XPost: alt.astrology   
   From: a@a   
      
   "Edmond Wollmann"  wrote in message   
   news:4ACA7F9E.4C70@earthlink.net...   
   > For anyone thinking of testing astrology;   
   > It would be very instructive in this regard to know just what you   
   > believe astrology to be first. Also..   
   >   
   > Since theories determine what we observe;   
   >   
   > 1) What is your motive for the test?   
   > 2) What are your qualifications to do research?   
   > 3) Will you be able to operationalize the issues before testing?   
   > 4) What are your astrological qualifications?   
   > 5) Where will the results be published?   
       
      
   I didn't know what operationalize meant.  On the assumption that some other   
   people won't either, here's Wiktionary's defintion.   
      
      "1. (transitive) To make operational.   
      2. (transitive, social sciences) To define an abstract concept in such a   
   way that it can be practically measured.   
             "I don't see how you're going to operationalize "silliness" in the   
   survey you're designing."  1956, Ernest Greenwood, "New Directions in   
   Delinquency Research: A Commentary on a Study by Bernard Lander," Social   
   Service Review, vol. 30, no. 2, p. 152   
      
   To operationalize a concept is to identify those variables in terms of which   
   the phenomenon represented by the concept can be accurately observed."   
      
   Always an important point in any study of something as hard to pin down as   
   psychology.  Of course, if you're testing an astrological theory about   
   something other than psychology (such as earthquakes ;-)) then it's easier.   
   But you always have to bear it in mind.   
   A. B.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)