Evidence, Inference, and Truth as Problems of Theory Building in the Social Sciences

2007 ◽  
pp. 25-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friedrich V. Kratochwil
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
The Social

Understanding Entrepreneurship through Chaos and Complexity Perspectives

2017 ◽  
pp. 171-188
Author(s):  
Wassim J. Aloulou
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Small Business ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Strategic Entrepreneurship ◽  
Entrepreneurship Research ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Complexity Theories ◽  
Scholarly Inquiry

This chapter aims to cover entrepreneurship as an emergent field of scholarly inquiry in the social sciences. Four different dominant paradigms are developed in this research field. The chapter shows that, in the last two decades, several scholars adopted the chaos and complexity sciences as important perspectives in the social sciences and especially in management sciences, small business and entrepreneurship. Then, the chapter aims also to introduce the pioneering contributions of theses scholars intending to understand entrepreneurship (its conditions, properties and processes of emergence) through the chaos and complexity theories and produce valuable knowledge in this field. And finally, the chapter presents some discussions and implication for future entrepreneurship research perspectives related to three research mainstreams: social, strategic entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial learning. In conclusion, the chapter invites researchers to benefit from the chaos and complexity perspectives in order not to miss opportunity to enrich their theory building in entrepreneurship research.

Modeling and Theories

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amos Golan
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Model Based ◽  
The Social ◽  
Validation Of Models

In this chapter I concentrate on model and theory building, including model-based hypotheses, based on limited information. I show that the info-metrics framework provides a coherent perspective that helps to identify the elements that are needed for building a logically sound model. The examples given in this chapter show how the info-metrics framework can guide the construction of both theories and models. I start the chapter by introducing conceptual building blocks and providing very simple toy examples. Then a more detailed example, taken from the social sciences, is introduced. A detailed discussion of the falsification and validation of models is also provided.

‘Modernising’ Eastern Europe: theoretical problems and political dilemmas

1992 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Müller
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Adequate Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Advanced Capitalism ◽  
Comparative Economics ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Developmental Dynamics

The upheavals in the Eastern European countries have demonstrated to the social sciences in a painful manner that they do not dispose of any adequate theory suited to grasp the dynamics and scope of the processes taking place there. Western sociology has won its categories from analysing Western societies and, in a premature manner, come to a generalised concept of society as such. Absorbed by the problems of advanced capitalism, it was not prepared for the collapse of the Easterns systems. Exploring socialist societies has, until recently, pre-eminently been a topic of specialised disciplines, such as Eastern European Studies, Soviet Studies, the Theory of International Relations, Comparative Economics and Development Studies. Its theory-building has remained too closely tied to pre-defined questions, to official documents, uncertain and precarious data or to ideological givens, to be able to assess realistically the developmental dynamics of Eastern societies. The exchange of information between Eastern and Western scholars has been highly selective, hence seldom resulting in mutual fertilisation.

scholarly journals EDITORIAL

1993 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. v-viii
Author(s):  
Sayyid M. Syeed
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
New Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Science Framework

This is the tenth year of the existence of AJISS. Starting from a publicationschedule of twice a year in 1984 to three times a year in 1989, itbecame a desk-topped quarterly in 1993. In 1992, due to increased demand,we began printing AJISS simultaneously in Washington, DC, andMalaysia. This year, it will also be published in Pakistan as well as translatedinto Turkish in Turkey, in shii. Allah. We are grateful to AlmightyAllah for our widespread readership and for the contributions sent fromaround the globe.In this issue, we feature two articles on various theoretical aspects ofthe Islamization of knowledge. The first one, by Ibrahim A. Ragab, discussestheory building in the Islamic social sciences. He argues for an alternativesocial science framework based on the Islamization paradigm,which he asserts could integrate both empirical and nonempirical elementsof behavior into a united system of explanation. Exploring the possibilityof using knowledge derived from revelation as a major source in the processof theory building, he encourages Muslim social scientists to drawupon the rich insights derived from the transcendental sources, but onlyafter subjecting the resulting propositions to stringent verification. Ragabassures us that this new model rejects unwanted dogmatism, unwarrantedexclusiveness, and a parochiality that shuns anything that comes by wayof non-Muslims. Muslim social scientists, he opines, will have to reorienttheir critical approach to their disciplines and also acquire a better understandingof the religious sciences: revealed knowledge. This would ensurea Muslim contribution in the social sciences, a contribution that disappearedduring centuries of stagnation in the Islamic ummah.In the second paper, Louay Safi examines the progress of the Islamizationof knowledge project over the last decade. He outlines the generalframework, analyzes the work of its proponents and critics (al Faruqi, alBuff, Rahman, 'AbuSulayman, Arif, Umziyan, Abul-Fadl), and proposesmodifications aimed at overcoming the difficulties inherent in the originalplan. Safi makes it clear at the outset that even though the production of ...

Understanding Entrepreneurship through Chaos and Complexity Perspectives

2016 ◽  
pp. 195-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wassim J. Aloulou
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Small Business ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Strategic Entrepreneurship ◽  
Entrepreneurship Research ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Complexity Theories ◽  
Scholarly Inquiry

This chapter aims to cover entrepreneurship as an emergent field of scholarly inquiry in the social sciences. Four different dominant paradigms are developed in this research field. The chapter shows that, in the last two decades, several scholars adopted the chaos and complexity sciences as important perspectives in the social sciences and especially in management sciences, small business and entrepreneurship. Then, the chapter aims also to introduce the pioneering contributions of theses scholars intending to understand entrepreneurship (its conditions, properties and processes of emergence) through the chaos and complexity theories and produce valuable knowledge in this field. And finally, the chapter presents some discussions and implication for future entrepreneurship research perspectives related to three research mainstreams: social, strategic entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial learning. In conclusion, the chapter invites researchers to benefit from the chaos and complexity perspectives in order not to miss opportunity to enrich their theory building in entrepreneurship research.

What Can We Learn From Factorial Surveys About Human Behavior?

Methodology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Knut Petzold ◽  
Tobias Wolbring
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Behavioral Intentions ◽  
Actual Behavior ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Factorial Survey ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Intended Behavior ◽  
The Social ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
High Level

Abstract. Factorial survey experiments are increasingly used in the social sciences to investigate behavioral intentions. The measurement of self-reported behavioral intentions with factorial survey experiments frequently assumes that the determinants of intended behavior affect actual behavior in a similar way. We critically investigate this fundamental assumption using the misdirected email technique. Student participants of a survey were randomly assigned to a field experiment or a survey experiment. The email informs the recipient about the reception of a scholarship with varying stakes (full-time vs. book) and recipient’s names (German vs. Arabic). In the survey experiment, respondents saw an image of the same email. This validation design ensured a high level of correspondence between units, settings, and treatments across both studies. Results reveal that while the frequencies of self-reported intentions and actual behavior deviate, treatments show similar relative effects. Hence, although further research on this topic is needed, this study suggests that determinants of behavior might be inferred from behavioral intentions measured with survey experiments.

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