Indicator-concept relations split into causal, caused, and constitutive types

Evidence

What are the indicators that best reflect “indiscriminate negative attitudes or emotions directed at Islam or Muslims”? Developing adequate indicators of an underlying concept poses a challenge because of the distance between what we can actually observe in the real world and the abstract nature of a theoretical concept. This gulf can be bridged in a number of ways. According to Goertz (2006, p. 55), there are at least three types of relations between indictors and concepts: “(1) concept causes indicator, (2) indicator causes concept, and (3) a noncausal relationship.” Within each type, there may also be a qualitative difference in the directness with which different specific indicators reveal the underlying concept. … 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…, 44

Categorization

• QUESTION: Goertz’s disease-symptom typology is the analytical backbone here — worth checking whether it actually helps or merely re-describes the measurement problem central to the reading purpose.
• XREF: connects to: Concept indicators differ in whether they define, reveal, or cause a phenomenon — Erik Bleich, What Is Islamophobia and How Much Is…, 45; Concept indicators relate to their concepts as causes, effects, or constitutive definitions — Erik Bleich, What Is Islamophobia and How Much Is…, 45

Related

• Concept indicators relate to their concepts as causes, effects, or constitutive definitions (similarity 0.95)
• Concept indicators differ in whether they define, reveal, or cause a phenomenon (similarity 0.92)
• Measuring Islamophobia demands indicators that connect to an abstract concept (similarity 0.81)