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The Growth of Social Knowledge Theory, Simulation, and Empirical Research in Group Processes
Jacek Szmatka, Michael Lovaglia, Kinga Wysienska
ISBN: 0-275-97213-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-97213-4
312 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 10/30/2002
List Price: $107.95 (UK Sterling Price: £74.95)
Availability: Print on demand
Media Type: Hardcover
Also Available: Ebook
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Description: This timely, comprehensive analysis of the latest advances in group processes research shows how cutting edge technologies, such as laboratory experiments, simulations, and complex systems combine with the rigor of cumulative research programs to change the way we see the social world. Group processes researchers study society scientifically, and have used sociological theory to build scientific, cumulative knowledge about the social world. Over the last 20 years, they have been extremely successful in advancing this knowledge through the reciprocal interplay of theory and experiment. The synthesis of such knowledge—uniting theory, simulation, and experiment—provides substantive explanations for social phenomena and predictions about events in complex social systems. This volume explores aspects of this synthesis from the perspective of group processes research.

Providing deep analyses of methodological issues related to the synthesis of the theories, simulations, and experiments of group processes research, the authors also offer empirical examples of various studies that have been conducted. They investigate the ways in which theoretical research programs coordinate theory and empirical research in sociology to produce scientific progress and how computer simulations have evolved into an important component of theoretical research programs. This illustration of the relationships between theory construction and the method of theory verification advances our understanding of the field and may lead to a radical shift in the methodology and substance of modern social science.
Table of Contents:
  • Prologue
    Developing Social Knowledge: The Group Processes Research Tradition by Jacek Szmatka, Michael Lovaglia, and Kinga Wysienska
    Improving Social Theory
    Three Faces of Explanation: A Strategy for Building Cumulative Knowledge by Henry A. Walker
    Formalization and Inference by Geoffrey Tootell, Alison Bianchi, and Paul T. Munroe
    In Defense of Realistic Assumptions by Pidi Zhang
    Positivism and Theory Construction in Group Processes by Kinga Wysienska and Jacek Szmatka
    Expectations, Need-States, and Emotional Arousal in Encounters by Jonathan H. Turner and David E. Boyns
    Using Theory to Guide Research
    How Scope and Initial Conditions Determine the Growth of Theory by Robert K. Shelly
    The Relation between Experimental Standardization and Theoretical Development in Group Processes Research by Lisa Troyer
    Using Theory to Guide Empirical Research by Joseph Whitmeyer
    Computer Simulations as Mediators between Theory and Research
    Axiomatics and Generativity by Thomas J. Fararo
    Some Philosophy of Science Issues in the Use of Complex Computer Simulation Theories by Barbara Foley Meeker
    Artificial Societies: Laboratories for Theoretical Research by Michael Macy and Walter Luke
    The Strength of Weak Power: A Simulation Study of Network Evolution by Phillip Bonacich
    Epilogue
    Theory, Simulation, and Research: The New Synthesis by Michael J. Lovaglia and Robert B. Willer
    Theory, Simulation, and Research: The New Synthesis by Michael J. Lovaglia and Robert B. Willer
About the Author: JACEK SZMATKA is deceased. He was Professor of Sociology at Jagiellonian University, Poland, and co-author of Advances in Group Processes Vol. 15, and Status, Network, and Structure: Theory Development in Group Processes.

MICHAEL LOVAGLIA is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Iowa. He has published articles and book chapters on network exchange theory and status processes, among other topics.

KINGA WYSIENSKA is a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Sociology at Jagiellonian University, Poland. She focuses her research on power and status processes in social structures.
LCC Class: 305
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