The responses of the example will be based on the respondent’ perception. The term “a lot” does not have the same meaning for everyone. We need to formulate questions in such a way that answers can have a concrete reference, avoiding subjective answers, except if what we want to measure are, precisely, perceptions. Concordance between variables and categories The term variable refers to the characteristics or attributes of the unit of analysis. Although in databases it is common to define items for search based on a list whose components might not have relation or coherence between them, in social science methodology there are ordering criteria which might be of help in case we want use those items to make reliable and valid analysis. In social science methodology and statistics, a variable is defined as the characteristics or attributes of a given unit of analysis. These attributes are classified in categories (or thesauri). The categories describing a variable must be exhaustive and exclusive. 1. Exhaustive: available categories must reflect the whole range of possible options. In case we don’t know that range in advance, we can include the option “other”. 2. Mutually exclusive: the contents or possible answers inside every category must be clear and not overlapping between them. This way we will gain clarity and we will avoid confusion when it comes to assign categories. Although assigning categories looks like an easy task, in practice we can see many inconsistencies. Most of the time the categories we assign show how definitions were not understood properly. Real example: we see this categorization within the “gender” variable: a) Male, b) Female, c) LGTB In the example, two variables are mixed: gender and sexual orientation. Thinking that gender identity and sexual orientation are connected It’s a common misconception, but it is false. Even if we don’t know that much about these concepts, we can discover that something is wrong when we see that the existing categories are not mutually exclusive. A man or a woman can consider themselves LGTB or heterosexual, among other orientations. The 7