normative
A normative rule, document, or idea says what should happen, not just what does happen.
Prescribing, setting, or expressing a standard for how something should be done, organized, or judged.
A normative idea includes an opinion about what is right, fair, or desirable.
Involving judgments about what is right, good, desirable, or justified, rather than only statements of fact.
Something normative is treated as normal or expected in a particular group.
Accepted as normal, typical, or socially expected within a particular group, culture, or setting.
- Base: normative
normative claim
1Statement about what should be
A claim about what should happen or what is right.
- Saying that governments should reduce inequality is a normative claim.
- The article supports its normative claims with moral arguments, not just statistics.
- We can agree on the facts but still disagree about the normative claim.
- People should be paid fairly is a normative claim.
- This sentence is a normative claim because it says should.
normative data
1Typical comparison data
Information showing what is typical for a group, used for comparison.
- Clinicians compare a child's score with normative data for the same age group.
- The new test cannot be used widely until normative data are available.
- The researchers collected normative data from a large national sample.
- The score was checked against normative data.
- Normative data show what is typical for this age group.
normative economics
1Value-based economic analysis
Economics that discusses what economic choices or policies should be made.
- Normative economics asks whether the government should raise the minimum wage.
- The sentence taxes should be lower belongs to normative economics, not positive economics.
- Her lecture distinguished between statistical evidence and normative economics.
- Normative economics asks what policy should be chosen.
- This is normative economics because it says taxes should change.
normative ethics
1Study of moral standards
The study of what people morally should or should not do.
- Normative ethics asks what makes an action right or wrong.
- The course covers utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, and other theories in normative ethics.
- Her research in normative ethics focuses on duties to future generations.
- She studies normative ethics at university.
- Normative ethics asks what is morally right.
normative force
1Authority to guide behavior
The power of a rule or reason to guide what people should do.
- A promise has normative force because it gives someone a reason to act.
- The declaration was not legally binding, but it still had normative force.
- The court considered whether the guidelines carried any normative force.
- The rule has normative force.
- A promise can have normative force.
normative framework
1Standards for judging actions
A system of standards that helps people decide what should be done.
- The court used human rights treaties as a normative framework for its decision.
- The project needs a clear normative framework for responsible data use.
- Different cultures may apply different normative frameworks to the same issue.
- The rules give us a normative framework.
- We need a normative framework for fair decisions.
normative question
1Question about what should happen
A question that asks what is right or what should be done.
- Whether doctors should disclose every risk is a normative question.
- The data show what happened, but the normative question is what we ought to do next.
- Debates about punishment often begin with normative questions about justice.
- What should we do? That is a normative question.
- Is the rule fair? That is a normative question.
normative social influence
1Conforming to gain acceptance
Changing your behavior because you want a group to accept you.
- Normative social influence can make people agree publicly with a group even when they privately disagree.
- Teenagers may follow a fashion because of normative social influence.
- The experiment showed the power of normative social influence in small groups.
- He agreed because of normative social influence.
- Normative social influence can make people copy their friends.