Concept indicators relate to their concepts as causes, effects, or constitutive definitions

Evidence

To clarify some of these distinctions, it is helpful to draw on Goertz’s (2006, pp. 27-28, 57-59, 64-65) discussion of the “disease–symptom” metaphor of concept indicators. To give a concrete example from the medical world, if the disease is cirrhosis, the secondary level definition of the concept is scarring of the liver. If we biopsy a liver and find scar tissue, this is not because (a) cirrhosis causes scarring, nor is it because (b) scarring causes cirrhosis, but rather it is because (c) liver scarring is cirrhosis—it is a noncausal indicator of the disease. There are, however, also (Type 1) symptoms of cirrhosis that function as indicators of the underlying condition, although these vary widely in their ability to reveal the disease. Some are indirect, such as nausea, lack of appetite, weight loss, and tiredness—problems associated with a wide number of illnesses. Some are much more directly correlated with cirrhosis, such as jaundice. Jaundice may in fact reveal another liver-related disease such as hepatitis, but it is a more direct indicator than many other symptoms because it has a higher probability of revealing a problem with the liver and potentially of cirrhosis. At the other end of the spectrum are indicators associated with cirrhosis that may themselves be (Type 2) causes of the disease, such as alcohol abuse, cystic fibrosis, or too much copper in the liver. — Erik Bleich, What Is Islamophobia and How Much Is…, 45

Categorization

• DEFINE: Goertz’s disease–symptom typology distinguishes three indicator-concept relations (causal, caused, constitutive) — a rigorous scaffold the whole measurement chapter builds on.
• XREF: For the reader’s MOC question about coercion vs. covertness: this typology is exactly what determines whether restrictive Islam-related policy data would count as evidence of covert Islamic race-reading or of something else. — connects to: Concept indicators differ in whether they define, reveal, or cause a phenomenon — Erik Bleich, What Is Islamophobia and How Much Is…, 45; Indicator-concept relations split into causal, caused, and constitutive types — Erik Bleich, What Is Islamophobia and How Much Is…, 44
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Related

• Indicator-concept relations split into causal, caused, and constitutive types (similarity 0.95)
• Concept indicators differ in whether they define, reveal, or cause a phenomenon (similarity 0.94)

Broader Connections

• Indicator-concept relations split into causal, caused, and constitutive types #corroborates (0.95) — Erik Bleich, What Is Islamophobia and How Much Is…, 44