Are the Same Term and Same Definition Used Consistently for Each Middle-Range Theory Concept?
Semantic clarity is enhanced when the same term and same constitutive definition are used for each concept throughout the research report. The requirement for use of the same term and same constitutive definition is called semantic consistency (Chinn & Kramer, 2004; Fawcett, 1999). Although requiring use of the same term for the same concept may seem obvious, some- times a researcher uses different labels for the same concept. For example, a researcher may reduce clarity by referring to both self-esteem and self-confidence in the same research report, although the theory focuses only on self-esteem. Chinn and Kramer (2004) explained,
Normally, varying words to represent similar meanings is a writing skill that can be used to avoid overuse of a single term. But, in theory, if several similar concepts are used interchangeably when one would suffice, . . . the clarity of the [concept] is reduced rather than improved. (p. 110)
A researcher also may reduce clarity by using different constitutive definitions for the same concept. For example, if self-esteem is defined as “feelings of personal worth and value,” that concept should not also be defined as “feelings of self-confidence” in the same research report. Different definitions of the same concept that are explicit are, as Chinn and Kramer (2004) noted, “fairly easy to uncover” (p. 111). In contrast, when a different definition is not explicit but only implied, the inconsistency may be more difficult to identify. Suppose, for example, that a researcher explicitly defined self-esteem as “feelings of personal worth and value” and then wrote about caregivers’ feeling self-confident when bathing a child in a body cast. It would be difficult to know whether the researcher was referring to the caregivers’ self- esteem or another concept when discussing feelings of self-confidence.
Sometimes a researcher may use more than one operational definition for the same concept. If all of the operational definitions identify instruments that measure the same constitutive def- inition of the concept, the requirement of semantic consistency is met. For example, using the constitutive definition given in Box 6–6, a researcher might operationally define self-esteem as measured by both Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale and a Personal Worth and Value Questionnaire that asks caregivers to rate their feelings of personal worth and value on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 equivalent to feelings of very low personal worth and value and 10 equiva- lent to feelings of very high personal worth and value.
However, if the instruments identified in the operational definitions measure different constitutive definitions of the concept, the requirement of semantic consistency is not met. For example, again using the constitutive definition of self-esteem given in Box 6–6, a researcher might operationally define self-esteem as measured by the Personal Worth and Value Questionnaire, as well as a Self-Confidence Inventory, which measures self-esteem con- stitutively defined as “feelings of self-confidence.”