<P> An example of operational definition of the term weight of an object, operationalized to a degree, would be the following: "weight is the numbers that appear when that object is placed on a weighing scale". According to it, the weight can be any of the numbers shown on the scale after, including the very moment the object is put on it . Clearly, the inclusion of the moment when one can start reading the numbers on the scale would make it more fully an operational definition . Nonetheless, it is still in contrast to those purely theoretical definitions . </P> <P> Properties described in this manner must be sufficiently accessible, so that persons other than the definer may independently measure or test for them at will . An operational definition is generally designed to model a theoretical definition . The most operational definition is a process for identification of an object by distinguishing it from its background of empirical experience . </P> <P> The binary version produces either the result that the object exists, or that it doesn't, in the experiential field to which it is applied . The classifier version results in discrimination between what is part of the object and what is not part of it . This is also discussed in terms of semantics, pattern recognition, and operational techniques, such as regression . </P> <P> Operationalize means to put into operation . Operational definitions are also used to define system states in terms of a specific, publicly accessible process of preparation or validation testing, which is repeatable at will . For example, 100 degrees Celsius may be crudely defined by describing the process of heating water at sea level until it is observed to boil . An item like a brick, or even a photograph of a brick, may be defined in terms of how it can be made . Likewise, iron may be defined in terms of the results of testing or measuring it in particular ways . </P>

The purpose of an operational definition is to