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The Modelling Process

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Modelling Written Communication

Part of the book series: Methodos Series ((METH,volume 8))

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Abstract

As this volume is on the application of a modelling process which is suggested as an exemplar of systems modelling in the social sciences, this chapter is a crucial one in understanding the process. Although the critical realist orientation was congruent with the author’s everyday thinking, it did not suggest a suitable research procedure to fit the intended purpose. Bhaskar has been criticised for being somewhat vague about the precise details of a critical realist investigative methodology, but he saw it as the work of the specialist in the field to find a modus operandi suited to that particular discipline. Robert Franck’s work on modelling (The explanatory power of models: bridging the gap between empirical and theoretical research in the social sciences, 2002) dovetailed with Bhaskar’s philosophy, and offered a much more precise definition of the term “mechanism”. Franck’s work also provided a generic description of the modelling process; even more remarkable was that it described the process actually followed by the author for over 18 years in investigating composing processes. She could then retrospectively “wrap up” the modelling process in formal investigative terms. Franck’s method is shown to be an elegant example of classical induction, balancing a formal model of functions against the practical description of a process, verifying the former against the latter, and the latter against real world functioning.

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  1. Anerley Road 24, Morningside, 4001, Durban, South Africa

    Deirdre Pratt

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  1. Deirdre Pratt
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Pratt, D. (2010). The Modelling Process. In: Modelling Written Communication. Methodos Series, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9843-6_3

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