Key Concepts in the Study
Social scientists frequently study the influence of an individual’s appearance on their life outcomes. For instance, Johnson and King (2017) examined the impact of defendants’ physical characteristics on punishment. The researchers utilized the following key concepts: facial appearance, race, and punishment. The concept of facial appearance included distinctive aspects, such as visible scars, tattoos, and maturity. Race was perceived as grounds for potential stereotyping and disparities. Finally, the punishment was conceptualized as imprisonment decisions, potentially mediated by facial appearance (Johnson & King, 2017). The researchers measured these concepts to obtain a comprehensive picture of the correlation between offenders’ appearance and the harshness of sentencing.
Measurement of the Concepts
The facial appearance concept was measured with several corresponding variables. The threatening appearance variable was calculated with a 7-point scale. The coders were asked to rate the male offenders’ faces in terms of perceived danger, with 7 equal to the most threatening faces (Johnson & King, 2017). In addition, the coders rated the offenders’ attractiveness, with 7 given to “very attractive” faces (Johnson & King, 2017). Lastly, the coders rated the maturity of the offenders’ appearance — the value of 1 indicated the most trustworthy “baby faces” (Johnson & King, 2017). In this regard, the researchers managed to consider a wide selection of features related to facial appearance.
The concept of race was measured with dummy variables for each variant. The separate dummy variables were used for Black, Hispanic, Asian American, and Native American offenders, while Whites were chosen as a reference group (Johnson & King, 2017). Finally, the concept of punishment was measured by distinguishing between three mutually exclusive sentencing decisions, with executed prison sentence being the harshest option (Johnson & King, 2017). Overall, these variables were sufficient to represent the key concepts adequately.
Level of Measurement
Applying the three-questions algorithm makes it possible to determine the level of measurement for specific variables measured in the research. For instance, offenders’ race is a nominal variable since human races cannot be ranked objectively. The threatening appearance variable is interval since the coders had to rank the offenders on a scale with determined values, thus considering some more threatening than others. However, this variable does not have a zero point since none of the offenders could be deemed entirely harmless. Lastly, the type of sentence variable is ordinal since sentencing decisions were categorized by harshness without specific intervals.
Reference
Johnson, B. D., & King, R. D. (2017). Facial profiling: Race, physical appearance, and punishment. Criminology, 55(3), 520-547. Web.