Reflections on Choosing the Appropriate Level of Abstraction in Social Science Research
探讨了社会科学研究中抽象层次的选择问题，指出北美主流研究偏好高抽象层次而忽视国家背景，但解释中国发展需更多背景细节，并提出通过识别一般因果机制来缓解这一矛盾。
Abstract Although researchers often do it subconsciously, every explanation involves choosing a level of abstraction at which the argument proceeds. The dominant North American style of research in Organization Theory, Strategy, and International Business encourages researchers to frame their explanations at the highest level of abstraction where country-level contextual factors are suppressed or ignored. Yet to provide powerful explanations for recent developments in China, researchers are drawn to a greater level of context specificity. This tension is evident in the Child and Marinova (2014) paper. One way to reduce the tension is to identify general causal mechanisms that combine in different ways to produce different results depending on context. This research strategy is more effective than seeking invariant, general patterns of development across all times and places.