How to Build Social Science Theories

241 Pages·2003·1.891 MB·English

by  Pamela J. Shoemaker, James William Tankard, Dominic L. Lasorsa

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Dedicated to...
F. Scott Sherman
Elaine F. Tankard
L. Richard Scroggins
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Copyright © 2004 by Pamela J. Shoemaker, James William Tankard, Jr., and
Dominic L. Lasorsa.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publisher.
For information:
Sage Publications, Inc.
2455 Teller Road
Thousand Oaks, California 91320
E-mail: [email protected]
Sage Publications Ltd.
6 Bonhill Street
London EC2A4PU
United Kingdom
Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd.
B-42, Panchsheel Enclave
Post Box 4109
New Delhi 110 017 India
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shoemaker, Pamela J.
How to build social science theories / by Pamela J. Shoemaker, James William
Tankard, Jr., Dominic L. Lasorsa ; foreword by Jerald Hage.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7619-2666-6 — ISBN 0-7619-2667-4 (paper))
1. Sociology-Methodology. 2. Social sciences-Methodology.
I. Tankard, James W. II. Lasorsa, Dominic L. III. Title.
HM585.S52 2004
300´.1—dc22
2003016653
Printed on acid-free paper.
03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Acquiring Editor: Margaret H. Seawell
Editorial Assistant: Alicia Carter
Production Editor: Claudia A. Hoffman
Copy Editor: Elisabeth Magnus
Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd.
Indexer: Sylvia Coates
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Contents
Preface ix
Foreword xiii
Jerald Hage
1. Introduction: The Nature of Science 1
Science 1
Social Science 3
Theory 5
Scientific Jargon 7
Doing Science 9
Outline of the Book 11
2. Theoretical Concepts: The Building Blocks of Theory 15
Constructs, Concepts, and Variables 15
Variables Versus Nonvariables 16
Variables Acting as Nonvariables 18
Independent Versus Dependent Variables 18
Categorical Versus Continuous Variables 20
Converting Categorical Variables
Into Continuous Variables 22
Identifying Dimensions of a Construct 25
Defining Concepts 26
Theoretical Definitions 26
Operational Definitions 29
Building Scales and Indexes 33
3. Theoretical Statements Relating Two Variables 37
Identifying Assumptions 38
Forms of Hypotheses 40
Causal Direction 44
How Research Questions and Hypotheses Differ 46
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4. Theoretical and Operational Linkages 51
Theoretical Linkages 52
Operational Linkages 57
Operational Linkages as Visual Representations 57
Operational Linkages as Statistics 62
The Whole Story 64
5. Theoretical Statements Relating Three Variables 67
Roles of Three-Variable Relationships in Theory 70
Five Types of Outcomes 72
Proper Form for Hypothesis 81
Some Methodological Considerations 83
Conclusion 84
6. Theoretical Statements Relating Four or More Variables 85
Formulating Theoretical Statements for
Complex Systems 86
Visualizing Four-Variable Relationships 89
Extending the Three-Variable Strategy
to Complex Systems 95
Ordering the Variables in Time 98
Analyzing Paths Among Multiple Variables 100
Specifying Nonlinear Relationships and
Nonadditive Effects 103
Caveats and Conclusions 105
7. Theoretical Models 107
What a Model Is 107
Models Versus Theories 110
Uses of Models 114
Criticisms of Models 119
Types of Models 122
Representing Theories in Model Form 132
Deriving Theoretical Statements From Models 134
Building on Existing Models 137
Developments in Model Building 138
8. Creativity and Theory Building 145
Beginning Points for Theory 146
Creativity in Theory Building 147
Some Suitable Points for Creative Thinking 149
Principles and Techniques of Creative Thinking 149
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Attribute Listing 150
The Technique of Forced Relationships 151
Morphological Analysis 151
Brainstorming 152
Generating Lists of Ideas 153
Lateral Thinking 153
Random Input 154
Setting up Provocations 154
The Creative Hit List 155
Visualization 155
Writing Techniques 156
Letting the Unconscious Do Some of the Work 156
Metaphor and Analogy in Theory Building 157
Examples from Mass Communication Theory 158
Advantages of Metaphor and Analogy 162
Cautions in Using Metaphor and Analogy 164
Finding Metaphors and Analogies 165
Switching to the Critical Mode 165
Conclusion 166
9. Using and Evaluating Theory 167
Atheoretical Research 168
The Usefulness of Theory 169
Summarizing Knowledge 169
Practical Applications 169
Guiding Research 169
Ten Steps of Building a Theory 170
Evaluating Theories 171
Testability 171
Falsifiability 172
Parsimony 172
Explanatory Power 172
Predictive Power 173
Scope 173
Cumulative Nature of Science 173
Degree of Formal Development 174
Heuristic Value 176
Aesthetics 176
Sample Evaluation of a Theory 176
Theory Building and Platt’s “Strong Inference” 178
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Constraints on Theory Building 179
Final Suggestions 180
Conclusion 181
Appendix A. Guidelines for Preparing Tables and Figures 183
Appendix B. Acceptable Levels of
Measurement for Various Statistics 201
References 203
Index 211
About the Authors 221
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Preface
O
ne of us (Tankard) was teaching at the University of Wisconsin
in 1970-71 when two graduate students, Robert Krull and James
Watt, mentioned an exciting course they were taking from a sociology
professor named Jerald Hage. The course dealt with theory building in
sociology, and the students said Hage had just written his own text for
the course and distributed it to the class in mimeographed form.
Tankard showed interest in seeing the document, and Krull and Watt
obtained a copy for him. It was 220 mimeographed pages, and the
figures were drawn by hand. The title of the manuscript was Techniques
and Problems of Theory Construction. The manuscript was not always
easy reading, with examples taken primarily from sociology, but it
dealt with the important matter of theory building in a more system-
atic and comprehensive way than anything else that was around.
In 1972, the manuscript was published by John Wiley & Sons under
the title Techniques and Problems of Theory Construction in Sociology.
Tankard, who was teaching theory and research methods at the
University of Texas, began assigning chapters in graduate seminars.
Despite a few student complaints about the difficulty of the material,
he continued to assign chapters from the Hage book for years because
the ideas were so important and useful.
Another of us (Shoemaker) remembers going through graduate
classes at the University of Wisconsin in which theory building and
testing were discussed and expecting to see an example of a theory
with all its various parts. She discovered that there weren’t any—social
science theories tend to be spread in a nonsystematic way across many
articles and books. This was the beginning of her interest in theory
building. Shoemaker came to the University of Texas to teach in 1982
and began assigning chapters from the Hage book, which she knew
about from her graduate courses at Wisconsin. The Hage “system”
played a major role in the development of her dissertation at
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