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FYA

Theory

This module is concerned with the one of main tasks of research, which is the construction of good theory.

Topics

  • What is theory?

  • Qualities of a good theory

  • Mechanisms/process

  • How to theorize

  • The problem of causality

  • Inductive/Deductive/Synthetic

  • Perspectives on theory

  • Role of hypotheses

  • Process vs variance models

Readings (descending priority)

  • Lave, Charles A., and James G. March. 1993(1975). An Introduction to Models in the Social Sciences. New York: University Press of America.
    • Chapter 2 [pdf]
    • Chapter 3 [pdf]
  • Schweizer, T. Epistemology. In Bernard (ed) 1998. Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology. [pdf]
  • [example of theorizing] Strength of Weak Ties. Granovetter, M. (1973), "The Strength of Weak Ties," American Journal of Sociology, 78 (6): 1360-1380 [^pdf]

Handouts

  • Borgatti. Theorizing 
  • Borgatti. How to Theorize
  • Trochim. Conceptualizing. [php]
  • In class similarity judgments of the linguistic domains of theory and hypothesis [html]

Online

Slides

  • Borgatti. 2008. Applied theory. Academy of Management conference, Anaheim. (abridged) [pdf]
  

(actually, it was Kurt Lewin, social pychologist, who said this -- not the guy in the picture)

"This isn't right. It's not even wrong."
-- Wolfgang Pauli, on a paper he was asked to comment on

Wolfgang Ernst Pauli (1900-1958)

"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world." -- Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922)

 

Software

  • Download file containing popsim.exe, which simulates growth in no. of boys and girls (ala Chap 3 of Lave & March) [zip]

 

Bibliography

Highly Recommended

  • Lave, Charles A., and James G. March. 1993(1975). An Introduction to Models in the Social Sciences. New York: University Press of America

Management/Sociology Scholars on Theory

  • Mayhew, B. 1980. Structuralism vs. individualism part 1: Shadow boxing in the dark. Social Forces :335-375. [^pdf]

  • Weick, K. E. (1995). What theory is not, theorizing is. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40(3), 385-390

  • Sutton, R. I., & Staw, B. M. (1995). What theory is not. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40(3), 371-384.

  • Van Maanen, J. (1995). Style as theory. Organization Science, 6(1), 133-143.

  • Stinchcombe, Arthur. 1968. “Fundamental Forms of Scientific Inference.” Pp. 15-28 in Constructing Social Theories. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World.

  • The measurement problem: A gap between the languages of theory and research by H. Blalock, ch. 1 in Methodology in Social Research.

  • Locke, E.A. and Latham, G.P. 2004. What should we do about motivation theory?: six recommendations for the twenty-first century. Academy of Management Review, 29(3): 388-403.

  • Bacharach, S.B. 1989. Organizational theories: Some criteria for evaluation. Academy of Management Review, 14(4):496-515.

  • Reynolds, P.D., 1971, Forms of theories, ch. 5 in A Primer in Theory Construction by  NY: Bobbs-Merrill

  • Stinchcombe, A. The Logic of Social Research. U of Chicago Press.

  • Arthur L. Stinchcombe. 1991. The Conditions of Fruitfulness of Theorizing About Mechanisms in Social Science. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Vol. 21, No. 3, 367-388

  • D.A. Whetten, "What Constitutes a Theoretical Contribution?," Academy of Management Review, Vol. 14, No. 4 (1989), pp. 490-495.

  • Ken G. Smith, Michael A. Hitt (eds). Great Minds in Management: The Process of Theory Development: Especially Hambrick chapter.

  • Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure.

  • Lawrence, B. 1997. The Black Box of Organizational Demography. Organization Science, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Jan. - Feb), pp. 1-22 [^pdf]

Philosophy of Science on Theory

  • Lakatos, I. (1971). History of science and its rational reconstruction. In R. C. Buck & R. S. Cohen (Eds.), PSA. Reidel

  • Imre Lakatos, "Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes" in The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes, edited by John Worrall and Gregory Currie (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978), 91

  • Popper, Karl (1963), Conjectures and Refutations, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, UK, pp. 33–39. Reprinted in Theodore Schick (ed., 2000), Readings in the Philosophy of Science, Mayfield Publishing Company, Mountain View, Calif., pp. 9–13.

  • Kaplan, A. 1964 The Conduct of Iinquiry: Methodology for Social Science. San Francisco: Chandler.

Process and Variance Models

  • Mohr, L. 1982. Explaining Organizational Behavior. SF: Jossey-Bass.

  • Pfeffer. Review of Mohr, L. 1982. Explaining Organizational Behavior. SF: Jossey-Bass. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Jun., 1983), pp. 321-325 [^pdf]

  • Fichman Variance explained: why size does not (always) matter (1999). Research in organizational behavior [pdf]

 

Send mail to sborgatti@uky.edu with questions or comments about this web site. Copyright © 2008 by Steve Borgatti. Last modified: 08/10/09.

 

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