1
Research in Action Assignment
Raelene Tabula
Department of Psychology, Liberty University
PSYC 101: General Psychology
Rachel Rawls
October 25, 2025
2
Research in Action Assignment Please
follow the question-and-answer format below.
1. Do you think your final score accurately reflects your experience of hope?
I believe that there is no real way to measure hope. Hope is subjective and can vary from
person to person (Feeling hopeful: development and validation of the trait emotion hope scale,
2024). Hope is also based on the emotions of the subject, which could be unpredictable
(George et al., 2023). (Feeling hopeful: development and validation of the trait emotion hope
scale. If I were to think about my final score, I would need to take into consideration my
emotions during the survey. Was my intensity high or low at the time, and was I thinking
positively or negatively (George et al., 2023)? This could alter my survey each time I took it.
However, considering my score of 321/360 and knowing it falls within the higher bracket, I
would say that it could be accurate. Personally, I am a very hopeful person, and I look at life
positively. When there is something that could negatively impact me, I take it in stride, and I use
it as a learning experience.
1. Would your hope score be different if you took it a month ago, or a month from now?
If I were to take this survey a month ago or a month from now, I do not think that there would
be much of a difference in my score. I do not let negative emotions bother me, so it doesn’t
impact my daily decisions. I feel that my results would be very similar to what I received on the
survey I just took. I strongly believe that God has a plan for me, and if I believe and have hope in
him and myself, I can overcome anything.
1. How well do you think the scale operationally defines hope? See chapter 1 of our
textbook for an explanation of an operational definition.
I do not think that the scale operationally defines hope. As I stated in the first question that
hope is subjective. “Operational definitions are precise, exact parameters for measuring and
manipulating variables” (George et al., 2023). Hope is not precise because of the emotions of
the subjects, which cannot be measured exact or precise. There are no two people who would
feel the exact same, and that could change the operational.
4.Why do you think something like hope is so hard to measure?
I believe that hope is difficult to measure because many factors can cause a person's hope to
change or vary each time they try to gauge it. If someone were to be a very emotional person
and another subject not, then the measurement would be skewed. Emotions are “complex
feeling states that include predictable physiological arousal, cognitions, and behaviors (George
et al., 2023).” I think hope could be measured in a single person daily or even weekly, due to the
change in emotions that could cause the person’s views to change temporarily, depending on
their faith. I say depending on their faith because if you believe that there is a higher power,
then you do not have to worry about fear, Psalm 56:3 “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you”
(English Standard Bible, 2001).
3
References
English Standard Bible. (2001). Literal
Word.https://esv.literalword.com/
George, S., Kelley, B., & Piferi, R. (2023). Introduction to psychology from a Christian worldview
(2nd ed.). Kendall Hunt
(2024). Feeling hopeful: development and validation of the trait emotion hope scale.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1322807/full
