Theory Construction and Model-building Skills

Meeting a crucial need for graduate students and newly minted researchers, this innovative text provides hands-on tools for generating ideas and translating them into formal theories. It is illustrated with numerous practical examples drawn from multiple social science disciplines and research setti [...]
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Meeting a crucial need for graduate students and newly minted researchers, this innovative text provides hands-on tools for generating ideas and translating them into formal theories. It is illustrated with numerous practical examples drawn from multiple social science disciplines and research settings. The authors offer clear guidance for defining constructs, thinking through relationships and processes that link constructs, and deriving new theoretical models (or building on existing ones) based on those relationships. Step by step, they show readers how to use causal analysis, mathematical modeling, simulations, and grounded and emergent approaches to theory construction. A chapter on writing about theories contains invaluable advice on crafting effective papers and grant applications. Useful pedagogical features in every chapter include: Application exercises and concept exercises Lists of key terms and engaging topical boxes Annotated suggestions for further reading.This book is intended for graduate students in a range of disciplines, including psychology, education, sociology, health, and management, as well as social scientists pursing research careers in academic or other settings. It can serve as a primary text in graduate-level courses in theory construction or as a supplemental text in courses on research methodology, theories of a particular discipline, grant writing, or the dissertation.