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The term "middle-range theory" does not refer to a specific theory, but is rather an approach to theory construction. Raymond Boudon defines middle-range theory as a commitment to two ideas. The first is positive, and describes what such theories should do: sociological theories, like all scientific theories, should aim to consolidate otherwise ...
Middle-range theory has been applied in the archaeology of nomadic peoples, amongst others [1] In archaeology, middle-range theory refers to theories linking human behaviour and natural processes to physical remains in the archaeological record. It allows archaeologists to make inferences in the other direction: from archaeological finds in the ...
Middle-range theory can refer to theories in: Middle-range theory (archaeology) , describes how people use objects and structures, and the human behaviors associated with this use Middle-range theory (sociology) , a theory with limited scope, that explains a specific set of phenomena
Middle-range theories, applicable to limited ranges of data, transcend sheer description of social phenomena and fill in the blanks between raw empiricism and grand or all-inclusive theory. [21] The identification of middle-range theories or "intermediate provisions", as defined by Rinzivillo (2019), is typical of the specification that passes ...
Behavioural international relations theory is an approach to international relations theory which believes in the idea that the social sciences can adapt methodologies from the natural sciences. [67] Accordingly, behavioural scholars reject isms (ideological approaches) because their adherents believe the maxims of their isms are self-evidently ...
It is currently the de facto dominant approach to sociological theory construction, especially in the United States. Middle range theory starts with an empirical phenomenon (as opposed to a broad abstract entity like the social system) and abstracts from it to create general statements that can be verified by data. [7]
This approach lends itself to what Robert K. Merton called middle-range theory: abstract statements that generalize from segregated hypotheses and empirical regularities rather than starting with an abstract idea of a social whole. [64]
Philosopher Nancy Cartwright notes that the space which midrange (or middle-range) theory occupies is the space between abstraction, where principles are derived from specific examples, and generalisation, and that developments in this space often relate to "things that come under the label 'mechanism'". [16]