Operationalising concepts.

--Translating concepts into the form which can be measured.
It is needed when producing questions but sometime it's difficult to get the right translated definitions of questions and get to an agreement among researchers. e.g. unemployment,poverty

Example 1:
Hypothesis: Higher rates of literacy make democracy more likely.
Defining Concepts: Literacy is defined as the completion of six or more years of formal education." Democracy is defined as a system of government in which public officials are selected in competitive elections.
Operational Definitions: Literacy is the percentage of people in a country that have completed six or more years of formal education.Democracy is a country where the secondplace finisher for the chief executive office has received at least 25% of the vote in an electionheld in the last eight years.

Example 2:
Hypothesis: Highly educated people tend to be liberal.
Defining Concepts: Highly educated is defined as at least some college education.Liberalis defined as believing the government should help those who are less well .
Operational Definitions: Highly educated is having completed at least two years at a college or university." Liberal is answers `yes' to the question `Should the government provide low income housing for citizens?"'