Eco-transactional behavioral research

Abstract

Over the past few years, developmental and community theorists have begun speculating about and researching transactional and ecological processes. Rather than just focus on individual-unit phenomena, the transactional theorists point to reciprocal effects of different systems such that people are influenced and influence others over long periods of time. Ecological theorists have identified interrelationships between different systems or ecologies. Although behavioral investigators frequently study more attribute-type phenomena, methods invented to capture behavior change could be used to analyze transactional and ecological processes. In this paper, an attempt is made to explain the behavioral methodologies that could be used to help investigators better understand transactions and ecological processes.

Capturing excellence in applied settings: A participant conceptualizer and praxis explicator role for community psychologists

“…Both reflective and generative practice are part of feedback models that reach beyond the work of the individual. Sharing information about one's practice broadly brings knowledge generation outside of the individual and into the testing ground of social reality (Newbrough, 1992; Though both are critical parts of praxis, the latter has an added dimension: forging a continuous link from theory to action, back to theory and action, and especially to a community psychology theory, a theory that is transactional, developmental, and social ecological at its core (Innes, 1981;Jason, 1992;Newbrough, 1992;Tolan et al, 1990;Trickett, 1993). A participant conceptualizer and praxis explicator has the role not only of working within settings to understand and help conceptualize change processes but also of reflecting on action processes that are a part of the setting, of reflecting on theory, and of generating products that share relevant learnings.…”