As straightforward as its title, How to Build Social Science Theories sidesteps the well-traveled road of theoretical examination by demonstrating how new theories originate and how they are elaborated. Essential reading for students of social science research, this book traces theories from their most rudimentary building blocks (terminology and definitions) through multivariable theoretical statements, models, the role of creativity in theory building, and how theories are used and evaluated. Authors Pamela J. Shoemaker, James William Tankard, Jr., and Dominic L. Lasorsa intend to improve research in many areas of the social sciences by making research more theory-based and theory-oriented. The book begins with a discussion of concepts and their theoretical and operational definitions. It then proceeds to theoretical statements, including hypotheses, assumptions, and propositions. Theoretical statements need theoretical linkages and operational linkages; this discussion begins with bivariate relationships, as well as three-variable, four-variable, and further multivariate relationships. The authors also devote chapters to the creative component of theory-building and how to evaluate theories.
An analysis of available historical materials enabled Levy to identify the actors' preferences as follows. (The symbol “>” means preferred to, and “?” indicates that a definitive preference could not be established.) Figure A.2.
This volume shows that the emergence of computational social science (CSS) is an endogenous response to problems from within the social sciences and not exogeneous.
"This book is designed to introduce doctoral and graduate students to the process of scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines.
In response to these criticisms, Matt Grossmann, in How Social Science Got Better, provides a robust defense of the current state of the social sciences.
In W. Herfel, W. Krajewski, I. Niiniluoto, & R. Wojcicki (Eds.), Theories and models in scientific processes (pp. 137–149). Amsterdam: Rodopi. ... Representation and productive ambiguity in mathematics and the sciences.
In this textbook, Derek Layder offers a better understanding of the links between theory and research, and provides an analysis of the relationship between the two.
Korn, E. L., & Graubard, B. I. (1999). Analysis of health surveys. New York, NY: Wiley. Kreager, D. A., & Staff, J. (2009). The sexual double standard and adolescent peer acceptance. Social Psychology Quarterly, 72, 143–164.
Appealing to students and scientists across disciplines, this collection will inspire innovative approaches to producing, teaching, and learning theory.
"The author did an excellent job on this text. This text is the missing link in explaining research methodologies. His comparison/contrasts are excellent.
The ideas they represent have enormous implications for the way we understand and engage with the world. Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences introduces students to the central ideas which surround the chaos/complexity theories.