Growth of Social Knowledge

Jacek Szmatka is deceased. He was professor of sociology at Jagiellonian University, Poland, and co-author of Advances in Group Processes Vol. 15, and Status, Network, and Structure: Theory Development in Group Processes.Michael Lovaglia is associate professor of sociology at the University of Iowa. He has published articles and book chapters on network exchange theory and status processes, among other topics.Kinga Wysienska is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Sociology at Jagiellonian University, Poland. She focuses her research on power and status processes in social structures.

• Prologue Developing Social Knowledge: The Group Processes Research Tradition by Jacek Szmatka, Michael Lovaglia, and Kinga Wysienska Improving Social Theory Three Faces of Explanation: A Strategy for Building Cumulative Knowledge by Henry A. Walker Formalization and Inference by Geoffrey Tootell, Alison Bianchi, and Paul T. Munroe In Defense of Realistic Assumptions by Pidi Zhang Positivism and Theory Construction in Group Processes by Kinga Wysienska and Jacek Szmatka Expectations, Need-States, and Emotional Arousal in Encounters by Jonathan H. Turner and David E. Boyns Using Theory to Guide Research How Scope and Initial Conditions Determine the Growth of Theory by Robert K. Shelly The Relation between Experimental Standardization and Theoretical Development in Group Processes Research by Lisa Troyer Using Theory to Guide Empirical Research by Joseph Whitmeyer Computer Simulations as Mediators between Theory and Research Axiomatics and Generativity by Thomas J. Fararo Some Philosophy of Science Issues in the Use of Complex Computer Simulation Theories by Barbara Foley Meeker Artificial Societies: Laboratories for Theoretical Research by Michael Macy and Walter Luke The Strength of Weak Power: A Simulation Study of Network Evolution by Phillip Bonacich Epilogue Theory, Simulation, and Research: The New Synthesis by Michael J. Lovaglia and Robert B. Willer Theory, Simulation, and Research: The New Synthesis by Michael J. Lovaglia and Robert B. Willer