FSS Advanced Theory Construction

Course objectives

1. This course will introduce you to the nature of theory and theory construction in the social sciences. The topics it will explore include the following: the nature of explanation; theoretical types; strategies for theory construction; the relationship between theory and inquiry in social science research; evaluating and critiquing theories.
2. This course will also introduce you to a range of theories in the social sciences, particularly organizational science and organizational communication studies.  There are so many theories in such a wide range of contexts that we cannot pretend to be comprehensive. Instead, we will focus on exemplars of good theory.

Course content

Most courses on theory in the social sciences concentrate on the content of theories.  In contrast, this class focuses on the canonical formats of various types of theories and what constitutes an adequate theory of a given type.  The course will consider a number of types of theories, including causal theory, contingency theory, systems theory, network theory, several types of process theories and interpretive theory.  It details the characteristics of each type of theory, how to build an effective theory of each type, and criteria that a good theory of each type must fulfill. Along with general discussion of each theory type, we consider specific examples drawn from several social science disciplines.  We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each example and how they can be reconstructed to better fulfill the criteria for an effective theory of their type.  We will also cover issues of construct explication and philosophy of social science that are relevant to theory construction.