NIHs transformative opportunities for the behavioral and social sciences

Causality in the Social and Behavioral Sciences

This paper aims to acquaint researchers in the quantitative social and behavior sciences with recent advances in causal inference which provide a systematic methodology for defining, estimating, testing, and defending causal claims in experimental and observational studies. These advances are illustrated using a general theory of causation based on nonparametric structural equation models (SEM)...

International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences

Functional Equations in Behavioral and Social Sciences

Theories in the behavioral, social, and natural sciences are often formalized by equations involving unknown functions, i.e., by functional equations. For instance, a theorist may be reluctant tomake specific assumptions regarding the form of functions involved in a mathematical model, but the qualitative formulation of the model itself may impose constraints on the initially unknown functions....

METHODOLOGY MATTERS: DOING RESEARCH IN THE BEHAVIORAL and SOCIAL SCIENCES

Material in this chapter draws on ideas from a number of my earlier publications, including: McGrath, J.E., 1984; McGrath and Brinberg, 1984; Brinberg and McGrath, 1985; Runkel and McGrath, 1972; McGrath, Martin, and Kulka, 1982. " Doing research" simply means the systematic use of some set of theoretical and empirical tools to try to increase our understanding of some set of phenomena or event...

Complex Adaptive Systems in the Behavioral and Social Sciences

This article examines applications of complexity theory within the behavioral and social sciences. Specific attention is given to the fundamental characteristics of complex adaptive systems (CAS)--such as individuals, groups, and societies-including the underlying structure of CAS, the internal dynamics of evolving CAS, and how CAS respond to their environment. Examples drawn from psychology, s...