Comment on Student's work

Concepts are an important part of every day observations. My definition of a concept would be an idea that occurs after an observation or experience. Another definition would be the way a circumstance, observation, or experience is understood. I like to think of a concept as a vision. When someone is going to create something new or revise something old, they take the current state and envision what they would like it to become. This process is a concept. The concept is made reality by taking the steps necessary to achieve the concept.
Constructs are events that are subject to the opinion or agreed-upon status of the mind. A construct is not a visible event. One example of a construct would be fear. Fear is not something that can be seen but something people agree to because of the way it makes us feel. Sadness, happiness, and anger can be other examples of constructs (M.Bunge, 1974).
Variables are used to research concepts while constructing a theory. A variable is something that can be controlled and measured. There are two variable types. A variable can be dependent which is the cause and interdependent which is the effect of the Dependant variable. The variables can be classified as unable to manipulate by the researcher or able to manipulate by the researcher. This manipulation is called attribute or active.
Theory is the effect of investigation of a concept. For example, say a person wants to find out why workers do not feel motivated. They would construct a general idea that the workers are not motivated. The researcher would then create a concept of the workers not being motivated. Next the researcher would search for variables in order to study the events that led him/her to believe the workers were not motivated. This process may use variables such as the general population of the workers. The study may consist of interview questions, data retrieval, employee records, etc. Once everything is reviewed a theory is developed. This theory may be proven or dis proven.
A construct is important in theory because it is a unobservable event. Some things are visible and obvious. For example, the sky is blue, would not be researchable because the sky is obviously blue. However, a researcher might have a concept that the blue sky makes kids imagination grow. Searching for the truth to kids imaginations being effected by the blue sky, may be something to research.