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Building Reliable Theories of the Presidency
Author(s) -
JACOBS LAWRENCE R.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
presidential studies quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.337
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 1741-5705
pISSN - 0360-4918
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-5705.2009.03704.x
Subject(s) - presidency , framing (construction) , adversarial system , climbing , political science , abstraction , extension (predicate logic) , computer science , epistemology , law and economics , mathematical economics , sociology , artificial intelligence , law , mathematics , engineering , philosophy , programming language , structural engineering , politics
Framing the necessary purpose of theory building as a choice between grand theory or particularism poses two unsound extremes. The application of rational choice has made contributions, but it has also generated conclusions that are inaccurate, duplicative of long‐standing and well‐known research, and unnecessarily adversarial. The most productive approach to theory building in the study of the presidency relies on “middle‐level” concepts and research, producing theoretical extension by climbing the abstraction ladder to identify similarities and sufficient analytic intention to avoid unnecessary declines in precision and accuracy.