model

model This is a term which has been given a wide variety of different meanings by sociologists. In some cases it has been used as a synonym for theory, but in others as a reference to a system of abstract concepts at a more general level than a theory. Equally, it is used to refer to a statistical model, as in causal modelling. Whichever definition is used the essence of a model is that it requires the researcher to engage with theory and thus avoid empiricism.

At root, models seek to simplify phenomena, as an aid to conceptualization and explanation. In sociology structural-functionalism is a model in the first two senses suggested above, since it provides a broad frame of reference (a meta-theory which states that society is like an organism) and a set of conceptual propositions (a theory showing how the parts of society are integrated and make a contribution to the functioning of the whole). Where a hypothesis about the relationship between concepts is specified, and the concepts can be measured, we may speak of an operational model. These models are sometimes expressed diagrammatically, and may be set out more formally in mathematical terms, as for example in a regression model or loglinear model. Model building, a key aspect of mathematical sociology, involves the refinement of models from the stage of a flow diagram to a formal mathematical expression. Causal models may be of either type. Whatever form it takes, a model is an aid to complex theoretical activity, and directs our attention to concepts or variables and their interrelationships. See also MULTI-LEVEL MODELS; MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS.