Explanation-sketches are provisional scientific accounts awaiting completion through research.

Evidence

Explanation-sketches (the term is from Hempel, 1965, p. 238) consist of an initial spelling out of laws and initial conditions—scientific explanantia—to be filled out and made into a full-fledged theory through research “for which this sketch suggests the direction.” Explanation-sketches are more than the initial commitments of theoretical approaches, but much less than final statements of theories. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4277

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Hempel’s concept of an explanation-sketch, a preliminary law-plus-conditions statement that research fills in.