"a Primer In Theory Construction" By P. D. Reynolds

Front 1

Typologies: Definition

Back 1

Any set of concepts used to classify a subject.

Front 2

Typologies: Exhaustiveness

Back 2

There is no item that cannot be placed in the typological scheme.

Front 3

Typologies: Mutual exclusiveness

Back 3

There is no ambiguity as to whether an item can be placed within a typological scheme or not.

Front 4

Typologies: Typological criterion

Back 4

Typologies should be consistent with the concepts of the statements that express the purposes of science.

Front 5

Prediction and Explanation: Definition

Back 5

Abstract scientific statements that predict what will happen in the future will be the same as what happened in the past.

Front 6

A sense of understanding is provide only when...

Back 6

The causal mechanisms that link one or more concepts (I.V.s) with changes in other concepts (D.V.s) have been fully described.

Front 7

Why does a person feel ambiguous or uncertain about an explanation?

Back 7

Some part of the causal linkage has been omitted from the description.

Front 8

Model builders get a sense of understanding when...

Back 8

...there is a close fit between the empirical results and predictions from a model, no matter what the basis for those predictions.

Front 9

What can be logically derived from empirical generalizations?

Back 9

Explanations and predictions.

Front 10

When can empirical generalization become a scientific law?

Back 10

When scientists in general have great degree of confidence in the truth of such statements.

Front 11

When are scientific laws considered mostly complete?

Back 11

When several empirical statements taken together provide a description of the causal process.

Front 12

How does a concept become a part of the scientific body of knowledge?

Back 12

1) Each individual scientist becomes more convinced of the usefulness of an idea for the goals of science.
2) The number of scientists become more convinced of the usefulness of an idea for the goals of science.

Front 13

Which explanatory methodology provides understanding: Scientific law or causal mechanism?

Back 13

Causal mechanism.

Front 14

When will a typology yield only confusion rather than clarity?

Back 14

If the development of descriptions of causal processes is considered the most important purpose of scientific activity, any typology not consistent with these descriptions will suffice.

Front 15

When is a theory related to a particular phenomenon useful in application?

Back 15

When scientists can examine their ability to influence the variables that will affect the events they wish to control.

Front 16

Must a scientific theory be able to control an event?

Back 16

No. Astronomers and geologists cannot control nature.

Front 17

What are three types of theory?

Back 17

1) A set of well supported empirical generalizations, or "set of laws".
2) A set of definitions, axioms, and propositions (derived from the axioms).
3) A set of descriptions of causal processes.

Front 18

What is the causal process form of theory?

Back 18

When a set of statements in axiomatic form is reorganized into a description of a causal process. This is not always possible.

Front 19

What unscientific ways may the word theory be used, and may be misleading from the perspective of scientific purpose?

Back 19

1) Vague descriptions or conceptualizations.
2) Prescriptions of desirable social behavior.
3) Any untested hypothesis or idea.

Front 20

State three abbreviated forms of theory.

Back 20

1) Set of laws
2) Axiomatic
3) Causal process