Week 16: Constructing and Revising Complex Theories

We listed seven types of explanation in social research: genetic; intentional; dispositional; reasons; functional; empirical generalizations; and formal theory. We devoted most of our discussion to the last three, as these are the most widely used. The formal or axiomatic theory was clarified in the greatest depth, and distinguished between the explanatory and synthetic forms of axiomatic theory. We followed our discussion of axiomatic theory with a fairly detailed treatment of functional theory. We next discussed some criteria for the evaluation of social theory. The criteria we discussed were testability, clarity, and parsimony. The chapter concluded by discussing the revision of social theory.