Theory Construction and Model-Building Skills, Second Edition: A Practical Guide for Social Scientists

Methodology in the Social Sciences

by James Jaccard, Jacob Jacoby

This accessible, hands-on text has now been revised and updated, with expanded coverage of topics including how theory may emerge from exploratory data analysis. The book prepares graduate students, new researchers, and even seasoned investigators to develop their own theories and build on existing ones. Concrete strategies are provided to help readers generate ideas, define constructs, and think through relationships and processes that link constructs. Compelling examples from multiple disciplines illustrate the use of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods orientations to theory construction. The text also offers practical advice for writing effectively about theories in papers and grant applications. Readers learn by doing via application and concept exercises, demonstration boxes, and practical guidelines. The extensive companion website includes PowerPoint slides of all of the book’s figures, primers on advanced topics, video demonstrations, supplemental exercises, and other resources.
 
New to This Edition
*Emergent theory is now covered in mixed methods as well as qualitative approaches, plus in a new chapter on exploratory quantitative methods that can help generate new theory through data mining.
*Chapter on whether and how to revise a theory when faced with disconfirmatory data.
*Two chapters on the theoretical underpinnings of measurement practices.
*New or expanded discussions of what constitutes a theoretical contribution, conceptual logic models, thought experiments, and more.
 
Pedagogical Features
*Application and concept exercises in every chapter.
*Lists of key terms and engaging topical boxes.
*Annotated suggestions for further reading.
*New companion website with rich resources for students and instructors.
*Chapters stand on their own and can be used in any order.
 

Genres: Textbooks, Research, Science

522 pages, Paperback

First published December 30, 2009

Reviews

[Eren Buğlalılar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teorisiz sosyal bilimci kalmasın diye düşünülerek yazılmış bir kitap. Neden ve sonuç ilişkilerinin türleri nelerdir, bu ilişkiler nasıl farklı biçimlerde kurulabilir? Nasıl hipotez oluşturulur, bir önerme nasıl ispatlanır? Henüz bir önermeniz yok ise, 'grounded theory' kullanarak çalışacağınız alanı nasıl tanıyabilir, pilot çalışmalar yoluyla nasıl hipoteze ve ispata ilerlersiniz? Bir önermeyi ispatlıyorum sanırken aslında safsata tuzağına düşmek üzere olduğunuzu nasıl anlarsınız?

Kitap güzel amma, Wayne Booth'un "Craft of Research" kitabı kadar güzel yazılmamış. Booth sizi çalışmanın başından alıyor, soru sordura sordura adım adım ilerletiyor. Orada zanaat öğreniyoruz, burada biraz "teori inşa süreçlerine dair teoriler" okuyor gibiyiz. O açıdan çok da pratik bir kılavuz değil.

[Emre Ergin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this thanks to my then-supervisor's advice. While the authors are really sincere, and the book includes many examples, their approach was a bit too general for what they were set out for. Talking about anthropology, psychology, neuroscience and statistics this hand-wavy can confuse some rather than help.

As an Introductory book is still useful, if one even only considers suggested readings. I can see myself using some selected texts from it.

[Kasper · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my view, this is a good introduction to theory building. However, I personally found much of the book quite basic and, somewhat surprising, to be about measuring and empirically testing propositions. Thus, I would recommend Reynolds or Dubin as introductions over this book.

[Grandfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very well written book with alot of good, practical advice for how to think "outside the box." The book is deceptive in that it has a tremendous amount of useful information crammed into a small nummber of pages. If you read it from cover to cover, you will be amazed at the number of rich ideas in it. The book covers ways of thinking about and organizing one's world and is respectful of non-scientific approaches to understanding. It discusses heuristics for getting ideas, describes interesting strategies for defining constructs, and has a detailed chapter on thought experiments. It has an exceptionally clear chapter on causal modeling and one of the best introductions to math modeling I have seen. The chapter on grounded theory is practical and useful, in contrast to the abstract way grounded theory usually is presented. I especially liked the chapter on historically influential systems of thought, where the authors encourage you to "try on different hats" and think about the world from different theoretical perspectives. Finally, the chapter on writing about theories offers numerous words of wisdom. This is a scholarly book chock full of information. Unlike most books on this topic, it has a lot of good practical advice. The book is not of the "I can't put this down type," but it is really, really useful.

[Grandfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second edition of this book. The first edition was good but this edition is much improved. It has added a wealth of material that is very helpful to getting ideas, designing research, and making a theoretical contribution with one's research. There is a very useful website of supplementary materials. I particularly like the new additions on what is a theoretical contribution, how to evaluate a theoretical contribution, exploratory data analysis for emergent theory and theory revision. The new sections on theory and measurement are also helpful. This is definitely worth looking at relative to the first edition as it covers so much more.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

READ MAR 2012

Excellent resource for anyone interested in social science research. The authors leverage a seven-stage creative process that includes: orientation, preparation, analysis, ideation, incubation, synthesis, and evaluation.

Best quotes "no single orientation [for understanding] has an exclusive franchise on arriving at exhaustive and comprehensive understanding" (p. 23); and "empirical systems make little sense without a corresponding conceptual system to organize them" (p. 27).