"The Crisis of Theory After the Crisis of Methods"

“The Crisis of Theory After the Crisis of Methods”

This discussion thread, sparked by Ekaterina Damer, has elicited a wide array of suggestions from psychologists on Twitter. Below is a summary of those professional recommendations, including the names of their respective contributors. Although I have not individually assessed these resources, this compilation acts as a unified reference point. You are welcome to contribute your own suggestions in the comments.

1. (Iris van Rooij) Robert Cummins’ research: [“How does it work?” vs. “What are the laws?” Two views of psychological explanation.](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f5b1/b05e8313aee94ccd98e80eab3ec56dbd2c97.pdf)

2. (Ed Orehek) Perspectives from [Theory Construction in Social Personality Psychology: Personal Experiences and Lessons Learned](http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327957pspr0802_1)

3. (Djouria Ghilani) Gerd Gigerenzer’s insights: [Personal Reflections on Theory and Psychology](http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0959354310378184)
– [Selected Works of Barry N. Markovsky](https://works.bepress.com/barry_markovsky/)

4. (Tal Yarkoni’s recommendation) Significant Meehl publications:
– [Theory-testing in psychology and physics: A methodological enigma](http://meehl.umn.edu/sites/g/files/pua1696/f/074theorytestingparadox.pdf)
– [Evaluating and revising theories: The strategy of Lakatosian defense and two principles that underlie it](http://meehl.umn.edu/sites/g/files/pua1696/f/147appraisingamending.pdf)
– [Reasons why summaries of research on psychological theories can be difficult to interpret](http://meehl.umn.edu/sites/g/files/pua1696/f/144whysummaries.pdf)

– Comprehensive summaries by [PsychBrief on Meehl’s scientific philosophy](http://psychbrief.com/meehl-videos-papers/)

5. (Burak Tunca) Critical review by Robert I. Sutton & Barry M. Staw: [What Theory is Not](http://haas.berkeley.edu/faculty/papers/stawtheory.pdf)

6. (Joshua Skewes) Valerie Gray Hardcastle’s guide: “How to build a theory in cognitive science.”

7. (Randy McCarthy) Detailed examination of theory: Chapter 1 from Gawronski, B., & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2015). Theory and explanation in social psychology. Guilford Publications.

8. (Kimberly Quinn) William J. McGuire’s strategies: [Creative hypothesis generating in psychology: Some effective heuristics](http://sing.stanford.edu/cs303-sp11/papers/mcguire_hypothesis_gen.pdf)

9. (Daniël Lakens) Manual by Jaccard, J., & Jacoby, J.: Theory Construction and Model-building Skills: A Practical Guide for Social Scientists. Guilford Press.

10. Fiedler, K. reflections on theory development: “Tools, toys, truisms, and theories: Some reflections on the innovative cycle of theory development.” Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8(2), 123–131.

11. (Tom Stafford) Review by Roberts and Pashler (2000): [How convincing is a good fit? A commentary on theory testing](https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt5vt0z72k/qt5vt0z72k.pdf)

12. **Updates 16 August 2018:**

– (Richard Prather) [Simmering et al (2010): To Model or Not to Model? A Discussion on the Role of Computational Modeling in Developmental Science](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3103214/)

– (Brett Buttliere: Discussion) [Psychological Theory Discussion Group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/153619768802306/about/)

– (Eric Morris) Ken G. Wilson’s review: [Some notes on theoretical constructs: types and validation from a contextual behavioral perspective](http://www.ijpsy.com/volumen1/num2/23/some-notes-on-theoretical-constructs-types-EN.pdf)

– (Michael P. Grosz) Denny Borsboom’s evaluation: [Theoretical Amnesia](http://osc.centerforopenscience.org/2013/11/20/theoretical-amnesia/)

– (Ivan Grahek) Fiedler (2017) on evidential strength: [What Constitutes Strong