The construction of typologies: methodology of analysis

Abstract

The construction of typologies in sociology, like a method of conceptualization and empirical analysis, is an usual tool for research. Typologies differ, not only in content, but in form. This analytical distinction can be applied to complex theoretical constructs and is used in order to differenciate between theoretical and methodological models in typological constructions. The main objective of this article is to elaborate a methodology destinated to build, analyse and validate typologies, based on the conceptualization of what is called a “structural and articulated typology”. The methodology may be seen as a flexible formulation that can be adapted to every research which has a typological construction as a goal and which adopts the “distributive approach”, that is, a perspective based on survey and statistical methods for collecting and analyzing data.