10 Theorizing

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

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

Homework due

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

(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]