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

Articles

• Lave, Charles A., and James G. March. 1993(1975). An Introduction to Models in the Social Sciences. New York: University Press of America.
  - Chap. 2 [pdf] and Chap. 3 [pdf]
• Granovetter, M. (1973). Strength of Weak Ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78 (6): 1360-1380 [^pdf] // Read first half (up to 1369) very carefully. What's the mechanism? Using the framework of Lave and March, is this a good theory?

Handouts

• Lave & March. Theorizing 
• Lave & March. How to Theorize

• Middle-range theory

Homework due

• theory homework (send to google group)

Slides

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

Software

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

Bibliography

• theorizing bibliography

(actually, it was Kurt Lewin, social psychologist, 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

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

Optional

• Borgatti, S.P. and Kidwell, V. 2010. “Network Theorizing”. In Carrington, P. and Scott, J. (eds) The Sage Handbook of Social Network Analysis. Sage Publications. [pdf] // read section on strength of weak ties
• Levitt and Dubner. 2005. Freakonomics. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
• Sutton, R. I., & Staw, B. M. (1995). What theory is not. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40(3), 371-384.
• Read about Feynman's "cargo cult" speech [html]