At the point you will be writing this memo we will have been discussing a number of measurement concepts, such as operationalization, conceptualization, reliability and validity. For this memo you will pick a particular concept and discuss possible ways of measuring it (including self-designed).
So, pick one concept which will become a variable in your research. For example, take an idea like “leadership” — what does that mean in an empirical sense? How would you measure leadership in a study?
This is a memo because I don’t expect you to write in the style or depth of a paper. However, if the memo is done well, it can definitely become a publishable paper.
As part of this you will explore other researchers’ measurements and debates about these. Some good places to start are
This libguide has resources on measurement with a sociological focus.
This libguide has a lot of resources mainly (but not only) from psychological or educational perspectives. But check the sources in the Word document.
ICPSR has a variable search feature which can be useful for finding measures.
This libguide from University of Michigan has good advice.
However, in the end, searching in data bases and elsewhere with the keyword “measure” or “measurement” can be the best way to get started.
Some kinds of examples
Claridge, T. (2017, August 19). How to measure social capital • Institute for Social Capital.
Institute for Social Capital.
https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/measure-social-capital/
Van Saane, N. (2003). Reliability and validity of instruments measuring job satisfaction—A systematic review.
Occupational Medicine,
53(3), 191–200.
https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqg038
Scott, T., Mannion, R., Davies, H., & Marshall, M. (2003). The Quantitative Measurement of Organizational Culture in Health Care: A Review of the Available Instruments.
Health Services Research,
38(3), 923–945.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.00154
Memos in research
Memos in General
One feature of a memo is that it is for a targeted audience. In this case, the audience is you (and also other members of your research team if you have one). As a result you can leave out information that you might have to explain if you were sharing with the world (like all the details of your project), and get right to the point.
Memo Structure
A memo should be structured into three main parts.
1. Introduction in which you lay out the issue the memo will address. In this case, that is the need to identify an appropriate measure.
2. Body in which you provide all of the details that are needed in a well organized way. This may include tables, figures or other elements if they are helpful.
3. Conclusion/Recommendation in which you provide your recommendation, whether of a specific measures or of next steps. Note that it is possible you won’t find a measure that does exactly what you want, in which case you may recommend that a new measure be created.
A comment about references. Memos don’t usually have a reference list, but in this case you may want one. It depends how much information you include in the memo itself (for example you may have a table of sources that you discuss).
Characteristics of a good memo
The memo should be clearly written. Shorter sentences, jargon is okay if it can be assumed that your audience knows what the terms mean.
Not too long. If it is going to take someone a long time to read, then it is more of a report than a memo. Sometimes memos serve as summaries of reports so it’s possibly you could attach something longer to the memo.