3.5 Measurement: Scenarios, planned and realized measurements

• Any phenomenon/variable has unobserved trajectory over time (Bauer 2016)
• Normally, the more observations the better
• Scenario: How variable develops over time (blue line)
• Planned measurements: Timing of planned measurements (blue points)
• Realized measurements: Timing of actual measurements (add additional points)

• Q: What is the problem with the following measures?
  • What is the highest level of education you have successfully completed?
  • Have you been insulted or threatened verbally since (month, year)?
• Q: Can you think of some data where we might almost observe a function across time?

Notes

• Lessons to be learned
  • Ideally, we know when a variable changes.
  • Depending on the variable there may be a lot of changes (e.g., body temperature) or not (e.g., educational level).

References

Bauer, Paul C. 2016. “The Visual Display of Causal Relationships.”