Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

THEORY AND RESEARCH

Whites Feel

Great Racial

Threat from

Blacks

Economic

Decline Occurs

for Whites

Compared to

Nearby Visible

Non-Whites

State Laws

Ban Felons from

Voting

Racist

Organizations

Have Recruitment

Success

Nonracist Diagnosis

Is Absent

FIGURE 4 Forms of Structural Explanation

EXAMPLE BOX 4

continued

Sequential Network Functional

a narrow range of paths for a specific process, such
as the moral development of a child, the maturing
of an intimate relationship, family formation, urban
expansion, organizational growth or death, conflict
intensification or resolution, or societal develop-
ment. In addition to identifying the steps or stages
of a process, sequential theories explain the speed
of movement along the steps, stagnations at a stage,

and key turning points of a process that trigger a dif-

ferent direction or steps. A sequential theory may

identify essential versus optional steps, or how a

specific prior step restricts possible next steps. It is

not a causal theory; being in an earlier step does

notcausemovement along the sequence; instead,

the structure of a staged sequence constrains what

can occur. Thus, a sequential theory may state that