ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the philosophy of empiricism—that scientists use observable data and that to be studied empirically the constructs must be measurable. It discusses the because measurement is important to statistics and the scientific process, it is important to understand some of the fundamental concepts in measurement, the topic. It is sensible to conceptualize measurement precision not only in terms of possible values but plausible values. Analyzing data using the highest level of measurement precision available to you is generally best. Quantitative measurements, in contrast, represent the object of measurement in quantitative terms on the dimension being measured. However, measurement quality can be judged on two important dimensions: reliability and validity. Statistical procedures are used in communication science to both describe study results and to make inferences from a study result to some population or process that the investigator is studying.
