10 Theorizing

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]