a short essay highlighting the importance of using operational definition

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Why Operational Definition is Important in Six Sigma Measure Phase?

Six Sigma Green Belt practitioners who took a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt training have a firm grasp on the concept of “Operational Definition” in the measure phase and how it can help a project using the Six Sigma approach . Let’s define an “Operational Definition.” It can be defined as a clear and understandable description of what is to be observed and measured , such that different people collecting, using and interpreting data will do so consistently. It is a protocol that is followed in the MEASURE phase of the DMAIC process as discussed in Lean training courses . An operational definition is a clear, concise and detailed definition of a measure, that’s why it’s an important term for the measure phase. It is a concept to guide what properties will be measured and how they will be measured during the measure phase.

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Defining Operational Definition of the Measure Phase

In Six Sigma Measure Phase, an operational definition is a precise definition of the specific “Y” to be measured. The “Y” could be “Small Y” or “Big Y”. It is often used for attribute data and describes a standard criterion to measure against. Operational definitions of the measure phase can also include text descriptions, pictures, photographs, models or samples. In the words of our Quality guru Deming:

“An operational definition is one that people can do business with…. It must be communicable, with the same meaning to vendor as to purchaser, same meaning yesterday and today…”

Why set a baseline?

Operational Definitions of the measure phase are used to baseline the performance . The purpose of the definition is to provide a single, agreed upon meaning for each specific “Y”. This helps ensure reliability, also the consistency is built in up-front during the measure phase. You need operational definitions when collecting all types of data in the measure phase. It is particularly important when a decision is being made about whether something is defective or not, whether a defect exists or not etc.

For example, how do you know if a package via courier has been delivered on time or not on time? The data collection will be meaningless if the definition of ‘On Time’ has not been specified. Therefore, operational definitions should be developed and tested before the data collection begins in the measure phase.

Measure Phase: Operational Definitions Worksheet

When collecting data, it is essential that everyone in the system has the same understanding and collects data in the same way . An Operational Definitions Worksheet (ODW) should, therefore, be made in the measure phase; before the collection of data begins. Any time data is being collected, it is necessary to define how to collect the data. Data that is not defined will usually be inconsistent and will give an erroneous result. It is easy to assume that those collecting the data during the measure phase understand what and how to complete the task. However; people have different opinions and views, and these will affect the data collection. The only way to ensure consistent data collection is by means of a detailed operational definition that eliminates ambiguity.

There is no single right method to document an operational definition. What people in the team or group agree to use for a specific purpose is documented via operational definition. The concept is simple enough for those who work on organizational change.

Measure Phase: Elements of Operational Definition Worksheet

An operational definition worksheet is a document or repository for recording operational definitions before the data collection activity begins in the measure phase. We’ve already got to know what an operational definition of measure phase is and should be. Now, let’s discuss the elements of operational definition worksheet. Please see the figure below to understand the elements of the operational definition worksheet. What are we trying to measure?

The first element of the operational definition worksheet refers to what we are trying to measure . Normally; in the measure phase, we try to measure process performance with the help of one or two process metrics. It could be on-time delivery, turnaround time, the number of defects etc.

Measure Phase: What is in and out of scope?

The second element of the operational definition worksheet refers to the scope of what we are trying to measure. In other words, we need to understand what is in-scope and out-of- scope for a specific measure . For example; the measure of ‘Responsiveness’ may not include customer verbatim and comments. An email that has been considered as a ‘Detractor’ or ‘Incorrect’ and/or ‘Incomplete’ may or may not include common and non-critical defects. In short, the project team has to define the scope of each parameter that they try to measure in the measure phase.

Measure Phase: How do we define the measure?

The third element of the operational definition worksheet refers to the definition of a measure . The turnaround time for a process under consideration has been defined as X% emails getting answered within 24 hours. Moreover, customer satisfaction has been defined and quantified as X% of the customers rating service provider at a score of 90% and above.

How do we record the measurement?

The fourth element of the operational definition worksheet refers to the method of recording the measurement . The data related to customer satisfaction shall be recorded from the C-Sat report provided by the third party vendor. The score assigned to Customer Verbatim in C-Sat report shall be final.

How to Develop Operational Definition Worksheet in the Measure Phase?

Let’s discuss the process of developing an operational definition worksheet in the measure phase.

1) Identify the characteristic to be measured

The first step is to identify the characteristic we are interested in . In other words, during the measure phase, we have to identify the characteristic we want to measure or the defect type of concern.

2) Selecting the measuring instrument

The second step in developing an operational definition worksheet is to select the measuring instrument of the measure phase. The measuring instrument is either a physical piece of measuring equipment (such as a micrometer, scale, or a clock) or a visual check. We may want to include standards; if we are doing a visual check. For example, we may be judging the color of a product. We should include standards that indicate the acceptable color range

3) Describe the test method

The third step in developing an operational definition worksheet is to describe the test method of the measure phase. The test method is an actual procedure used for taking the measurement. When measuring time, start time and end time of the test need to be specified. When taking any measurement, the degree of accuracy needs to be stated without fail. For instance, it is important to know whether turnaround time will be measured in hours, minutes and seconds or only in hours and minutes.

4) State the decision criteria

The fourth step in developing an operational definition worksheet during the measure phase is to state the decision criteria. The decision criteria represent the conclusion of the test. Does the problem exist? Is the item correct? Whenever a visual check is used, a clear definition of ‘Acceptable’ versus ‘Unacceptable’ is essential. Physical examples or photographs for the acceptable and unacceptable, together with written support, are the best definitions.

5) Document the operational definition

The fifth step in developing an operational definition worksheet is to document the operational definition . It is important that the operational definition is documented and standardized in the measure phase. Definitions should be included in training materials and job procedure sheets. The results of steps 1 through 4 should be included in one document. The operational definition and the appropriate standards should be kept at the work station.

6) Test the operational definition

The sixth step in developing an operational definition worksheet is testing the operational definition . It is essential to test the operational definition before implementation during the measure phase. Input from those that are actually going to complete the tests is particularly important. The operational definition should make the task clear and easy to perform. The best way to test an operational definition is to ask different people to complete the test on several items by following the operational definition. We can watch how they perform the test.

When looking at how they took the measurements in the measure phase, one has to ask the following questions:

• Firstly, are they completing the test as expected?
• Secondly, are the results consistent?
• Finally, are the results correct?

And that is how you design an operational definitions worksheet in the measure phase. Having a standardized protocol or operational definition worksheet for taking measurements is vital for Six Sigma measure phase. These Six Sigma projects are data driven and the success of a project depends on the accuracy of the data. A good operational definitions worksheet will enable the Six Sigma practitioner to collect accurate and reliable data.

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The Importance of Operational Definitions: Deming in Education with David P. Langford (Part 12)

Oct 31, 2022

Operational definitions are clearly defined words, phrases, and concepts that everyone working together agrees to use in the same way. Making assumptions about words like "tardy" or "good" is a fast track to confusion and disengagement. In part 12 of our Deming in Education series, Andrew and David talk about operational definitions in education - for students, faculty, and administrators. 

0:00:02.2 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz, and I'll be your host as we continue our journey into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today, I'm continuing my discussion with David P. Langford, who has devoted his life to applying Dr. Deming's philosophy to education, and he offers us his practical advice for implementation. Today's topic is operational definitions for life and learning. David, take it away.

0:00:30.5 David Langford: So, hello Andrew. And so today, I was thinking about the concept that Deming offered to the world could be very profound, and that's why he called it profound knowledge about looking through stuff and deep and it can see... Seem kind of overwhelming, but at the same time, some of the best concepts or ways to think about things are really pretty simple, actually, and amazing, if you adopt just a few principles consistently and really get it in your psychic about how to operate, it can make life so much easier either for your own children or if you're a teacher in school or administrator or whatever, you might be in education... So one of those concepts is the idea of operational definitions. So one of the elements of profound knowledge is systems thinking or appreciation for a system, and so you have a system whether that be a classroom or maybe you're taking your own children on a summer vacation or whatever it might be, that in itself is a system as well. And a lot of the dysfunction that we deal with, especially in schools, actually is coming from the system itself. In fact, Deming talked about that 94% to 98% of the problem can be systemic, right? And the other 1% or 2% is probably special cause variation.

0:02:21.0 DL: So how do we go about making the common cause variation the norm? [chuckle] Now, in schools, what I was taught as a teacher was how to manage dysfunction. Nobody ever taught me how to prevent dysfunction, I sort of had to figure that out over time, that's where you get experience, and... But how do you actually prevent dysfunction, behavior dysfunction, learning dysfunction... Whatever it might be that you've got going on? Well, one of the simplest ways is to take a look at what you could do with operational definitions, so what do we mean by that? Operational definitions, basically just defining, how are we going to operate? So I'll never forget when I was... I think it was about fourth grade, I'd come in early from lunch and I remember I was sitting on the heat register on the side and the bell rang, and I jumped up and ran to my seat, and just as the teacher came in, seeing me run to my seat, and she pulled me out and I got into really super big trouble over that, et cetera, that because I was running in the classroom, okay. So there is a place where you could start to think about operationally defining about where do you want people to be when the bell rings? Something so simple as that, or if you have people late to school in the morning, well, what does that mean? What do you want them to do? Where do you want to be? How can you operationally define it? In the operation of what's going on, how are we gonna define that?

0:04:17.9 DL: I remember when I first started down this pathway and started thinking about things, I asked about 20 different teachers, I said, "What does on time mean to you? Just pick a card and write that down." Well, we got 20 definitions, and some of them were really good, really excellent and well thought out, and I want people in the room, in their seat with their writing utensils and whatever it might be, but when you start thinking about it in a school with a staff of 20... And if you're a student in that school and you're encountering these 20 different individuals with 20 different operational definitions of being on time, that's likely to cause variation in the system, right? And even from, say, one classroom, and you move to the classroom across the hall, if you could eliminate some of that variation, you're gonna eliminate some of the dysfunction. You know, what do we really want? But it starts to get into... Deming talked about... One of the elements of profound knowledge was understanding psychology.

0:04:38.4 DL: Well, it's the very same thing in the school, so if I'm gonna work together with all the other teachers in the school to come up with a common definition of what is on-time performance, or what does that look like, I may have to give up on some of my pet peeves about what I want, right? So that we end up with a very common definition of what goes on, and why would I do that? Well, because if I do that, chances are I'm not gonna be spending my time dealing with a lot of dysfunction. We've got an operational definition of what this means, and it's the same thing with a paper that you might write or... I remember even in college, many different professors had different criteria for how a title page should be and how it should be spaced and what it should be like and how it should... And if they just as a university gotten together and said, "Hey, at this university, here's a very common way, it's very common in life. Everybody should have a title page which you're gonna hand in the paper and it's gonna look like this". And...

0:06:46.3 DL: You then... So as a student, you wouldn't have to go from professor to professor to professor and learn a different strategy every place you go. So it's that working together to create common definitions that creates function within a system. And why would we wanna do that? Well, as a teacher, I don't wanna deal with all the dysfunction. [chuckle] My job was, I wanted to teach business applications or computer technology, or I wanna teach music or... I don't wanna have to deal with all the stuff that happens on a daily basis. Well, one of the ways to do that is work together to create operational definitions for the good of everyone in the system.

0:07:34.3 AS: And one question I have about that is, is an... Sounds like half of the benefit of an operational definition is agreeing what are not our operational definitions for that particular thing. If you say that 20 people have their opinion, then you have a discussion about that, and everybody agrees that, Okay, we're not gonna do all of those. And, okay, our operational definition may not be the best, and we could change it later. That's actually... That's less important than the idea of constantly communicating different operational definitions, or that's a... Different definitions from people. Would you say that that's half the value of it?

0:08:18.9 DL: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. But it takes this thinking, systems thinking for everybody in an organization, whether you're talking about a business or schools or whatever you might be thinking about, to have a common definition of what's happening. Even with my own children, we have five children, my wife and I thought we were so clever one year, it'd been snowing like crazy, and for months and months and months. And so we set up this whole trip to go to Disneyland. And we didn't tell anybody. We just got up one morning like, We're gonna go to school and... And we... My wife gave everybody a card and said, "We're leaving. We're getting out of here. Are you tired of the snow?" And everybody's like, Yeah, yeah, we're getting out. Well, where are we going? And it was a big surprise and... So I don't know. But, yeah, we got everybody there and we're going to all these places, Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland, and we're doing all this stuff and everything. And I noticed about the third night at dinner time, everybody's just kinda depressed. And my wife and I were really frustrated that, What are you... Why are you guys so depressed and everything else? Well, this is all great and everything, and it's fun and everything, and... But we just wanted to go to the beach. 'Cause we live in Montana and we don't have beaches, and they'd never seen the ocean, and...

0:09:45.2 DL: So if we'd just spent a little time operationally defining ahead of time, what do we wanna do in our trip and what would be the most fun thing to do, etcetera, we probably could have saved thousands of dollars of doing stuff that we thought people wanted to do, but instead...

0:10:01.6 AS: And, David, you and your wife would have been sitting in comfortable chairs in the sand...

0:10:07.0 DL: That's right.

0:10:07.1 AS: Relaxing, rather than...

0:10:09.3 DL: Chasing people around, so...

0:10:10.4 AS: Yeah. Another question I have is, say, Okay, what do you do with a situation, I'm thinking about, you're a leader of a school, and you come in, you go, We're gonna set operational definitions. And then you've got all these people like, Oh, that just sounds like engineering, it sounds like a business, and we gotta get all of this and everybody's gotta do the same thing and we gotta all... And you're definitely gonna get a lot of people that say, No, we need variety, and we need all this creativity and that type of thing. How do you draw that line between that tension there?

0:10:41.1 DL: Yeah, you're exactly right. We do wanna promote creativity and we do want to have things different. But I'd much rather have creativity in my history class and kids being very creative around history versus being creative around common practices within the school. And it's not like you can actually, like you said, you're... Let's say you're an administrator coming into a new school, that you can just sit down and just operationally define everything you wanna operationally define. Doesn't really work like that. It's more of a living document or a living way to be, right?

0:11:16.6 AS: Yup.

0:11:19.1 DL: So as you start to see, when... It's often talked about with Deming's profound knowledge, it's like putting on a different pair of tinted glasses. You start to see the world and you start to see everything differently. Well, this is one of those things. As soon as you put on these... These glasses and start to think about operational definitions, you start to see all the kinds of places, dysfunctional places where operational definitions would be great. And basically, it means, How do we agree to operate? So one of the ways that you get rid of the resistance to operational definitions is getting people to agree to operate in a certain way. And on my consulting business, I've got several different tools and practices of ways to do that, how do you quickly get people to agree on something. But the bottom line is, when you're involving them in the process of setting an operational definition, they're much, much, much less likely to not wanna do it in the end, right?

0:12:29.2 AS: Right, right.

0:12:30.4 DL: That's much different than me just coming in as the administrator or whatever authority figure it might be, boss, teacher, administrator or whatever, and I just start telling people, This is the way it's gonna be. Well, if you start doing that, you're gonna have resistance.

0:12:47.5 AS: Yeah. Yup. So then I'm...

0:12:49.2 DL: And then you go to spending all your time dealing with the resistance.

0:12:51.1 AS: And I'm... I guess what I'm taking away from what you're saying is that maybe if that administrator was coming in and he's facing all kinds of problems, whether it's tardiness or whatever, that maybe he works with his team to say, Let's identify our top five problems that are causing us the most variation in our outcome, and let's get some definitions around these things, we don't need to define everything that's happening, but these are things that if we can work on these they can improve our outcomes, and that to me sounds like he'd win a lot of or she would win a lot of support because people are struggling dealing with all these things all the time, like well, Mr. Jensen says that five minutes late is not late. You said it's late, and I don't care whatever, I don't wanna deal with that.

0:13:40.0 DL: And then you got a battle and then you're just dealing with their resistance instead of dealing with the system itself and things that are in vogue now, like standards-based learning. Well, I've talked to different schools, nobody can define it clearly. Nobody can even define it within a district, they all agree that they would like to go forward with that, but there's a good example, if you wanna introduce something or move forward with something and get people on board or committed to doing stuff, hey, let's start operationally defining what is standards-based learning or standards-based grading, and how can we get some clarity around these common terms about what we have. It's also something for the future. So you got a new employee, you've got new teachers coming in, whatever, hey, I'm gonna hand them this document that defines... Okay, we're doing standards-based grading here. Now, it may not be the same exact definition of what you thought about where you came from before, but here's how we think about it, and you could bring new knowledge and creativity to this to help us refine our definitions of what are all these things under this one concept. And so to me, that's how you get continual improvement. It's not...

0:15:08.8 AS: I guess that is a type of training to say, Okay, we've found that these... Once we understand these things, that if you can understand these things, now you're gonna be able to bring a consistency to the students that is gonna be valuable. One last question for me on this is that, let's just say that the kernel, the core of learning is that interaction between the child and the book and the teacher, and the process of going through this discovery, which I'm wondering, when we look at operational definitions, again, someone may say, you're just trying to put rules about all of this stuff, or are you saying that there's a lot of outside things that we've got to resolve so that we can have more time for this real quality learning experience, or are you saying that we even wanna have operational definitions within how we're doing all that learning?

0:16:06.6 DL: Yeah, absolutely. So you mentioned the term discovery, I have no idea what you're talking about. [chuckle] What are you gonna tell a third grader? Well, we want you to do discovery. What the heck is that? What is discovery and what's the process of discovery that you want them to go through? Well, when you go to the library and randomly grab three books, spend a little time thumbing through them, there's a process to discovery. You don't just leave it up to the randomness of people that already know how to do that, right? Your job is to optimize a system, so you want everybody to be able to do discovery-type kinds of things, and when somebody comes up with a new innovative way that they do discovery, say in science or something, okay, let's hear that and let's try that, let's do maybe a miniature PDSA and let's have everybody try it and see what we learn from that and see if this is a better process for the process of discovery. And there you go.

0:17:16.0 AS: So then for the listeners and viewers out there, there you go, David called me out right there. I'm coming out with vague statements without providing operational definitions, and there is the benefit of it. And I was just thinking about what does discovery mean to me? I think it means something different from what it means to others. As a financial analyst, the way I did discovery is I find the strongest opponent to this idea and the strongest supporter to this idea, and I try to get them on the phone.

0:17:45.6 DL: But there's a process right there, that's a process of discovery.

0:17:48.9 AS: Yeah.

0:17:50.4 DL: And it's not like you have to be locked into a definition, you could have five or six different processes of discovery that you want people to choose from, or if you've got your own, let's define what that is. Right?

0:18:11.4 AS: Yeah.

0:18:11.9 DL: But as soon as you start to do that, you start to get clarity and then you start to see, Well, if it doesn't work, but we defined it well, let's go back and re-look at our definition and redefine it. And you could define things just in a paragraph, in words, in sentences, but you can also define things with flow charts, process charts, ways to look at things, those are also operational definitions.

0:18:39.8 AS: So this brings me to... I think my closing thought on it is, it brings me to the idea of PDSA, it brings me to the idea of how do we gain knowledge in our company or in our school, let's say, and how do we make sure that we don't lose knowledge, like we're constantly losing... We understood that before, but nobody uses the manual anymore, and those people left, and now we're back to...

0:19:08.1 AS: Going back to the same process and what I... The breakthrough I had when I really started to understand what Deming was talking about, was that if you're constantly going back and looking, Okay, what is discovery? Okay, we've just taught it... This definition, we've just taught it for a year, what did we learn, how can we improve it? Oh, there's three different ways that we now see and then how do we learn and how do we continue to modify that definition until it's a clear definition in our organization and what that does in a business is it builds a competitive strength that your competitor doesn't have because they haven't been rethinking and improving their knowledge and sustaining that knowledge and bringing it up to another level, and that is the concept of competitive advantage in the business world that I just think is such a breakthrough, and I would say that Toyota is probably the one that really built so much into their "just in time" and their Lean and all of that type of stuff, and that they built a whole system of brilliant knowledge within it. How would you relate that back to the classroom and school and organization?

0:20:12.2 DL: Well, it's... You're basically doing the same thing in a classroom, if you're a teacher in a school, you're getting a competitive edge, just so to speak, not that you're competing against anybody else really, but you're optimizing things in a way. I just remember after a few years, I'd have teachers come in to visit my classroom to see what was going on and they couldn't understand what was happening because they'd say, Well, you're just not dealing with stuff that I deal with every day. And a lot of that came from working with the kids when they came in and we'd set operational definitions about when do you need to be in your seat? There's times that, yeah, you need to be in your seat and there's times that, no, that's really stupid, you know what, I don't want you in your seat and so let's get some clarity right at the very beginning of the school year so that we're not dealing with that all the way... All the way through the school year.

0:21:15.0 AS: Right, so let me try to wrap this up, we talked about a lot of stuff, but ultimately our topic was operational definitions for life and learning, we talked about how operational definitions can make your life easier. We also talked about the idea of understanding systems and systems thinking, and that a lot of dysfunction is coming from the system and operational definitions can help you try to actually prevent that dysfunction or eliminate it because now those things are clear. And also, what I heard from you too, is the idea that different definitions, if you allow many different definitions to go on, you are adding variation to your system, and therefore you're bringing trouble for yourself, and then also we got into this discussion about what is discovery and what is the process of discovery? And then we came up with the operational definitions that we could have two or three of them, but ultimately that we discuss it, we work on it, and then if we can build it into our organization, then it's something that we're building step-by-step, competency in what we do. Is there anything else you would add to that?

0:22:32.6 DL: Yeah, in one of the podcasts we did, we spent a lot of time on optimization, and this is around that concept, how do you optimize a class for peak performance, meaning you're getting the highest number of students to the highest level possible within the shortest amount of time, you're optimizing what's going on within that. Well, one of the ways you do that is setting operational definitions, working together with people to set those definitions. I guarantee you, you will see performance go up as a whole, which is your job.

0:23:08.2 AS: Fantastic. Well, that was a great episode with a lot of stuff. David, on behalf of everybody at the Deming Institute, I wanna thank you again for this discussion and for the listeners, remember to go to deming.org to continue your journey. Listeners, you can learn more about David at langfordlearning.com and this is your host Andrew Stotz and I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming, are you ready? "People are entitled to joy in work."

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Our podcasts feature interviews with members of the Deming community, including industry leaders, practitioners, educators, Deming family members, and others who share their stories of transformation and success through innovative management and quality theories of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Podcast episodes prior to 2022 were hosted, produced, and edited by Tripp Babbitt.

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Understanding Operational Definition: A Comprehensive Guide

In the realm of research and analysis, operational definitions serve as the cornerstone of clarity and precision. This article aims to demystify the concept of operational definition, shedding light on its significance, applications, and how it enhances the rigor of scientific inquiry.

What is an Operational Definition?

An operational definition is a clear and precise description of a variable or concept, specifying the operations or procedures used to measure or manipulate it in a study. Essentially, it lays the groundwork for turning abstract concepts into tangible, measurable entities.

Also Read: what is imginn?

The Significance of Operational Definitions

Operational definitions play a pivotal role in various fields, including psychology, sociology, and the natural sciences. Here’s why they matter:

1. Precision in Measurement

By providing explicit instructions on how to measure a particular variable, operational definitions eliminate ambiguity and ensure consistency in data collection.

2. Replicability and Reliability

A well-defined operation allows other researchers to replicate a study with similar results. This enhances the credibility and trustworthiness of scientific findings.

3. Clarity in Communication

Researchers from different backgrounds can better understand and evaluate a study when operational definitions are clearly articulated.

4. Avoiding Conceptual Confusion

Without operational definitions, researchers might have different interpretations of a concept, leading to confusion and unreliable results.

Creating an Effective Operational Definition

Crafting a robust operational definition requires careful consideration and attention to detail. Here are the steps to follow:

Step 1: Identify the Variable

Clearly state the variable you intend to measure or manipulate. Be specific and unambiguous.

Step 2: Specify Measurement Procedures

Describe in detail how you will measure or manipulate the variable. Include tools, techniques, and any necessary conditions.

Step 3: Pilot Testing

Before implementing the operational definition in a full-scale study, conduct pilot tests to ensure clarity and feasibility.

Step 4: Refinement

Based on pilot results, refine the operational definition if needed. It should be clear and applicable to the study’s context.

Common Misconceptions about Operational Definitions

1. equating with dictionary definitions.

An operational definition goes beyond dictionary meanings. It provides precise instructions for measurement or manipulation.

2. One-Size-Fits-All Approach

Operational definitions are context-specific. What works in one study may not be suitable for another.

3. Set in Stone

Operational definitions can evolve based on new insights, technology, or changes in research methods.

Operational definitions are the linchpin of scientific inquiry, offering a clear path to transforming abstract concepts into measurable variables. Their importance in research cannot be overstated, as they enhance precision, replicability, and communication.

• Yes, as research methods evolve and insights deepen, operational definitions may be refined or adapted.
• While they are prominently used in research, operational definitions can also be applied in various fields like business and education.
• Unclear operational definitions can lead to confusion, inconsistency in data, and unreliable results.
• Yes, they can be adapted to fit the context of qualitative studies, providing clarity in defining concepts.
• Conducting pilot tests and seeking feedback from peers or advisors can help refine and improve operational definitions.

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Using Operational Definitions

Case studies highlight the importance of operational definitions in scientific experiments

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• Gregory A. DiLisi 3  

Part of the book series: Synthesis Lectures on Engineering, Science, and Technology ((SLEST))

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With a case study, students see, perhaps for the first time, how operational definitions compare phenomena of interest against known standards or accepted protocols. Our article on the Hindenburg disaster provides an excellent case study to illustrate this point. On May 6, 1937, the German zeppelin Hindenburg caught fire while preparing to dock at the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, NJ (see Figure 4.1). The ensuing fire destroyed the massive airship in 35 seconds. We present the historical debate as: “ What was the source of fuel for the fire that destroyed the Hindenburg? ” In the laboratory, we conduct a vertical flame test that compliments the horizontal flame test of Chapter 5. The vertical test is patterned after the procedure used by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) for determining the flammability of textiles. Using the ASTM test demonstrates the importance of operational definitions in scientific experiments. The purpose of the flame test is to not only raise the historical awareness of our students, but to acclimate them to the idea of adhering to standardized scientific protocols.

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G. A. DiLisi, The Hindenburg disaster: Combining physics and history in the laboratory, Phys. Teach., 55:268–273, May 2017. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4981031. 57

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DiLisi, G.A. (2020). Using Operational Definitions. In: Case Studies in Forensic Physics. Synthesis Lectures on Engineering, Science, and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02086-5_4

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• Operationalisation | A Guide with Examples, Pros & Cons

Operationalisation | A Guide with Examples, Pros & Cons

Published on 6 May 2022 by Pritha Bhandari . Revised on 10 October 2022.

Operationalisation means turning abstract concepts into measurable observations. Although some concepts, like height or age, are easily measured, others, like spirituality or anxiety, are not.

Through operationalisation, you can systematically collect data on processes and phenomena that aren’t directly observable.

• Self-rating scores on a social anxiety scale
• Number of recent behavioural incidents of avoidance of crowded places
• Intensity of physical anxiety symptoms in social situations

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Table of contents

Why operationalisation matters, how to operationalise concepts, strengths of operationalisation, limitations of operationalisation, frequently asked questions about operationalisation.

In quantitative research , it’s important to precisely define the variables that you want to study.

Without transparent and specific operational definitions, researchers may measure irrelevant concepts or inconsistently apply methods. Operationalisation reduces subjectivity and increases the reliability  of your study.

Your choice of operational definition can sometimes affect your results. For example, an experimental intervention for social anxiety may reduce self-rating anxiety scores but not behavioural avoidance of crowded places. This means that your results are context-specific and may not generalise to different real-life settings.

Generally, abstract concepts can be operationalised in many different ways. These differences mean that you may actually measure slightly different aspects of a concept, so it’s important to be specific about what you are measuring.

If you test a hypothesis using multiple operationalisations of a concept, you can check whether your results depend on the type of measure that you use. If your results don’t vary when you use different measures, then they are said to be ‘robust’.

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There are three main steps for operationalisation:

• Identify the main concepts you are interested in studying.
• Choose a variable to represent each of the concepts.
• Select indicators for each of your variables.

Step 1: Identify the main concepts you are interested in studying

Based on your research interests and goals, define your topic and come up with an initial research question .

There are two main concepts in your research question:

• Social media behaviour

Step 2: Choose a variable to represent each of the concepts

Your main concepts may each have many variables , or properties, that you can measure.

For instance, are you going to measure the  amount of sleep or the  quality of sleep? And are you going to measure  how often teenagers use social media,  which social media they use, or when they use it?

• Alternate hypothesis: Lower quality of sleep is related to higher night-time social media use in teenagers.
• Null hypothesis: There is no relation between quality of sleep and night-time social media use in teenagers.

Step 3: Select indicators for each of your variables

To measure your variables, decide on indicators that can represent them numerically.

Sometimes these indicators will be obvious: for example, the amount of sleep is represented by the number of hours per night. But a variable like sleep quality is harder to measure.

You can come up with practical ideas for how to measure variables based on previously published studies. These may include established scales or questionnaires that you can distribute to your participants. If none are available that are appropriate for your sample, you can develop your own scales or questionnaires.

• To measure sleep quality, you give participants wristbands that track sleep phases.
• To measure night-time social media use, you create a questionnaire that asks participants to track how much time they spend using social media in bed.

After operationalising your concepts, it’s important to report your study variables and indicators when writing up your methodology section. You can evaluate how your choice of operationalisation may have affected your results or interpretations in the discussion section.

Operationalisation makes it possible to consistently measure variables across different contexts.

Scientific research is based on observable and measurable findings. Operational definitions break down intangible concepts into recordable characteristics.

Objectivity

A standardised approach for collecting data leaves little room for subjective or biased personal interpretations of observations.

Reliability

A good operationalisation can be used consistently by other researchers. If other people measure the same thing using your operational definition, they should all get the same results.

Operational definitions of concepts can sometimes be problematic.

Underdetermination

Many concepts vary across different time periods and social settings.

For example, poverty is a worldwide phenomenon, but the exact income level that determines poverty can differ significantly across countries.

Reductiveness

Operational definitions can easily miss meaningful and subjective perceptions of concepts by trying to reduce complex concepts to numbers.

For example, asking consumers to rate their satisfaction with a service on a 5-point scale will tell you nothing about why they felt that way.

Lack of universality

Context-specific operationalisations help preserve real-life experiences, but make it hard to compare studies if the measures differ significantly.

For example, corruption can be operationalised in a wide range of ways (e.g., perceptions of corrupt business practices, or frequency of bribe requests from public officials), but the measures may not consistently reflect the same concept.

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Operationalisation means turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations.

For example, the concept of social anxiety isn’t directly observable, but it can be operationally defined in terms of self-rating scores, behavioural avoidance of crowded places, or physical anxiety symptoms in social situations.

Before collecting data , it’s important to consider how you will operationalise the variables that you want to measure.

In scientific research, concepts are the abstract ideas or phenomena that are being studied (e.g., educational achievement). Variables are properties or characteristics of the concept (e.g., performance at school), while indicators are ways of measuring or quantifying variables (e.g., yearly grade reports).

The process of turning abstract concepts into measurable variables and indicators is called operationalisation .

Reliability and validity are both about how well a method measures something:

• Reliability refers to the  consistency of a measure (whether the results can be reproduced under the same conditions).
• Validity   refers to the  accuracy of a measure (whether the results really do represent what they are supposed to measure).

If you are doing experimental research , you also have to consider the internal and external validity of your experiment.

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Explaining the Importance of Operational Definitions to Students

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The Importance of Operational Definitions: Deming in Education with David P. Langford (Part 12)

•   David Langford
•    Education , Podcast

This podcast was originally published on In Their Own Words for The W. Edwards Deming Institute

Operational definitions are clearly defined words, phrases, and concepts that everyone working together agrees to use in the same way. Making assumptions about words like “tardy” or “good” is a fast track to confusion and disengagement. In this episode, Andrew and David talk about operational definitions in education – for students, faculty, and administrators.

0:00:02.2 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz, and I’ll be your host as we continue our journey into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today, I’m continuing my discussion with David P. Langford, who has devoted his life to applying Dr. Deming’s philosophy to education, and he offers us his practical advice for implementation. Today’s topic is operational definitions for life and learning. David, take it away.

0:00:30.5 David Langford: So, hello Andrew. And so today, I was thinking about the concept that Deming offered to the world could be very profound, and that’s why he called it profound knowledge about looking through stuff and deep and it can see… Seem kind of overwhelming, but at the same time, some of the best concepts or ways to think about things are really pretty simple, actually, and amazing, if you adopt just a few principles consistently and really get it in your psychic about how to operate, it can make life so much easier either for your own children or if you’re a teacher in school or administrator or whatever, you might be in education… So one of those concepts is the idea of operational definitions. So one of the elements of profound knowledge is systems thinking or appreciation for a system, and so you have a system whether that be a classroom or maybe you’re taking your own children on a summer vacation or whatever it might be, that in itself is a system as well. And a lot of the dysfunction that we deal with, especially in schools, actually is coming from the system itself. In fact, Deming talked about that 94% to 98% of the problem can be systemic, right? And the other 1% or 2% is probably special cause variation.

0:02:21.0 DL: So how do we go about making the common cause variation the norm? [chuckle] Now, in schools, what I was taught as a teacher was how to manage dysfunction. Nobody ever taught me how to prevent dysfunction, I sort of had to figure that out over time, that’s where you get experience, and… But how do you actually prevent dysfunction, behavior dysfunction, learning dysfunction… Whatever it might be that you’ve got going on? Well, one of the simplest ways is to take a look at what you could do with operational definitions, so what do we mean by that? Operational definitions, basically just defining, how are we going to operate? So I’ll never forget when I was… I think it was about fourth grade, I’d come in early from lunch and I remember I was sitting on the heat register on the side and the bell rang, and I jumped up and ran to my seat, and just as the teacher came in, seeing me run to my seat, and she pulled me out and I got into really super big trouble over that, et cetera, that because I was running in the classroom, okay. So there is a place where you could start to think about operationally defining about where do you want people to be when the bell rings? Something so simple as that, or if you have people late to school in the morning, well, what does that mean? What do you want them to do? Where do you want to be? How can you operationally define it? In the operation of what’s going on, how are we gonna define that?

0:04:17.9 DL: I remember when I first started down this pathway and started thinking about things, I asked about 20 different teachers, I said, “What does on time mean to you? Just pick a card and write that down.” Well, we got 20 definitions, and some of them were really good, really excellent and well thought out, and I want people in the room, in their seat with their writing utensils and whatever it might be, but when you start thinking about it in a school with a staff of 20… And if you’re a student in that school and you’re encountering these 20 different individuals with 20 different operational definitions of being on time, that’s likely to cause variation in the system, right? And even from, say, one classroom, and you move to the classroom across the hall, if you could eliminate some of that variation, you’re gonna eliminate some of the dysfunction. You know, what do we really want? But it starts to get into… Deming talked about… One of the elements of profound knowledge was understanding psychology.

0:04:38.4 DL: Well, it’s the very same thing in the school, so if I’m gonna work together with all the other teachers in the school to come up with a common definition of what is on-time performance, or what does that look like, I may have to give up on some of my pet peeves about what I want, right? So that we end up with a very common definition of what goes on, and why would I do that? Well, because if I do that, chances are I’m not gonna be spending my time dealing with a lot of dysfunction. We’ve got an operational definition of what this means, and it’s the same thing with a paper that you might write or… I remember even in college, many different professors had different criteria for how a title page should be and how it should be spaced and what it should be like and how it should… And if they just as a university gotten together and said, “Hey, at this university, here’s a very common way, it’s very common in life. Everybody should have a title page which you’re gonna hand in the paper and it’s gonna look like this”. And…

0:06:46.3 DL: You then… So as a student, you wouldn’t have to go from professor to professor to professor and learn a different strategy every place you go. So it’s that working together to create common definitions that creates function within a system. And why would we wanna do that? Well, as a teacher, I don’t wanna deal with all the dysfunction. [chuckle] My job was, I wanted to teach business applications or computer technology, or I wanna teach music or… I don’t wanna have to deal with all the stuff that happens on a daily basis. Well, one of the ways to do that is work together to create operational definitions for the good of everyone in the system.

0:07:34.3 AS: And one question I have about that is, is an… Sounds like half of the benefit of an operational definition is agreeing what are not our operational definitions for that particular thing. If you say that 20 people have their opinion, then you have a discussion about that, and everybody agrees that, Okay, we’re not gonna do all of those. And, okay, our operational definition may not be the best, and we could change it later. That’s actually… That’s less important than the idea of constantly communicating different operational definitions, or that’s a… Different definitions from people. Would you say that that’s half the value of it?

0:08:18.9 DL: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. But it takes this thinking, systems thinking for everybody in an organization, whether you’re talking about a business or schools or whatever you might be thinking about, to have a common definition of what’s happening. Even with my own children, we have five children, my wife and I thought we were so clever one year, it’d been snowing like crazy, and for months and months and months. And so we set up this whole trip to go to Disneyland. And we didn’t tell anybody. We just got up one morning like, We’re gonna go to school and… And we… My wife gave everybody a card and said, “We’re leaving. We’re getting out of here. Are you tired of the snow?” And everybody’s like, Yeah, yeah, we’re getting out. Well, where are we going? And it was a big surprise and… So I don’t know. But, yeah, we got everybody there and we’re going to all these places, Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland, and we’re doing all this stuff and everything. And I noticed about the third night at dinner time, everybody’s just kinda depressed. And my wife and I were really frustrated that, What are you… Why are you guys so depressed and everything else? Well, this is all great and everything, and it’s fun and everything, and… But we just wanted to go to the beach. ‘Cause we live in Montana and we don’t have beaches, and they’d never seen the ocean, and…

0:09:45.2 DL: So if we’d just spent a little time operationally defining ahead of time, what do we wanna do in our trip and what would be the most fun thing to do, etcetera, we probably could have saved thousands of dollars of doing stuff that we thought people wanted to do, but instead…

0:10:01.6 AS: And, David, you and your wife would have been sitting in comfortable chairs in the sand…

0:10:07.0 DL: That’s right.

0:10:07.1 AS: Relaxing, rather than…

0:10:09.3 DL: Chasing people around, so…

0:10:10.4 AS: Yeah. Another question I have is, say, Okay, what do you do with a situation, I’m thinking about, you’re a leader of a school, and you come in, you go, We’re gonna set operational definitions. And then you’ve got all these people like, Oh, that just sounds like engineering, it sounds like a business, and we gotta get all of this and everybody’s gotta do the same thing and we gotta all… And you’re definitely gonna get a lot of people that say, No, we need variety, and we need all this creativity and that type of thing. How do you draw that line between that tension there?

0:10:41.1 DL: Yeah, you’re exactly right. We do wanna promote creativity and we do want to have things different. But I’d much rather have creativity in my history class and kids being very creative around history versus being creative around common practices within the school. And it’s not like you can actually, like you said, you’re… Let’s say you’re an administrator coming into a new school, that you can just sit down and just operationally define everything you wanna operationally define. Doesn’t really work like that. It’s more of a living document or a living way to be, right?

0:11:16.6 AS: Yup.

0:11:19.1 DL: So as you start to see, when… It’s often talked about with Deming’s profound knowledge, it’s like putting on a different pair of tinted glasses. You start to see the world and you start to see everything differently. Well, this is one of those things. As soon as you put on these… These glasses and start to think about operational definitions, you start to see all the kinds of places, dysfunctional places where operational definitions would be great. And basically, it means, How do we agree to operate? So one of the ways that you get rid of the resistance to operational definitions is getting people to agree to operate in a certain way. And on my consulting business, I’ve got several different tools and practices of ways to do that, how do you quickly get people to agree on something. But the bottom line is, when you’re involving them in the process of setting an operational definition, they’re much, much, much less likely to not wanna do it in the end, right?

0:12:29.2 AS: Right, right.

0:12:30.4 DL: That’s much different than me just coming in as the administrator or whatever authority figure it might be, boss, teacher, administrator or whatever, and I just start telling people, This is the way it’s gonna be. Well, if you start doing that, you’re gonna have resistance.

0:12:47.5 AS: Yeah. Yup. So then I’m…

0:12:49.2 DL: And then you go to spending all your time dealing with the resistance.

0:12:51.1 AS: And I’m… I guess what I’m taking away from what you’re saying is that maybe if that administrator was coming in and he’s facing all kinds of problems, whether it’s tardiness or whatever, that maybe he works with his team to say, Let’s identify our top five problems that are causing us the most variation in our outcome, and let’s get some definitions around these things, we don’t need to define everything that’s happening, but these are things that if we can work on these they can improve our outcomes, and that to me sounds like he’d win a lot of or she would win a lot of support because people are struggling dealing with all these things all the time, like well, Mr. Jensen says that five minutes late is not late. You said it’s late, and I don’t care whatever, I don’t wanna deal with that.

0:13:40.0 DL: And then you got a battle and then you’re just dealing with their resistance instead of dealing with the system itself and things that are in vogue now, like standards-based learning. Well, I’ve talked to different schools, nobody can define it clearly. Nobody can even define it within a district, they all agree that they would like to go forward with that, but there’s a good example, if you wanna introduce something or move forward with something and get people on board or committed to doing stuff, hey, let’s start operationally defining what is standards-based learning or standards-based grading, and how can we get some clarity around these common terms about what we have. It’s also something for the future. So you got a new employee, you’ve got new teachers coming in, whatever, hey, I’m gonna hand them this document that defines… Okay, we’re doing standards-based grading here. Now, it may not be the same exact definition of what you thought about where you came from before, but here’s how we think about it, and you could bring new knowledge and creativity to this to help us refine our definitions of what are all these things under this one concept. And so to me, that’s how you get continual improvement. It’s not…

0:15:08.8 AS: I guess that is a type of training to say, Okay, we’ve found that these… Once we understand these things, that if you can understand these things, now you’re gonna be able to bring a consistency to the students that is gonna be valuable. One last question for me on this is that, let’s just say that the kernel, the core of learning is that interaction between the child and the book and the teacher, and the process of going through this discovery, which I’m wondering, when we look at operational definitions, again, someone may say, you’re just trying to put rules about all of this stuff, or are you saying that there’s a lot of outside things that we’ve got to resolve so that we can have more time for this real quality learning experience, or are you saying that we even wanna have operational definitions within how we’re doing all that learning?

0:16:06.6 DL: Yeah, absolutely. So you mentioned the term discovery, I have no idea what you’re talking about. [chuckle] What are you gonna tell a third grader? Well, we want you to do discovery. What the heck is that? What is discovery and what’s the process of discovery that you want them to go through? Well, when you go to the library and randomly grab three books, spend a little time thumbing through them, there’s a process to discovery. You don’t just leave it up to the randomness of people that already know how to do that, right? Your job is to optimize a system, so you want everybody to be able to do discovery-type kinds of things, and when somebody comes up with a new innovative way that they do discovery, say in science or something, okay, let’s hear that and let’s try that, let’s do maybe a miniature PDSA and let’s have everybody try it and see what we learn from that and see if this is a better process for the process of discovery. And there you go.

0:17:16.0 AS: So then for the listeners and viewers out there, there you go, David called me out right there. I’m coming out with vague statements without providing operational definitions, and there is the benefit of it. And I was just thinking about what does discovery mean to me? I think it means something different from what it means to others. As a financial analyst, the way I did discovery is I find the strongest opponent to this idea and the strongest supporter to this idea, and I try to get them on the phone.

0:17:45.6 DL: But there’s a process right there, that’s a process of discovery.

0:17:48.9 AS: Yeah.

0:17:50.4 DL: And it’s not like you have to be locked into a definition, you could have five or six different processes of discovery that you want people to choose from, or if you’ve got your own, let’s define what that is. Right?

0:18:11.4 AS: Yeah.

0:18:11.9 DL: But as soon as you start to do that, you start to get clarity and then you start to see, Well, if it doesn’t work, but we defined it well, let’s go back and re-look at our definition and redefine it. And you could define things just in a paragraph, in words, in sentences, but you can also define things with flow charts, process charts, ways to look at things, those are also operational definitions.

0:18:39.8 AS: So this brings me to… I think my closing thought on it is, it brings me to the idea of PDSA, it brings me to the idea of how do we gain knowledge in our company or in our school, let’s say, and how do we make sure that we don’t lose knowledge, like we’re constantly losing… We understood that before, but nobody uses the manual anymore, and those people left, and now we’re back to…

0:19:08.1 AS: Going back to the same process and what I… The breakthrough I had when I really started to understand what Deming was talking about, was that if you’re constantly going back and looking, Okay, what is discovery? Okay, we’ve just taught it… This definition, we’ve just taught it for a year, what did we learn, how can we improve it? Oh, there’s three different ways that we now see and then how do we learn and how do we continue to modify that definition until it’s a clear definition in our organization and what that does in a business is it builds a competitive strength that your competitor doesn’t have because they haven’t been rethinking and improving their knowledge and sustaining that knowledge and bringing it up to another level, and that is the concept of competitive advantage in the business world that I just think is such a breakthrough, and I would say that Toyota is probably the one that really built so much into their “just in time” and their Lean and all of that type of stuff, and that they built a whole system of brilliant knowledge within it. How would you relate that back to the classroom and school and organization?

0:20:12.2 DL: Well, it’s… You’re basically doing the same thing in a classroom, if you’re a teacher in a school, you’re getting a competitive edge, just so to speak, not that you’re competing against anybody else really, but you’re optimizing things in a way. I just remember after a few years, I’d have teachers come in to visit my classroom to see what was going on and they couldn’t understand what was happening because they’d say, Well, you’re just not dealing with stuff that I deal with every day. And a lot of that came from working with the kids when they came in and we’d set operational definitions about when do you need to be in your seat? There’s times that, yeah, you need to be in your seat and there’s times that, no, that’s really stupid, you know what, I don’t want you in your seat and so let’s get some clarity right at the very beginning of the school year so that we’re not dealing with that all the way… All the way through the school year.

0:21:15.0 AS: Right, so let me try to wrap this up, we talked about a lot of stuff, but ultimately our topic was operational definitions for life and learning, we talked about how operational definitions can make your life easier. We also talked about the idea of understanding systems and systems thinking, and that a lot of dysfunction is coming from the system and operational definitions can help you try to actually prevent that dysfunction or eliminate it because now those things are clear. And also, what I heard from you too, is the idea that different definitions, if you allow many different definitions to go on, you are adding variation to your system, and therefore you’re bringing trouble for yourself, and then also we got into this discussion about what is discovery and what is the process of discovery? And then we came up with the operational definitions that we could have two or three of them, but ultimately that we discuss it, we work on it, and then if we can build it into our organization, then it’s something that we’re building step-by-step, competency in what we do. Is there anything else you would add to that?

0:22:32.6 DL: Yeah, in one of the podcasts we did, we spent a lot of time on optimization, and this is around that concept, how do you optimize a class for peak performance, meaning you’re getting the highest number of students to the highest level possible within the shortest amount of time, you’re optimizing what’s going on within that. Well, one of the ways you do that is setting operational definitions, working together with people to set those definitions. I guarantee you, you will see performance go up as a whole, which is your job.

0:23:08.2 AS: Fantastic. Well, that was a great episode with a lot of stuff. David, on behalf of everybody at the Deming Institute, I wanna thank you again for this discussion and for the listeners, remember to go to deming.org to continue your journey. Listeners, you can learn more about David at langfordlearning.com and this is your host Andrew Stotz and I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming, are you ready? “People are entitled to joy in work.”

Deadly Disease of Employee of the Month: Deming in Education with David P. Langford (Part 11)

How to start setting operational definitions: deming in education with david p. langford (part 13), you might also like.

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