Crafting Theory for a Complex, Dynamic Social Phenomenon : A Critical Realist, Grammar-Based Process Model

This paper proposes a post-positivist methodological approach to describe the dynamics of a flow of social events that evolve under the existing specific conditions in a set of social structures, relying on the epistemological assumptions of Critical Realism. This philosophy of science stance suggests case study as the preferred research strategy to explain such complex, dynamic and context-sensitive social phenomena. The contribution of this work is to propose the general idea of a process tracing methodology for multiple cases study relying on a qualitative sequence analysis procedure and a discrete, rule-based mathematical model deduced from the Generative Grammar Theory. It can describe the sequential patterns of events analytically based on the prior theoretical propositions and the observed empirical facts. The occasional divergences of some facts with such model lead to necessary modifications on the descriptive propositions of a process-like social phenomenon to achieve greater level of explanatory power