A Workshop on Family Theory Construction

Abstract

them would facilitate a mastery of the metatheoretical part of the workshop. There are several other changes that could probably be made to spread out the metatheoretical phase and integrate the analytical phase with it. The first section of the workshop could include brief sections on (1) different types of theory and (2) the components of theory before the abstracting exercise. The aspects of theory that would probably be necessary in the section on the components of theory would be concepts, variables, relationships, propositions, logical interrelationships between propositions, and explanation. After the abstracting experience, students could discuss other characteristics of theory such as scope, generality, abstractness, mode of expression, and causality. Also, at this stage of the workshop it probably would be efficient to introduce the factors that influence the quality of a theory such as its explanatory power, parsimony, and heuristic properties. The students' prior exposure to the theories they had abstracted could help them understand most of these issues. They could then undertake a critique of one or two other theoretical papers in writing and in seminar discussion. There could then be an analysis of various strategies of theory building. This section would October 1973 THE FAMILY COORDINATOR 393 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.105 on Wed, 25 May 2016 04:32:12 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms probably be more easily understood after the students had abstracted one or two papers and had assessed their adequacy. It probably would be desirable then to have some time pass before presentations of their own theory building efforts were made. This could be done by analyzing the current status of family theory and different points of view in theory building. One evaluation of the students' attempts at theory building was that the students that were working with substantive areas where there was already a fairly clear set of theoretical ideas had more defensible presentations than students working in areas where the theoretical ideas were expressed in discussions and obscure form or where no theory had been previously developed. This suggests that, at least in the learning experience, emphasis should probably be given to building theory in areas where some prior formalization had been done rather than having students attempt to develop their own theoretical perspectives. It also suggests, since this was mentioned to the students early in this workshop, that students may not adequately appreciate the difficulties of working in theoretically undeveloped areas. One change that the instructors plan to make in future workshops of this type and in courses on the methodology of theory building will be to spend time discussing process of theory building. Very little has been written about how a theorist actually goes about the process of building theories, but publications such as Reynolds (1971) seventh chapter, volumes by Hage (1972) and Mullins (1971), and papers such as those presented by Klein and Hill (1972) and Burr (1972) at the Pre-NCFR Workshop on Concept and Theory Building are a beginning. Two of the objectives of this section would be to discuss how a theorist would take several empirical studies that deal with one topic and induce from the findings a theoretical idea that is more abstract and inclusive than the specific hypothesis in the studies; and how a theorist reworks a previous theoretical essay in the light of new conceptual developments or empirical data. The instructors expressed satisfaction with the team teaching format that was used. They split nearly equally the major responsibility for leading discussions and did not hesitate to strike up a critical dialogue where their views differed on issues. Such a format has the advantage of not only filling gaps in competency that each instructor may possess, but also legitimizing two-way communication between faculty and graduate students. Workshop students were especially favorable about this aspect.