METHODOLOGY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
Year:2009 | Volume:15 | Issue:58|Papers Count:7

There are different views about theory formation. The first is by Dubin (1978). It follows the positivist tradition. Theory formation as a disciplined imagination by Weick, (1989), cycle of theory building by Carlile & Christensen, (2005) a general method of theory formationby Lynham, (2001), Engaged model of theory formation by Van Deven, (2007), are the major methods of theory formation. Binding to structure of these methodologies have created a kind of fear about theory formation among management researchers. The author, criticizing the mentioned methodologies, suggests a new general method of theory formation. He believes that his methodology can reduce the fear of theory formation. After reviewing the framework of methodology, some theories and typologies written according to this methodology are to be proposed

Scientific realism considers that acquiring knowledge about the external world is possible and the goal of scientific research is to discover the truth. From the point of view of instrumentalism, as the most important anti-realism version of this philosophy, theories are merely useful instruments which scientists make for scientific goals such as establishing order and prediction. The most important challenge between these two camps is about unobservable identities invented by (such theories as electrons and quarks). Scientific realists believe that these identities do exist and act, according to what their invented theories say. But form the instrumentalists' view; scientists' remarks about unobservable identities could not be taken as true or false.In economics, as in other sciences, there are issues related to instrumentalism and realism, but-unlike the philosophy of science-the approaches do not appose each other. Friedman's instrumentalism states that the only appropriate test for an economic theory is its success in predicting phenomena. Friedman's depicted perspective of economics, in spite of its being hopeful, is never realized since economics has not been able to prepare reliable and accurate predictions. On the other hand, until recent decades realism has not had place in the methodology of economics. Since two decades ago, two distinct realistic programs have come into the literature of the methodology of economics. Uskali Maki and Tony Lawson are the designers of these two programs.

This article has seven parts. In the first part, an introduction to the semantic approach is offered. The second part deals with the differences between syntactic and semantic approaches to the structure of scientific theories. In the semantic approach, models play a pivotal role in theorizing, and scientific theories are not more than a set of models. The idea that scientific theories contribute to understanding the world entails that models are the entities that do this job. Therefore, the third part attempts to provide an overview of the role of models in scientific theories and the next part deals with two main branches of semantic approach: structuralism, and state space approach. The fifth part focuses on the view that some philosophers like Suppe and Giere offer realistic interpretation of this approach. Some of the most famous criticisms of semantic approach are discussed in the sixth part and the last part is concerned with some alternative approaches.

What is Islamic philosophy? Is developing Islamic philosophy possible? Has Islamic philosophy been realized in the history of Islamic culture and civilization? In the Islamic texts, terms such as God, world, and human exist that have not been philosophically explained but can be philosophically described and used in developing new philosophical theories. A philosophy that is based on Islamic thought should yield to philosophical methodology. Such philosophy becomes valid when successfully passes rational justification. On the other hand, familiarity with the ideas of Muslim philosophers, analysis of the course of their evolutions, and comparing them with the ideas of Greek philosophers show that Islamic philosophy has been realized in the history of philosophy and in the world of Islam.This article uses the innovations of several Islamic philosophers and their attempts to converge philosophical system with Islamic thought, to show that Islamic philosophy is not only possible but also has already been realized.

Due to the extensive studies made in the field of Islamic management, and because these studies are dispersed, repetitive, irregular and lack a comprehensive pattern and theory, filling this gap and categorizing the existing literature becomes necessary.In this article, the existing issues are analyzed, the studies related to Islamic management are shown and one of the dominating approaches is examined. In explaining the concept of Islamic management, different approaches have proved to be sound, one of the most important of which is the Fiqhi-ijtihadi (Attribution) approach, with which this article is concerned.This article is intended to expound the views based on Fiqhi methods of Islamic management. In this approach, based on Islamic texts and narrations, drawing inferences concerning 'dos and don'ts' in the current management is accepted as a fact and principle. Taking into regard the fiqhi concept, we have sought to examine the viewpoints on Islamic management in the context of Islamic fiqh.

In this article, for gaining theoretical insight of the cultural situation of society, the paradigms in sociology & anthropology have been dealt with.This article examines the concept of culture & the directions taken in this respect making use of the comparative study & the model derived from paradigms.Inspired by the theories and concepts in sociology & anthropology as well as their amendment, "two kinds of basic concept in anthropology & three kinds of major basic concept in sociology have been identified.The general hypothesis of this article is that the concept of culture in sociology differs from that in anthropology.In the first step, taking in to consideration the human relations with its nature, the human relations with others and the variables which form human relation with God, we have selected an excellent concept of culture: the concept of culture have two basic components, "internal-essential" & "external-behavioral" component. Here, "the meaning of spiritual of culture & human relation with God" has allocated the most share of the main critical task.

The reliability of a scientific research is one of the most important indices of its validity. The high reliability of a research (often more than 60 percent) means that when a research is applied in different times or by different persons, the same conclusion will be reached. Although coding the interview data is one of the most important processes of organizational studies and public opinion assessment, the studies about calculating the reliability of coding are not enough. This paper concentrates on the reliability of coding in research interviews and offers a method for calculating this index. With this method researchers can calculate Re-test reliability (consistency index) and Intercoder reliability (2) in research interviews.