Creating Human Development Theories: A Guide for the Social Sciences and Humanities

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Howand whydo humans develop as they do This book clearly explains the key components of human development theories and describes how to compose novel theories regarding this age-old puzzle. As college students progress through bachelor's degree programs and then advance to their master's degree theses and doctoral dissertations, they are bombarded with studies of countless theories, often adopting some author's theory for interpreting information about human development, even when the theory does not precisely meet their needs. One way to solve the problema way especially tuned to the current classroom push for creative, critical thinkingis for the student to create his or her own theory. Unfortunately, even students as high as the doctoral level often don't understand how to create a well-ordered, workable theory of their owna crucial gap in their "critical thinking" skillsets. This book is the solution to that specific problem. In these pages, in clear and detailed steps, is a complete explanation for developing a theory. The book addresses key topics such as attention to need, population, basic assumptions, key terms, causes and stages, interpreting evidence, and applications. Author R. Murray Thomasa well-known and highly respected elder in the social sciencesalso details five illustrative theories, covering their history and providing insights about how they were developed. This work will be valuable to students of psychology, human development, child development, and theory as well as those in other disciplines seeking an understanding of theory building.

Author Bio

R. Murray Thomas is professor emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara.