Typology

Typology

"Typology" is derived from the two Greek words (typo) meaning "type" and (logos) meaning "word." The word typology literally means the study of types.

According to Marradi (1990) are typologies kinds of classifications in which more than one fundamental criterion of division is simultaneously taken into account. They may be produced by an extensional or by an intensional classification:

"Through classing, objects or events are assigned to classes or types which have been previously defined, usually by an intensional classification, but possibly by an extensional one operating on a different set.
    When only one fundamentum divisionis is considered, a classification scheme is produced — usually by an intensional classification. The extensions of each class must be mutually exclusive, and jointly exhaustive. Classes need not be at the same level of generality, and may be ordered.
    When several fundamenta are jointly considered, a typology is produced. This may be done through either intensional or extensional classification. The underlying category space may be “reduced” or reconstructed through “substruction”.
    When several fundamenta are considered in succession through a series of intensional classifications, a taxonomy is produced. Specific concepts/terms (such as taxon, rank, clade) are needed to deal with taxonomies." (Marradi, 1990).

“A third way to produce a typology has been conceptualized by Lazarsfeld (1937) who called it “substruction of a property space”. Substruction is an useful intellectual tool because many students propose lists of types without explicating the fundamenta divisionis; such fundamenta have to be inferred by other students who, so to say, extract them from the intensions of the types as described.”. (Marradi, 1990).

In Library and Information Science (LIS) is typology used, for example about document typologies.

Literature:

Adams, W. Y. (2001). Classification and Typology (Archaeological Systematics). IN: International Encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences (pp. -1962-1966). Edited by Smelser, N. J. & Baltes, P. B. London, Pergamon-Elsevier Science.

Bailey, K. D. (1994). Typologies and Taxonomies: An Introduction to Classification Techniques. London: Sage Publications. (Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences)

Bailey, K. D. (2004). Typology construction: Methods and issues. IN: Encyclopedia of Social Measurement. Vol. 1-3. Ed. by K. Kempf-Leonard. San Diego, CA : Academic Press. http://208.164.121.55/reference/SOME/Outlines/typology_construction.htm

Jung, C. G. (1971). Psychological Types, volume 6 of The collected works of C. G. Jung. Princeton University Press.

Lazarsfeld, P. F. & Barton, A. H. (1955) Some Principles of Questionnaire Classification (pp. 83-93) IN: P. F. Lazarsfeld and M. Rosenberg (eds.): The Language of Social Research. Glencoe: Free Press.

Marradi, A. (1990). Classification, Typology, Taxonomy. Quality and Quantity, XXIV, 2 (may 1990): 129-157. Available at: http://web.archive.org/web/20031011003312/http://www.unibo.edu.ar/marradi/classqq.pdf(Visited January 12, 2006)