ABSTRACT
This chapter explores problems of accurate measurement. Among social scientists there are two popular versions of this concept: subjective social status, the class that individuals consider themselves as belonging to; and objective social status, an individual's rank with regard to prestige along social hierarchies such as education, income, and occupation. Like many other variables in political science, these concepts are of considerable interest and use in theories but are by their nature impossible to measure directly. A measure is reliable to the extent that it gives the same result again and again if the measurement is repeated. A measure is valid if it actually measures what it purports to measure. If there is in principle a relationship of equivalence between a measure and its concept, measure is valid. Inaccuracy in measurement is a critical problem whose potential for mischief does not yet seem well-enough understood by political scientists.
