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Scientific laws: issues and aspects (Extension and universality…
Scientific laws:
issues and aspects
The time issue:
analyzing the manner in which the time dimensions is handled in laws and lawlike statements
There are four kinds of laws that differ with respect to the time dimension
Equilibrium
Laws
Relationships hold only at points in time when the system is at equilibrium
relationships that occur only when the system is “at rest”
There exist equilibrium laws concerning marketing phenomena: can be verified by finding examples
All (or even most) marketing processes and systems are inherently equilibrating (i.e., they tend toward the establishment of equilibrium positions) -> metaphysical quality, context of discovery
Laws of Atemporal
Coexistence
Laws that hold at points in time other than just equilibrium points but that do not specify time-dependent relationships
all equilibrium laws are laws of atemporal coexistence, but not all laws of atemporal coexistence are equilibrium laws
Relationships that occur at points in time other than just equilibrium positions
cross-sectional and categoric laws
Laws of Succession
Laws that include time-dependent relationships that permit the prediction of future phenomenona
provide that specified values of one or more variables will be succeeded in time by specified values of one or more variables
sequential or temporal laws
many marketing models only minimally specify the time-dependent relationships
Hierarchy of effects model: awareness -> attitude -> purchase intentions -> actual purchase: specifies the time-dependent relationships
In Nicosia model, the nature of time-dependent relationships is very clearly specified
Process
Laws
Lawlike statements that have all the characteristics of laws of succession and, in addition, are reversible with regard to time
Enables one to predict future phenomena and retrodict past phenomena
There exist no examples of process laws in marketing
All lawlike statements in any theory can be categorized as either
fundamental or derivative
Fundamental laws or axioms:
Laws in a theory that 1) are used to deduce other laws and 2) cannot be themselves deduced from other laws in the same theory
Axioms are not assumed to be true empirically, they are assumed to be true for the analytical purpose of deriving other statements
Derivative laws or theorems:
Laws in a theory that are deduced from the fundamental laws
Bridge laws or guiding hypotheses:
Derivative laws that are used to bridge the gap between the general laws in a theory and the specific classes of empirical phenomena under investigation
Research hypotheses
: statements derived from bridge laws that are directly testable
Extension and
universality
of both lawlike and nonlawlike statements
The extension of a statement consists of the set of all possible objects (past, present, future) covered by the statement
statements differing in extension have different roles in theory construction and because statements differing in extension vary with respect to their confirmability and falsifiability
Confirmable:
the extent to which a statement is capable of being shown to be empirically true
Falsifiable
: the extent to which a statement is capable of being shown to be empirically untrue
Four basic statements that have differing degrees of extension
Singular
statements
The least extensions of all statements -> refer to specific phenomena that are bound in time and space
Never lawlike statements because they don’t have the form of generalized conditionals
Strictly confirmable and strictly falsifiable
Primary role in research: testing of laws and theories (research hypotheses are usually singular statements)
Existential statements
Propose the existence of some phenomenon
Extension is greater than of singular statements
not lawlike because they don’t have the form of generalized conditionals
Qualified existential statements:
confirmable and falsifiable (There are opinion leaders in industrial firms)
Unqualified existential statements:
confirmable, but not strictly falsifiable (There are opinion leaders)
Statistical laws
indeterministic relationship between variables
Greater extension than singular statements or existential statements
Have the form of generalized conditionals
neither confirmable nor falsifiable
Tendency laws:
statistical law stating that two variables tend to vary together in a systematic way (most lawlike stat. are these in marketing)
Probability laws
: statistical law where the relationship between two variables is clearly specified in the form of probability or relative frequency statement
Universal
laws
State a relationship between two variables in the form of a strictly universal generalized conditional
The greatest extension and universality
Greater explanatory and predictive power than statistical laws
Are falsifiable but not strictly confirmable
No existing laws in marketing have the form of strictly universal, generalized conditionals