Imagine you are a researcher that wants to study substance abuse. First of all, you need to decide what you mean by the term substance abuse. For example, describe which substances would be included in your definition and what do you mean by abuse (e.g., number of days of using substances, only when using multiple substances at once). What kinds of questions would you ask and what is your operational definition?

What will be an ideal response?


Answers will vary. I mean substance use by any type of alcohol, drug, or polysubstance use and also described as if it is affecting their personal lives, including subjective and objective measures. Questions would ask directly if they feel substances are affecting their lives through their health, personal lives, academic pursuits, etc. (six items). Then, I would also ask them questions about frequency of use.
My operational definition-objective measure: four or more items to represent the situations they believe affecting their lives; subjective measure: if they use substances five or seven times a week every week in the past month.

Criminal Justice

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