David Willer

This book takes an historical view to explain how social science arrived at its current state and proposes solutions to its problems. This book shows the reader that theory is the method of the sciences. First it explains how the empiricism of J. S. Mill and R. A. Fisher has blocked the growth of theory-driven research. The myths of how science works, as proposed by T. Kuhn, have added another layer of obfuscation. Wholesale adoption of empiricist methods has produced the replication crisis – that most experimental findings cannot be replicated in economics and psychology and undoubtedly also in sociology. Without theory, the scope of research topics has constricted, resulting in what R. Merton feared, a balkanization of knowledge in sociology. Then, having cleared the intellectual underbrush, the book turns to how theory-driven experiments are constructed. Fortunately, today a number of theory-driven experimental studies are found in the literature. This book's use of those studies as examples will help the reader understand this form of experimentation. The authors envision an explanatory sociology in which experimentally grounded theory forms a ‘toolbox’. The parts of the toolbox are deployed to explain complex historical and contemporary events. Here examples are few and far between: we will need to build new ones. Taken together, this book envisions a radically changed social science, and it is vital reading for scholars across sociology, political science, economics, and social psychology.

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Building Experiments is the essential text for understanding experimental methods. In engaging style, the book shows how theory is employed in experimental design, how experiments test theory, and how proper design and use of experiments can advance the social sciences as explanatory sciences. The interactive nature of the text encourages students to hone their skills, building and running experiments while learning the underlying principles of theory and experimentation. The book addresses practical issues, ranging from the critical analysis of historically important experiments to understanding how to recruit subjects properly and protect their rights. Founding experiments in sociology are compared to founding experiments in physics to demonstrate fundamental cross-disciplinary similarities of theory, experiment, and scientific method. Finally, the book explains how experimental research and theory can be applied in historical and institutional studies. This book will be a key resource in social science methodology courses at all levels.

Building Experiments is the essential text for understanding experimental methods. In engaging style, the book shows how theory is employed in experimental design, how experiments test theory, and how proper design and use of experiments can advance the social sciences as explanatory sciences. The interactive nature of the text encourages students to hone their skills, building and running experiments while learning the underlying principles of theory and experimentation. The book addresses practical issues, ranging from the critical analysis of historically important experiments to understanding how to recruit subjects properly and protect their rights. Founding experiments in sociology are compared to founding experiments in physics to demonstrate fundamental cross-disciplinary similarities of theory, experiment, and scientific method. Finally, the book explains how experimental research and theory can be applied in historical and institutional studies. This book will be a key resource in social science methodology courses at all levels.

The field of network exchange has grown over the last 20 years from a few scattered studies to substantial publications in leading journals. Today network exchange is as advanced as any area of sociology. Willer and his contributors present its most advanced theory, Network Exchange Theory, and, by assembling and supplementing formulations now spread across leading journals, provide scholars with a unique collection. Contributors examine basic issues in theory as well as research. The end product is a well-tested theory which relates social structure to social action under a wide range of conditions, and is proven to be a useful tool for structural analysis at both the micro and macro levels. An important text and guide for researchers and students of social theory, structure, and social psychology.

The field of network exchange has grown over the last 20 years from a few scattered studies to substantial publications in leading journals. Today network exchange is as advanced as any area of sociology. Willer and his contributors present its most advanced theory, Network Exchange Theory, and, by assembling and supplementing formulations now spread across leading journals, provide scholars with a unique collection.Contributors examine basic issues in theory as well as research. The end product is a well-tested theory which relates social structure to social action under a wide range of conditions, and is proven to be a useful tool for structural analysis at both the micro and macro levels. An important text and guide for researchers and students of social theory, structure, and social psychology.

First Published in 1987. This work demonstrates how experimental designs are produced through the active use of social theory. It also shows how theoretically designed experiments address broader issues in social theory, issues that can be traced back to the classical theories of Marx and Weber. Because it discusses the structure of a working theory as well as the applications, this volume encourages readers to think of social structures dynamically.