Barcode	Locations	Status
Barcode: 01156099	Locations: 7 JAC	Status: borrowed

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.

 

Contents:

 

I. Basic Concepts

1. Introduction

2. The Nature of Understanding

3. Science as an Approach to Understanding sample

 

II. Core Processes

4. Creativity and the Generation of Ideas

5. Focusing Concepts

6. Thought Experiments for Variable Relationships

 

III. Frameworks for Theory Construction

7. Causal Models

8. Mathematical Modeling

9. Simulation as a Theory Development Method

10. Emergent Theory: Qualitative/Mixed Method Approaches

11. Emergent Theory: Quantitative Approaches

12. Historically Influential Systems of Thought

 

IV. Theory at the Level of Measurement

13. Theory and Measurement: General Frameworks

14. Types of Measurement Strategies

 

V. Concluding Issues

15. Theory Revision

16. Reading and Writing about Theories

17. Epilogue