Approaches that Enable Analytical Generalization in Psychological and Sociological Research

Dear Colleagues,

It is essential that research is promoted that is able to create, innovate, and challenge current thinking in psychological and sociological studies. Example methodologies that are able to achieve this include different forms of grounded theory as well as recently developed review types. An example of a type of grounded theory could be the social constructivist grounded theory, which employs qualitative interviews as a way to developing ideas and analytical understanding through methods like constant comparisons where analyses slowly become more abstract. A type of review that has the ability to generate theories could be a social constructivist meta-ethnography. However, this Special Issue encourages different methodologies, methods, and approaches. Both empirical and review-based research like this are able to use cycles of iterative processes that test and develop theories; they use abductive and inductive reasoning to create and innovate findings and ultimately propose new models, processes, and theories for research. However, most of the time, studies may not result in the formation of a theory, so this Special Issue also accepts new ideas or integrative discoveries from the methodologies selected. One of the outputs from these approaches is the ability to create research that exhibits analytical generalization and, with this, makes scientific leaps.

This Special Issue is focused on approaches that have been applied across different groups or populations. The articles for this Special Issue will only be included if they propose a novel process, model, or theory.

Dr. Andrew Soundy
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Behavioral Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• analytical generalization
• grounded theory
• innovation
• creativity
• review
• empirical research
• novel models
• psychology
• sociology