Theory Evaluation

From the history, philosophy and sociology of science, there are at least four fundamental categories of criteria by which theories are judged:
(1) logical criteria
(2) empirical criteria
(3) sociological criteria
(4) historical criteria.

(1) Logical criteria:
(a) a simple, unifying idea that postulates nothing unnecessary
(b) logically consistent internally
(c) logically falsifiable
(d) clearly limited by explicitly stated boundary conditions so that it is clear whether or not any particular data are or are not relevant to the verification of falsification of the theory.

(2) Empirical criteria:
(a) be empirically testable itself or lead to predictions or retrodictions that are testable
(b) actually make verified predictions and/or retrodictions
(c) concern reproducible results
(d) provide criteria for the interpretation of data as facts, artifacts, anomalies, or as irrelevant.

(3) Sociological criteria:
(a) resolve recognised problems, paradoxes, and/or anomalies irresolvable on the basis of preexisting scientific theories
(b) pose a new set of scientific problems upon which scientists may work
(c) posit a "paradigm" or problem-solving model by which these new problems may be expected to be resolved
(d) provide definitions of concepts or operations beneficial to the problem-solving abilities of other scientists

(4) Historical criteria:
(a) meet or surpass all of the criteria set by its predecessors or demonstrate that any abandoned criteria are artifactual
(b) be able to accrue the epistemological status acquired by previous theories through their history of testing (i.e. be able to explain all of the data gathered under previous relevant theories in terms either of fact or artifact, without anomalies
(c) be consistent with all preexisting ancillary theories that already have established scientific validity.

(From: On Defining a Scientific Theory)