-rohan.sdsu.edu /dept/phil/operatnot.htm (458 words)

	Abstracts
		This paper explores the influence of operationalism and its corollary, descriptivism, on Paul Samuelson's revealed preference theory as it developed between 1937 and 1948.
		As an illustration, he showed how utility could be operationally redefined as revealed preference, and, furthermore, how from hypotheses such as maximizing behavior, operationally meaningful theorems could be deduced, thereby satisfying his demand for a scientific, empirical approach toward consumer behavior theory.
		In addition, I argue that certain concepts (revealed preference, equilibrium) and theorems (e.g., weak and strong axioms) that are supposedly operational in revealed preference theory, lack operational meaning, not withstanding their mathematical implications.
	www.econmethodology.org /jem/issues/abstractsv2n1.html (681 words)

	Carnap, Rudolf [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
		Operationalism was formulated by the American physicist Percy Williams Bridgman (1882-1961) in his book The Logic of Modern Physics (1927).
		Bridgman asserted that the curvature of space-time, a concept used by Einstein in his general theory of relativity, is meaningless, because it is not definable by means of operations., Bridgman subsequently changed his philosophical point of view, and admitted there is an indirect connection with observations.
		Perhaps influenced by Popper's criticism, or by the problematic consequences of a strict operationalism, Carnap changed his earlier point of view and freely admitted a very indirect connection between theoretical terms and the observational language.
	www.iep.utm.edu /c/carnap.htm (5674 words)

	[No title] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		We can explore this question by seeing whether the explan- atory virtues of the MDM remain when we subtract first-person operationalism, that is, when we adopt a theory that accommodates the revisability just described but denies the operationalism.
		One such theory is the higher-order-thought explanation of conscious- ness that I've put forth elsewhere, and which Dennett discusses in chapter 10.2 When a mental state is conscious, one is conscious of being in that state.
		And that in turn suggests first-person operationalism, since how consciousness subjectively seems would then be the last word about its nature.
	web.gc.cuny.edu /cogsci/mdfm.htm (5760 words)

	Sociological Research Online
		Abstract: This paper is concerned with the question of representation in survey research, specifically in respect of the operationalisation of variables.
		In sociology, empiricist explanations of the social world are largely discredited and some form of realism is now commonly favoured by researchers.
		I will argue that operationalism is not a viable strategy and instead will put the case for a realist approach to definition and measurement in survey research.
	www.socresonline.org.uk /cgi-bin/abstract.pl?8/1/williams.html (110 words)

	Bridgman's The Logic of Modern Physics
		It is interesting to observe that any increased accuracy in knowledge of large scale phenomena must, as far as we now can see, arise from an increase in the accuracy of measurement of small things, that is, in the measurement of small angles or the analysis of minute differences of wave lengths in the spectra.
		It will never be possible to give a clean-cut logical analysis of the conceptual situation, for the nature of our concepts, according to our operational point of view, is the same as the nature of experimental knowledge, which is often hazy.
		Thus in the transition regions where nature is getting simpler and the number of operationally independent concepts changes, a certain haziness is inevitable, for the actual change in our conceptual structure in these transition regions is continuous, corresponding to the continuity of our experimental knowledge, whereas formally the number of concepts should be an integer.
	www.marxists.org /reference/subject/philosophy/works/us/bridgman.htm (7324 words)

	Re: instramentalists? (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		That is to say, theoretical terms do not have truth values (in fact they are not the type of things that could be true or false).
		This is one characterization of instrumentalism and I'm sure there are more sophisticated formulations (if I can recall from my undergraduate experience we discussed something called Operationalism which is sometimes called instrumentalism and where theoretical terms have meaning but their meaning just is the term's observational consequences.
		Like the formulation of instrumentalism I gave above, theoretical statements are still considered prediction "generators" - to borrow a term from one of my old professors - even though the operationalist will admit that the theoretical terms have meaning, even though it is meaning in a seeminly derivative sense).
	philosophy.wisc.edu /920/_disc3/00000034.htm (175 words)

	"A Philosophy of Science and Belief in God"
		Operationalism attempted to prove the laws of nature and to erect scientific principles of nature and religion upon them.
		Operationalism is offered as the best guess science can offer.
		But this is nothing more than asking people to believe what some hope to be true, and cannot prove it, or ever prove it.
	www.apuritansmind.com /Apologetics/GordonClark/McMahonSummaryPhilosophyScience.htm (2113 words)

	RS618 exercise 1
		A guideline for the decision to repeat some or all of the format is based on your judgment of whether or not the author's alternative indicators result from a different definitional base or not.
		From your reading you should be able to name the concept, render a reasonably pithy verbal description which underlies and summarizes the meaning attached to the concept by the author(s), describe the set of specific operationalizations used to gather data---the questions asked, the observational categories coded, the "secondary indicators" used---and the rules for establishing correspondences.
		If the authors have used the same concept in several different ways throughout the chapter, this should be your hint as to possibilities of differences in dimensionality of meaning attached to the concept.
	instruct1.cit.cornell.edu /courses/rsoc618-719/618lab1.htm (783 words)

	The KLI Theory Lab - keywords - operationalism
		The KLI Theory Lab - keywords - operationalism
		Hull, D.L. The use and abuse of Sir Karl Popper.
		Keywords: cladistics • evolutionary theory • Lamarckism • metaphysical research programs • operationalism • Popper • stage laws • tautology • testability.
	www.kli.ac.at /theorylab/Keyword/O/operationalism.html (63 words)

	PKT message, Re: Say's Law and Operationalism - Tobin Addendum
		Alan: My statement is predicated on epistemological considerations, including mathematical logic in the specific context of Samuelson's application of the differential calculus in static analysis.
		In the context of Newtonian physics, Samuelson's contention to the contrary is the logical equivalent of FIRST stipulating that all particles in the universe interact gravitationally at all points in time and THEN reasoning AS IF "vanishingly small deviations" from associated equilibrium paths were logically admissible.
		Re: Say's Law and Operationalism - Tobin Addendum, Gunnar Tomasson Tue 09 May 2000, 22:35 GMT
	archives.econ.utah.edu /archives/pkt/2000m05/msg00032.htm (465 words)

	Set theory and physics
		At the same time, physicists should be open to ``bizarre'' or ``mindboggling'' new formalisms, which need not be operationalizable or testable at the time of their creation, but which may successfully lead to novel fields of phenomenology and technology.
		Rössler's [60] endo-/exophysics approach and the author's [61] intrinsic-extrinsic distinction differ only insofar, as the operational mode of perception is contrasted with a hierarchical mode of perception of an observer outside of the system.
		Indeed, it is quite justifiable to consider operationalism as the consequential persuasion of Descartes' [65] sketch of the scientific method.
	tph.tuwien.ac.at /~svozil/publ/set.htm (6923 words)

	Deming as Pragmatist - research paper (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		This occurs, I believe, because Bridgman's operationalism is very much akin to the pragmatic concept of experimentalism.
		Bridgman's emphasis on operationalism and operational definitions, however, place him as an important contributor to pragmatic thought.
		Shewhart was the key individual in Deming's intellectual life because he was a bridge between Deming and the philosophy of Lewis, the operationalism of Bridgman, and the statistical advances made by Fisher, Neyman and other pioneers.
	deming.eng.clemson.edu /pub/den/deming_as_prag.htm (9121 words)

	Ockham's Razor - 10/09/00: Who Pulls The Strings?
		This prepared me for my initial enthusiasm for the doctrine of operationalism, that is that the meaning of a concept is synonymous with a set of operations, usually a set of measurements.
		For example, when the electron was first discovered, it was determined operationally to be a particle; an operational definition at that stage would not have allowed for its wave property.
		It is beyond the range of a short talk to explore operationalism fully.
	www.abc.net.au /rn/science/ockham/stories/s173625.htm (1947 words)

	2 Respectable Metaphysics Versus Partial Operationalism
		Humans may be getting the goods out faster and faster with improvements in the machines they use, but this will only empty the store-house sooner.
		To provide a theoretical interpretation of the data Simon introduces the idea of partial operationalism.
		Simon stops short of a wholesale operationalism, but insists that in order for any economic theory of finite resources to be testable, one has to construct an operational definition of the word "finite" in order that it may be measurable.
	www.eeng.dcu.ie /~tkpw/tcr/volume-01/number-02/node3.html (1729 words)

	operationalism - OneLook Dictionary Search
		Tip: Click on the first link on a line below to go directly to a page where "operationalism" is defined.
		operationalism : Encarta® World English Dictionary, North American Edition [home, info]
		operationalism : Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, 10th Edition [home, info]
	www.onelook.com /cgi-bin/cgiwrap/bware/dofind.cgi?word=operationalism (142 words)

	Science (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		Given that humans are thinking beings, the rule of operationalism becomes not only restrictive to the social sciences, which seek to understand the thinking of individuals and collectivities, but in itself a contradiction in that scientists are thinking beings who make observations about reality.
		Nothing is observed directly by the senses; all observations are filtered through the experiences and biases of humans who interpret the raw sense data gathered by their eyes, ears, etc.
		Critique of the omission of values: Once the rules of operationalism and nominalism are shown to be logically impossible to follow, then it becomes evident that all observations are influenced by the values and biases of the observer.
	www.soc.iastate.edu /sapp/Science.html (2375 words)

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