Theory Construction and Model-Building Skills: A Practical Guide for Social Scientists

Meeting a crucial need for graduate students and newly minted researchers, this innovative text provides hands-on tools for generating ideas and translating them into formal theories. It is illustrated with numerous practical examples drawn from multiple social science disciplines and research settings. The authors offer clear guidance for defining constructs, thinking through relationships and processes that link constructs, and deriving new theoretical models (or building on existing ones) based on those relationships. Step by step, they show readers how to use causal analysis, mathematical modeling, simulations, and grounded and emergent approaches to theory construction. A chapter on writing about theories contains invaluable advice on crafting effective papers and grant applications.

Useful pedagogical features in every chapter include:

*Application exercises and concept exercises.

*Lists of key terms and engaging topical boxes.

*Annotated suggestions for further reading.

James Jaccard is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Institute for Child Health and Development at Florida International University in Miami. Previously, he was Distinguished Professor of Psychology for 20 years at the State University of New York, Albany. Dr. Jaccard has authored or edited 11 books and over 200 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He has served on numerous boards and panels for the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and the National Institutes of Health and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. His research focuses broadly on attitudes, cognitions, and emotions as they affect decision making, especially in applied settings. This includes research on adolescent decision making, health-related decisions, and a critical analysis of the effects of unconscious influences on adult decision making.

Jacob Jacoby is Merchants Council Professor of Consumer Behavior at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He has authored or edited six books and over 160 articles in peer-reviewed social science and law journals. Dr. Jacoby is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a Fellow and past president of the Association for Consumer Research. His research on the factors that affect consumer decision making and behavior has been honored by awards from the American Psychological Association, the American Marketing Association, the American Academy of Advertising, the Association for Consumer Research, and the Society for Consumer Psychology. He has conducted research or consulted for dozens of Fortune 500 companies and other organizations. He has also worked for federal agencies (including the U.S. Senate, Federal Trade Commission, and Food and Drug Administration) and testified in more than 100 cases heard in U.S. District Courts.