by Robert I. Sutton and Barry M. Straw (1995)
Administrative Sciences Quarterly
References and citations are good for informing logic and motivating new research
This pattern is consistent with findings that aggression
provokes the 'fight' response (Frijda, 1986) and that anger is a contagious emotion (Schacterand Singer, 1962; Baron,
1977).
-- Sutton (1991:262)
This pattern is consistent with findings that aggression
provokes the 'fight' response and that anger is a contagious emotion.
Data and empirical findings describe observations, but they don't explain why they happened
Someone else's findings, taken on their own, cannot explain why it was expected to occur in the first place
Dividing and organizing the world does not, in of itself, explain social phenomena
Need to explain why certain constructs and variables are powerful explanatory factors for a social phenomenon
Sometimes helpful to demonstrate causal order
Diagrams are 'stage props,' but not the theoretical 'performance' p. 376
Diagrams cannot explain why the authors make conceptual connections
Hypotheses are good to connect theory to data
Hypotheses explain what should occur, but not why we would expect it
Focus on one or a small set of ideas