1. 1  the region below the lithosphere, variously estimated as being from fifty to several hundred miles (eighty-five to several hundred kilometers) thick, in which the rock is less rigid than that above and below but rigid enough to transmit transverse seismic waves.
Operationalization is sometimes used to specifically refer to the scientific practice of operationally defining, where even the most basic concepts are defined through the operations by which we measure them. This comes from the work of Percy Williams Bridgman, whose methodological position is called operationalism.
Conceptualization is the process by which researchers define what they are attempting to study as precisely as possible. Say our research question is a descriptive one: are religious people less likely to commit crime? Before pursuing this question, we need to define what we mean by religious.