John, Robert2009-05-192009-05-191980-04-01Mid-American Review of Sociology, Volume 5, Number 1 (SPRING, 1980), pp. 15-36 http://dx.doi.org/10.17161/STR.1808.4860https://hdl.handle.net/1808/4860Over the last thirty years a number of sociologists have addressed the prospects of transforming sociology into a truly scientific discipline. This project has been translated into an ongoing debate between various proponents of opposing viewpoints in the literature on construction. In this paper I propose to analyze and compare the three major approaches toward theory construction, and the methods to which they adhere. In accomplishing this task I will concentrate on three main exemplars of these competing approaches: "grounded" theory advanced by Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L. Strauss; "propositional" theory by Hubert M. Blalock; and "exact" theory by David Willer.enCopyright (c) Social Thought and Research. For rights questions please contact Editor, Department of Sociology, Social Thought and Research, Fraser Hall, 1415 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence, KS 66045.Article10.17161/STR.1808.4860openAccess