Nomological network

Nomological network refers to a "lawful network", the term "nomology" being derived from the Greek, meaning "lawful". It was Cronbach and Meehl's view of construct validity that in order to provide evidence that a measure has construct validity, Cronbach and Meehl argued that one had to develop a nomological network for its measure. This network would include the theoretical framework for what one is trying to measure, an empirical framework for how it is to be measured, and specifying the linkages among and between these two frameworks. [1]

The elements of a nomological network are:

• Must have two or more constructs;
• Theoretical propositions, specifying linkages between constructs: "As age increases, memory loss increases".
• Correspondence tules, allowing a construct to be measured. Operationalization: "Age is measured by asking "how old are you?"
• Empirical Constructs/Variables that can actually be measured. These are operationalized theoretical constructs.
• Empirical Linkages: Hypotheses before data collection. Empirical generalization after data collection.