Which Definition Should We Select? Power of Definitions

Abstract

It is very important in every aspect to identify the ideal definition of a word or concept. Within a context that use multiplicity of definitions with their justifications arise a question in selecting the best definition among them. That develops a puzzle of why and how such an environment buildup within academia. These circumstances motivate us for this particular study. The study aims to distinguish how far justifiable the use of synonyms to define a word or concept. As the key objective; to measure the power of existing definitions about the concepts Sustainable, Development and Park six other objectives were developed which are interconnected closely such as: to list out the pure synonyms related to the word definition, to categorise synonyms related to the word definition on their levels associate with the base word, to introduce a tool for measuring the power of synonyms, to calculate the power of synonyms related to the word definition, to calculate the equilibrium point between levels power of synonyms and to verify the levels of available definitions regard to concepts such as Sustainable, Development, and Park. This is a conceptual study where synonyms and definitions were used as data. Two types of data sets such as data related to synonyms leading to the word 'definition' and data related to definitions leading to the concepts sustainable, development and park were collected to execute the study. A systematic data collection was conducted using the English version of the Microsoft Word 2016 package to collect the first type of dataset. There were 459 synonyms related to the word definition collected and reduced 211 repetitions while remaining 248 synonyms for the final considerations. The purposive data collection technique was used to collect the second type of data set. Based on online dictionaries, reputed organisations and journal articles 31 definitions (11 definitions for sustainable, ten definitions for development and ten definitions for the park) were considered in this study. Collected data were presented through lists, tables, and histograms. Two hundred forty-eight pure synonyms for 'definition' were listed. These synonyms were categorised into level A (01 base word), B (08 words), C (44 words) and D (196 words). A measurement tool was developed by equaling power of each level to the power of previous level/ number of synonyms in the considering level, to measure the power of each level of synonyms,. And the assigned power for the base level was 100 or 100%. Hence level A to level D was found with an increasing power line where y = 0.8251x3.7479 and R² = 0.9846. And level A – D were found with a decreasing power line where y = 336.29x-7.532 and R² = 0.8567. Analysis of the second type of data set (31 definitions related to sustainable, development and park) showed 12.5% or lesser power. Hence it was concluded that the existing definitions about sustainable, development and park are weak definitions. At the same time, there is a gap that can be found in both base definitions in the mechanism to develop base definitions. However, this study was limited to a concept study, one base word (definition) and 31 definitions, the systematic sampling technique, synonyms and three levels of synonyms. Also, it was limited to purposive sampling technique when collecting definitions for sustainable, development and park and the study only used simple mathematics like percentage values in calculating power of synonyms and definitions. Therefore more empirical studies can be applied to verify the results of this study by using different words instead of definition to verify the results of this study. And researchers can use different sampling techniques to verify the results of this study, a different mechanism to understand and measure the power of a definition/ base word or concept.