Week 2
Theory and Practice

Soci—316

Sakeef M. Karim
Amherst College

SOCIAL RESEARCH

Measuring Abstractions–
February 3rd

A Few Reminders

Add/Drop

The “shopping period” will end on Thursday.

A Few Reminders

Research Memo Deadline

Deadline for Memo on Research Interests

Memos are due by 8:00 PM on Friday, February 13th.

A High-Level Overview of Theories, Concepts, and Measurement

The Role of Theory

A scientific definition of theory is a sequential argument consisting of a series of logically related statements put forward to illuminate some element of social life. In this definition, a theory is a well-articulated and well-reasoned supposition about a social phenomenon that moves logically and systematically from one point to related points and to a conclusion or expectation.

(Carr et al. 2020:35, EMPHASIS ADDED)

Theory and Method

What is the relationship between
theory and empiricism?

Levels of Analysis

What are levels of abstraction and/or  units of analysis?

Levels of Analysis

Macro

Levels of Analysis

Meso

Levels of Analysis

Micro

Adaptation of results from Karim (2024)

Deduction vs Induction

A Stylized Example of Deductive Inference

Deduction vs Induction

A Stylized Example of Inductive Inference

Concepts to Models

How do we move from
conceptualization to measurement?

Concepts to Measurement

The Standard Model

Note

This is, of course, a highly stylized model.

Concepts to Models

Let’s pause for 5-10 minutes. Before we move on, jot down the core concepts that might undergird your research proposal. Then, note how you might operationalize each concept of interest. Finally, list the data you’d need to measure or capture key variables and constructs.

Transcending a
“General Linear Reality”

A General Linear Reality

How could you interpret this plot?

A General Linear Reality

Whoops.

A General Linear Reality

How could you interpret this plot?

A General Linear Reality

But … what if these 10 beliefs necessarily bundle together in practice?

Problematizing the General Linear Reality

To use such a model to actually represent social reality, one must map the processes of social life onto the algebra of linear transformations. This connection makes assumptions about social life—not the statistical assumptions required to estimate the equations, but philosophical assumptions about how the social world works.

(Abbott 1988:170, EMPHASIS ADDED)

Problematizing the General Linear Reality

Such representational use assumes that the social world consists of fixed entities (the units of analysis) that have attributes (the variables). These attributes interact, in causal or actual time, to create outcomes, themselves measurable as attributes of the fixed entities. The variable attributes have only one causal meaning (one pattern of effects) in a given study, although different studies may assign similar attributes different meanings. An attribute’s causal meaning cannot depend on the entity’s location in the attribute space (its context), since the linear transformation is the same throughout that space. For similar reasons, the past path of an entity through the attribute space (its history) has no influence on its future path, nor can the causal importance of an attribute change from one entity to the next. All must obey the same transformation.

(Abbott 1988:170, EMPHASIS ADDED)

Transcending a General Linear Reality

Figure 2 from Syrda (2023)

Transcending a General Linear Reality

Figure 5 from Zhao (2023)

Transcending a General Linear Reality

Using Sequence Analyses (cf. Abbott 1995)

Karim and Drago’s (2026) Democratic Strain and Populist Fervor in India, America and Beyond

Brainstorming Session

Theoretical Synthesis?

Get into groups of 2-3. Then, develop a basic research question that integrates your research interests.

To this end, answer the following items:

  1. What are some of the key concepts implicit in your question?

  2. How might you translate these abstract concepts into analytic units?

  3. How will theory serve as guide to facilitate operationalization?

See You Thursday

References

Note: Scroll to access the entire bibliography

Abbott, Andrew. 1988. “Transcending General Linear Reality.” Sociological Theory 6(2):169–86. doi: 10.2307/202114.
Abbott, Andrew. 1995. “Sequence Analysis: New Methods for Old Ideas.” Annual Review of Sociology 21:93–113.
Carr, Deborah S., Elizabeth Heger Boyle, Benjamin Cornwell, Shelley J. Correll, Robert Crosnoe, et al. 2020. The Art and Science of Social Research. Second Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Karim, Sakeef M. 2024. “The Organization of Ethnocultural Attachments Among Second- Generation Germans.” Social Science Research 118:102959. doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2023.102959.
Karim, Sakeef M., and Alessandro Giuseppe Drago. 2026. “Democratic Strain and Populist Fervor in India, America and Beyond.” Working Paper.
Syrda, Joanna. 2023. “Gendered Housework: Spousal Relative Income, Parenthood and Traditional Gender Identity Norms.” Work, Employment and Society 37(3):794–813. doi: 10.1177/09500170211069780.
Zhao, Linda. 2023. “From Superdiversity to Consolidation: Implications of Structural Intersectionality for Interethnic Friendships.” American Journal of Sociology 128(4):1114–57. doi: 10.1086/723435.