How we can best advance the construction of theory in psychology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24310/espsiescpsi.vi3.13435Keywords:
psicología, teoriaAbstract
The current overload of data, psychology's conceptual pluralism, the increasing acceptance of the theory-laden view of science, and psychology's current stage of historical development, all indicare that further scientific progress in psychology is crucially dependent upon advances in che construction of cheory. Theory construction is analysed in terms of three metatheoretic categories which, in ascending order of theoretical power, are identified as programatic, descriptive, and explanatory. What is the optimal theory construction strategy in each case? In the case of explanatory theory the optimal strategy is to maximize theoretical comprehensiveness while simultaneously minimizing che number of theoretical principles (parsimony). The optimal strategy in the case of descriptive theory involves developing a tight nomological network of relatively limited scope, but with the prospect of expanding toward an area theory. The optimal strategy for improving programmatic theory, which characterizes most psychology, is to get a heuristic handle on the domain in question. This involves getting a nomological network started, that is, identifiying and precising sorne of the relevant theoretical constructs, and exploring their relationships.
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