Concept and construct – A concept is a generally accepted collection of meanings or characteristics that are concrete whereas a construct is image or idea invented for a particular theory or research problem; a construct is an abstract concept. To successfully perform a research, we must form common ground; hence, the need for concepts and constructs.

• First-line supervisor – concept; person directly in charge of line workers; person reporting to unit manager

• Employee morale  – construct; that which is measured by how an employee feels toward the job; that which is measured by how often an employee reports for work on time

• Assembly line – concept; area where the items are assembled; area where line workers spend most of their day

• Overdue account – concept; account balance that is past 30 days; an account where the amount owed is past 60 and less than 25% has been paid toward the balance.

• Line management – concept; person to whom all line supervisors report; head of each functional area

• Leadership – construct; quality defined by how many persons emulate this person; quality defined by a rating by asking persons how good a leader is the subject under study

• Price-earnings ratio – concept; the measure of how much an incumbent makes in reference to an average in the same job position; the amount someone makes in reference to others in similar jobs, having similar education and experience and within similar industries, in the same region.

• Union democracy– construct; the measure of how people say they have a say in the union; the measure of how the union heads have proceeded to do what the majority of the members asked.

• Ethical standards – construct; the value that an employee places on a variable; the untested opinion of how employees feel about the ethics within a company on a scale of 1-10.