Community Integration Analysis of Operational

Community Integration

Analysis of Operational Definitions of Community Integration

In developing research studies, whether they be in the field of physical or social sciences, it is important that researchers adhere to the critical components of conducting research, one of which operational definitions figure significantly in the eventual results of the study. It is by operationally defining constructs in research that ideas become clearly defined, aiding the readers/audience in understanding the scope and limitations of the study. Formally speaking, operational definitions "serve to link the abstract conceptual foundation for a study to its concrete procedures" (36). It is by defining an idea or construct that the researcher is able to gather data more efficiently, analyze data clearly, and interpret this data in the right context.

Community integration as a construct in the study of rehabilitation of persons with disability, like other research constructs, must be clearly defined in studies involving this construct. Whether this construct is operationally defined in a quantitative or qualitative context, the need remains that this construct be defined for data to be collected correctly and efficiently. In the article, "Community integration: a useful construct, but what does it really mean?" authors Minnes et. al. (2003) quantitatively determined how community integration, as a construct, has been operationalized in three (3) research instruments that had been used to determine an individual's level of integration with his/her community. The objective of the study is not only to specifically determine the definition of community integration, but also to identify if the measures and/or dimensions used to define/operationalize community integration are clear and mutually exclusive from each other.

Looking at the dimensions/measures used to define community integration in the 3 questionnaires analyzed -- Community Integration Questionnaire-Revised (CIQ-R), Community Integration Measure (CIM), and AIMS (Assimilation, Integration, Marginalization, Segregation) -- sought to look at this concept through different facets, through its various dimensions. As eventually established in the article, the dimensions used in each of the instruments are mutually exclusive, validating that indeed, each instrument has managed to capture at least three or more dimensions critical to the creation and development of the construct, community integration.