有关概念测量的三个故事与一个教训

在定量研究中,“测量”是一个看似简单实则复杂的环节。研究过程中某些草率的决策,往往导致研究者对于经验事实产生错误的判断。本文简要地介绍了三个研究实例,分别涉及到“社会封闭”“地区收入不平等”“人类发展指数”等概念的测量。在这些实例中,测量结果的真实意蕴往往偏离了研究者原本的测量意图,出现了某种“非预期后果”。本文认为,测量本身就是一种具体的社会过程,不能只从抽象概念及概念维度的操作化来理解。只有把测量还原为具体的社会过程时,我们才能透彻地理解测量。

In quantitative research,“measurement”is a seemingly simple but complex process.Some sloppy decisions in the research process often lead to misleading conclusions about empirical facts.This paper briefly introduces three research examples,which involve the measurement of concepts such as“social closure”,“regional income inequali ty”and“human development index”.In these examples,the true mean ing of the measurement results deviates from the researcher’s original measurement intentions,with some“unintended consequence”.This arti cle argues that measurement itself is a concrete social process that cannot be understood only from the perspective of abstract concepts and opera tionalization.It is only when measurements are considered as concrete so cial processes that we can understand measurements thoroughly.