Research Methodology in the Human Sciences

The aim of this research is to investigate the challenges related to the definitions of three key terms (construct, concept, variable) in humanities research and to present solutions for their accurate identification. The research method was fundamental-applied, and the statistical population included 152 volumes of books in the fields of research methods, statistics, and mathematics across various academic disciplines. Investigations showed that only 28.9% of the books had specific definitions for the mentioned terms, and in 71.1% of them, no definition was provided. Out of these, 44 titles were selected for analysis. The research instrument was the definitions provided by reputable national and international authors, which were evaluated based on two main criteria for each term (measurability and variability for variables). Only 27 book titles (17.7%) were able to provide appropriate definitions for all three terms. The results indicated that in over 84% of the sources, there is no consensus on the definition of "construct," "concept," and "variable." This lack of consensus poses a serious challenge for researchers and students, leading to confusion in identifying the terms and incorrect use of statistical methods; for example, mistakenly using the "t-test" instead of the "Mann-Whitney U test." Furthermore, most authors' reliance on traditional definitions prevents a precise analysis of concepts. To resolve this problem, operational definitions should be used to transform constructs and concepts from an abstract level into measurable variables. Finally, solutions for identifying the terms based on scales and research methods are presented.