TY - JOUR PY - 1997// TI - Two Issues in the Assessment of the Adequacy of Formal Sociological Models of Human Behavior JO - Social science research A1 - Fişek, M. Hamit A1 - Berger, Joseph A1 - Norman, Robert Z. SP - 153 EP - 169 VL - 26 IS - 2 N2 - This paper discusses two basic issues related to the assessment of the goodness-of-fit of sociological models to behavioral data: How simplifying assumptions contained in models should be evaluated and whether analysis of data should be carried out at the individual group or aggregate level. The discussion is conducted in the context of the fit of a model of participation rates by Fişek, Berger, and Norman (1991) to data collected by Smith-Lovin, Skvoretz, and Hudson (1986) in a Bales-type situation. The conclusions are that simplifying assumptions should be evaluated from the point of view of robustness of model to violations of such assumptions, and that the assessment of the adequacy of minimal actor models should be in terms of aggregated data. The fit of the model and data under consideration is assessed to be adequate.

LA - en SN - 0049-089X UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/ssre.1997.0593 ID - ref1 ER -