A Dialectical Approach to Formulating and Testing Social Science Theories: Assumptional Analysis
提出一种揭示科学家关于人类行为、社会环境及其互动隐含假设的辩证过程，用于制定、检验和完善社会科学理论，帮助研究者推进理论进步。
It is argued that the necessary step in the formulation of “good” theories and their subsequent testing and refinement is uncovering the relevant underlying assumptions that different scientists make concerning the nature of human behavior, social environments, and the interactions between these. Since assumptions are, by definition, implicit, unconscious, or even obscure, an explicit process is needed to examine this hidden domain. This paper presents such a process and illustrates how this dialectical approach can be utilized to facilitate advances in social science research.