| 1. Domain | 1.1 Scope of the Domain | Boundaries | The range of phenomena the science includes and excludes. | Examines micro-level processes through which meanings, norms, expectations, roles, identities, emotions, and patterned behaviors emerge from interpersonal interaction. Excludes macro-structural systems unless mediated through direct interactional processes. |
| | Scale | The spatial, temporal, or organizational level at which the science operates (e.g., quantum, cellular, social, cosmic). | Operates at face-to-face, small-group, situational, and moment-to-moment temporal scales—micro-sociological rather than organizational or macro-structural. |
| 1.2 Ontological Commitments | Entities | The kinds of things assumed to exist within the domain (particles, organisms, agents, fields, etc.). | Individuals, roles, identities, norms, expectations, gestures, symbols, emotions, interaction cues, social scripts, definitions of situations, shared meanings. |
| | Properties | The fundamental attributes these entities possess (mass, charge, genotype, preference, etc.). | Emotional states, role commitments, expectations, perceived legitimacy, social cues, interpretive frames, symbolic meanings, interactional power, situational clarity/ambiguity. |
| | Categories | The basic ontological types used to classify domain elements (substances, processes, relations, structures). | Social roles, identity categories, status positions (local), symbolic resources, interaction rituals, normative expectations, micro-power relations. |
| 1.3 State-Variables | Variables | The measurable or definable properties that describe system conditions. | Emotional intensity, interaction frequency, norm salience, role clarity, mutual recognition levels, face-threat severity, cognitive load, alignment/misalignment of definitions of the situation. |
| | Parameterization | How variables encode and represent the system’s state. | Encoded through interaction episodes, symbolic gestures, verbal/nonverbal cues, negotiated meanings, emotional displays, role-taking performance, and situational scripts. |
| 1.4 Admissible Idealizations | Simplifications | Conceptual reductions used to make the domain tractable (point masses, rational agents, perfect gases). | Assuming stable norms; treating actors as meaning-oriented; simplifying emotional complexity; idealizing “typical” interaction episodes; assuming mutual intelligibility; abstracting away larger structural constraints. |
| | Validity Conditions | The limits and contexts in which idealizations hold or break down. | Break down in high-conflict settings, cross-cultural encounters, severe power asymmetries, interactions under deception, institutional breakdown, or environments with ambiguous/shared meanings. |
| 1.5 Domain Assumptions | Structural Assumptions | Background ontological stances such as determinism, continuity, randomness, discreteness. | Assumes actors interpret symbols, construct meanings, and adjust behavior reflexively; interaction follows patterned rules; emotions and identities are socially shaped; norms guide behavior through expectations. |
| | Implicit Commitments | Unstated but necessary assumptions that shape the field’s conceptual structure. | Assumes meaning-making is foundational; individuals are socially embedded; shared symbols exist; micro-interactions reflect larger cultural patterns even if not directly examined. |
| 1.6 Internal Coherence Requirements | Consistency | The demand that domain concepts do not contradict one another. | Norms, identities, and meanings must align across interaction episodes; role-taking and facework must cohere with expectations; emotional displays must fit interactional scripts. |
| | Compatibility | The requirement that entities, variables, and assumptions fit together into a unified descriptive framework. | Requires alignment between symbols, interpretations, norms, roles, and emotional processes so that shared meaning and stable interaction patterns can emerge. |
| 2. Evidence Layer | 2.1 Observable Phenomena | Observables | The aspects of the domain that can produce detectable signals accessible to measurement. | Facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, gaze patterns, turn-taking sequences, norm enforcement behaviors, impression-management moves, conformity/deviance signals, emotional displays, role-taking cues, situated definitions of reality. |
| | Detection Limits | The boundaries of what can be resolved or sensed by current instruments or methods. | Many micro-signals are subtle or ambiguous; internal meanings may not be externally observable; emotions difficult to measure directly; interaction norms vary culturally; self-reports may distort observed behavior. |
| 2.2 Measurement Systems | Units | Standardized quantifications (meters, seconds, volts, decibels, dollars, etc.) necessary for consistent comparison. | Interaction frequency, duration, turn-taking intervals, emotional-intensity ratings, response latency, degree of alignment/misalignment, face-threat severity, norm-salience scores. |
| | Instruments | Devices and tools (microscopes, spectrometers, sensors, surveys, detectors) used to produce measurements. | Video/audio recordings, ethnographic fieldnotes, interaction coding schemes, surveys, physiological sensors (heart rate, galvanic response), conversation-analysis tools, micro-sequence coding software. |
| 2.3 Operational Definitions | Definitions | Terms defined by specific measurement procedures, ensuring empirical clarity. | Definitions of “norm violation,” “face threat,” “alignment,” “role performance,” “emotion display,” “interaction ritual,” “symbolic gesture,” “definition of the situation,” “status cue.” |
| | Procedures | The explicit steps required to perform a measurement in a reproducible way. | Coding verbal and nonverbal behaviors; segmenting interaction episodes; rating emotional valence; mapping turn-taking order; identifying norm violations; measuring impression-management moves; applying conversation-analytic procedures. |
| 2.4 Data Acquisition | Protocols | Formal processes for gathering data under controlled or standardized conditions. | Structured observations; ethnographic immersion; laboratory interaction tasks; video-recorded group interactions; diary studies; social-simulation scenarios; micro-sequence transcription. |
| | Sampling | Rules determining which subset of the domain is measured and how representative it is. | Sampling interaction episodes across contexts; selecting participants from diverse backgrounds; sampling moments of conflict, ritual, or norm enforcement; sampling dyadic vs. group settings. |
| 2.5 Data Character & Format | Data Types | The form raw evidence takes (time series, spectra, images, counts, qualitative records). | Transcripts, coded interaction sequences, emotion-rating tables, behavioral-frequency charts, audio/video segments, ethnographic notes, micro-pattern diagrams. |
| | Resolution | The granularity or precision with which data is captured. | Determined by frame rate of recordings, fidelity of transcription, granularity of coding categories, cultural specificity of observable behaviors, and precision of emotional-signal detection. |
| 2.6 Reliability & Calibration | Calibration | Adjustment procedures ensuring instruments produce accurate results. | Ensuring inter-coder reliability; aligning coding categories; validating emotional-rating scales; calibrating sensors; verifying transcription accuracy; cross-checking observations across researchers. |
| | Error Characterization | Identification and quantification of noise, uncertainty, bias, and measurement error. | Observer bias; cultural misinterpretation; coding inconsistencies; missing micro-signals; ambiguous nonverbal cues; participant reactivity; technological recording errors. |
| 3. Structural Layer | 3.1 Patterns & Regularities | Laws / Relations | Stable, repeatable patterns governing how observables behave across conditions. | Norm-following rules; turn-taking regularities; emotional contagion; role-taking reciprocity; facework cycles; expectation–behavior loops; consistent symbolic-interpretation patterns within groups. |
| | Invariants | Quantities or properties that remain constant under transformations (symmetries, conservation laws). | Reciprocity norms, status cues, basic emotional-display rules, definition-of-situation templates, role scripts, shared symbolic meanings, patterned sequences of interaction rituals. |
| 3.2 Causal Architecture | Mechanisms | Underlying processes or structures that produce the observed regularities. | Meaning-making mechanisms; role-taking mechanisms; impression-management mechanisms; norm-enforcement mechanisms; emotional-regulation mechanisms; situational framing processes; micro-power negotiation mechanisms. |
| | Pathways | Organized sequences of interactions forming a causal chain or network. | Escalation/de-escalation sequences; face-threat/face-repair cycles; alignment/misalignment sequences; ritual-entry/ritual-exit pathways; meaning-negotiation loops; conflict–resolution pathways. |
| 3.3 Theoretical Vocabulary | Concepts | Core terms that encode the domain’s structure (force, gene, equilibrium, field). | Norm, role, identity, facework, ritual, symbolic meaning, definition of the situation, expectancy norm, impression management, emotional display, micro-power, status cue, interaction order. |
| | Classifications | Taxonomies, categories, or typologies that organize entities and relations. | Types of roles; categories of interaction rituals; classes of emotion displays; typologies of face-threats; compliance vs. resistance behaviors; cooperative vs. competitive interactions; high-context vs. low-context interaction styles. |
| 3.4 Formal Representations | Equations | Mathematical constructs expressing laws, relations, or mechanisms. | Turn-taking probability models; emotional-response functions; symbolic-interpretation mapping frameworks; micro-sequence transition diagrams; interaction-ritual chain diagrams; expectation–behavior feedback models. |
| | Models | Structured representations—mathematical, computational, or conceptual—used to predict and explain phenomena. | Goffman-style interaction models; symbolic-interactionist meaning-construction models; ritual-chain models; expectancy-violation models; micro-power negotiation models; emotional-regulation models. |
| 3.5 Idealized Structures | Simplified Models | Purposeful abstractions that capture essential dynamics while omitting irrelevant detail. | Dyadic interactions; scripted role performances; ideal-typical rituals; low-noise emotional displays; simplified norm-enforcement cases; stylized conflict or alignment episodes. |
| | Limit Conditions | Regimes where specific models or approximations hold (classical vs. quantum, linear vs. nonlinear). | Breakdowns under deception, severe conflict, trauma, mental-health instability, cross-cultural mismatch, institutional collapse, or environments where symbols lose shared meaning. |
| 3.6 Integrative Frameworks | Unifying Theories | Higher-order structures that connect disparate laws or mechanisms under a coherent whole. | Symbolic interactionism; dramaturgical analysis; ethnomethodology; interaction-ritual theory; expectancy and attribution theories; micro-sociological emotional theories. |
| | Interdisciplinary Links | Points where the theory connects to adjacent sciences or larger explanatory systems. | Links to psychology (emotion, cognition), anthropology (ritual, culture), linguistics (conversation analysis), communication studies (nonverbal signals), and cognitive science (situational framing). |
| 4. Method Layer | 4.1 Inquiry Design | Experimental Design | Structured plans for manipulating variables to test causal claims. | Manipulating situational definitions, altering role assignments, adjusting norm salience, modifying emotional cues, introducing face-threat conditions, or varying symbolic resources to test interactional responses. |
| | Observational Design | Systematic approaches for gathering non-manipulated data (surveys, field studies, natural experiments). | Observing natural conversations, group rituals, emotional exchanges, norm-enforcement episodes, conflict sequences, impression-management attempts, and face-work cycles without experimental intervention. |
| 4.2 Testing & Validation | Hypothesis Testing | Procedures for evaluating whether evidence supports or contradicts specific claims. | Testing predictions about norm compliance, role-performance accuracy, emotional contagion, alignment patterns, impression-management success, and micro-power dynamics through coded behavioral data. |
| | Replication | The requirement that results be independently reproducible under similar conditions. | Repeating interaction episodes with similar conditions; comparing coding results across observers; replicating emotional-display interpretations; validating turn-taking patterns in new contexts; cross-checking field observations. |
| 4.3 Inference & Evaluation | Statistical Inference | Rules for drawing conclusions from noisy or incomplete data. | Analyzing frequency of norm violations; measuring alignment/misalignment rates; evaluating emotional-display distributions; identifying conversation-sequence probabilities; comparing ritual-entry/exit patterns. |
| | Model Comparison | Criteria (fit, simplicity, predictive accuracy, robustness) used to evaluate competing models. | Comparing symbolic-interaction vs. dramaturgical models; comparing face-work models; evaluating multiple emotion-regulation theories; contrasting ritual-chain predictions; assessing alternative turn-taking frameworks. |
| 4.4 Error Management | Error Analysis | Identification and quantification of random and systematic errors. | Coding inconsistencies; observer bias; misclassification of gestures; cultural misinterpretation; audio/video quality issues; missed micro-signals; ambiguous emotional cues; Hawthorne effects. |
| | Bias Control | Methods for minimizing subjective, instrumental, or procedural biases. | Training coders; using multiple observers; employing blinded coding when possible; diversifying cultural samples; avoiding interpretive bias; implementing standardized coding manuals. |
| 4.5 Adjudication & Revision | Peer Scrutiny | Collective evaluation of claims through critique, review, and debate. | Cross-checking interaction transcripts; reviewing coding schemes; validating emotion-rating methods; replicating turn-taking analyses; evaluating theoretical interpretations; refining constructs after critique. |
| | Theory Revision | Procedures for modifying, replacing, or discarding models based on new evidence. | Adjusting definitions of norms, roles, or rituals; refining models of emotional display; updating face-work or impression-management frameworks; altering micro-interaction theories based on empirical inconsistencies. |
| 4.6 Integrity Conditions | Transparency | Requirements to disclose methods, data, assumptions, and limitations. | Full disclosure of coding schemes, observational protocols, cultural context, researcher role, emotional-rating criteria, sampling choices, and interpretive assumptions. |
| | Ethical Standards | Norms ensuring responsible conduct in experimentation, data handling, and publication. | Protecting participant privacy; minimizing intrusion; obtaining informed consent when required; avoiding manipulation of vulnerable individuals; honest reporting of conflicts or ambiguities; careful handling of sensitive emotional data. |