LEVEL OF GENERALITY AND CLEAR THINKING IN THEORY CONSTRUCTION AND THEORY EVALUATION - REPLY TO GREENBERG (1994) AND PATTON (1994)

L. S. Greenberg (1994) and M. J. Patton (1994) both address ambiguitie s in C. J. Gelso and J. A. Carter's (1994) theoretical propositions. I n this reply, the issue of how general a theory ought to be in order t o have maximal impact on research and practice is discussed. A number of Greenberg's assertions about Gelso and Carter's formulations are qu estioned. Research on complex constructs, for example, transference, i s difficult but viable. The field should not shy away from such constr ucts because of definitional and measurement problems.