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The Role of Theory in Research

Citations:

What is Theory and How is a Theory Defined?

ANFARA, V., & Mertz, N. T. (2006). Theoretical Frameworks in Qualitative Research, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Inc.

Dilanthi Amaratunga, David Baldry, Marjan Sarshar, Rita Newton. Quantitative and qualitative research in the built environment: application of "mixed" research approach. Work Study, Volume 51 Number 1 2002 pp. 17-31

De Benetti, Tommaso. Theory’s role in a Research. Website accessed November, 2013. http://www.gehennainc.com/east/page46/page27/files/TheorysRoleinAResearch.pdf

Brookfield, Stephen D. Developing critical thinkers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1987.

Calderón Gómez, Carlos (2009). Assessing the Quality of Qualitative Health Research: Criteria, Process and Writing [49 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 10(2), Art. 17, http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0902178.

JEFFERIES, S. C. (2005). Qualitative Research, In H. Department of Physical Education, & Leisure Services (Ed.). Washengton: Central Washington University.

Kawulich, Barbara B. "THE ROLE OF THEORY IN RESEARCH." Website accessed November, 2013. http://moodle.unitec.ac.nz/file.php/1215/Session_1/approaches_to_teaching_research.pdf

SILVER, P. (1983). Educational Administration: Theoretical Perspectives on Practice and Research, New York: Harper & Row.

SILVERMAN, D. (2001). Interpreting Qualitative Data, Methods for Analyzing Talk, Text and Interaction (2nd ed.), London: Sage Publication Inc.

Tavallaei, Abu Talib ABU TALIB. A General Perspective on Role of Theory in Qualitative Research Uluslararası Sosyal Aratırmalar Dergisi The Journal of International Social Research Volume 3 / 11 Spring 2010

Theory, from the Logman Dictionary of Contemporary English, as outlined by De Benetti in "Theory's Role in Research"

• An idea or set of ideas that is intended to explain something about life or the world, especially an idea that has not been proved to be true;

• General principles and ideas about a subject;

• An idea or opinion that someone thinks is true but for which they have no proof

In science: “theory” - principles that explain a phenomenon, and a model to predict future observations, tested by experimentation and empirical observation to describe the natural world.

In the humanities: “theory” has a distinctively different context and meaning.

Theory refers to the use of “frameworks to study and interpret social structures and phenomena within a particular school of thought. An essential tool used by scholars in the analysis of society, social theories are interdisciplinary, drawing ideas from and contributing to disciplines such as anthropology, economics, history, human geography, literary theory, mass communications, philosophy, sociology, and theology.” - De Benetti, 2013.

Theory in research endeavors to recognize the researchers own contexts or settings as they relate to the research question. Some of the issues that theory considers are gender differences, cultural and racial differences, and economic or social status. New theory is considered when adequate theories don’t already exist, as well as when the possibility for new theory can be developed as the result of the research. As such, the role of theory in research is iterative and dialectical (Kawulich, 2009).

While extracting meaning from observed data, the qualitative researcher avoids controlling their subjects, instead attempting to understand the surrounding environment in order to see the situation through the participant’s perspective (Jefferies, 2005).

Illustration: (Kawulich, 2009).

Theory “describes the researcher’s assumptions and beliefs about the topic under study, as in sharing one’s theoretical perspective on a topic” - Barbara Kawulich

“Research questions are inevitably theoretically informed. So we do need social theories to help us to address even quite basic issues in social research” (Silvermann 2000).

“Any scientific finding is usually to be assessed in relation to the theoretical perspective from which it derives and to which it may contribute (Silvermann 2000)”

According to Anfara & Mertz (2006):

“Concepts” are words assigned to experience. Concepts combine to form a “construct”. Constructs form “propositions”. Relationships among propositions form a “Theory” (White & Klein, 2008). A theory is developed when an abstract thought process is completed through exploring immediate experience and sensation in successive stages. Although theories are abstract, they significantly help us understand the experienced world.

Anfara & Mertz (2006) – The Building Blocks of Theory - the movement from concrete experience to abstract explanation. The relationship between paradigms, theories, concepts, constructs and propositions, using Maslow’s model of (1954) hierarchy of needs.

Theory…………….Abstract Explanation

|

Proposition

|

Construction

|

Concept

|

Sensation …………..Concrete Experience

Figure 1: Theory and Its Structural Elements Source: Anfara & Mertz, 2006, p. XV

Illustration by Amaratunga, 2002.

As stated by Boss, Doherty, LaRossa, Schumm, & Steinmetz (1993, p.20) “Theorizing is the process of systematically formulating and organizing ideas to understand a particular phenomenon. Thus, a theory is the set of interconnected ideas that emerge from this process.”

"The relationship among concepts, constructs, and propositions as component parts of theory is significant. When a researcher moves from concepts to the theory level, there is also a parallel movement from experiences to the level of abstract descriptions." - Mansor Abu Talib, 2010.

Summarized by Brookfield (1987) Theory in four points:

a) identifying and challenging assumptions behind ordinary ways of perceiving, conceiving, and acting

b) recognizing the influence of history, culture and social positioning of beliefs and action

c) imaging and exploring extraordinary alternatives

d) being appropriately skeptical about any knowledge or solution that claims to be the only truth.

- Collected data in the field is neutral, neither right nor wrong. Their use is determined by the research question (Kawulich, 2009).

- Theory removes the focus of research away from the control and onto the external forces which influence individual’s perspectives. (Kawulich, 2009).

- Theory precedes one’s methodology and highlights the epistemologies underlying one’s methodology.

- Denzin and Lincoln (2005, p.30-32) claim that paradigms contain the researcher’s epistemological, ontological and methodological biases that govern how the researcher approaches the research question.

- A researcher “approaches the world with a set of ideas, a framework (theory, ontology) that specifies a set of questions (epistemology) that he/she examines in specific ways (methodology, analysis)”. (Kawulich, 2009).

- Mitchell and Cody (1993) highlight that all knowledge is theory-laden and all methods are theory-driven.

A theory can be seen as a method to the perception of reality and expressing that reality that enables the outside observer to enter into the researcher’s world in order to understand reality from the mind of the researcher. (Silver 1983)

“Understanding theory demands traveling into someone else’s mind for comprehending reality like that person. When an individual experiences a shift in one’s mental structure; therefore discovering a new and different way of thinking, it means that he has understood that particular theory. It is like a new discovery; observing things in a totally different manner.” - De Benetti

“Research designs are improved radically – in applicability and generalizability, in credibility and validity, and in precision and reliability – by explicit attention to the influence of theory throughout the design and implementation process

(LeCompte and Preissle, 1993, 137).

Barbara Kawulich states that “Without theory, students tend to come up with questions that are not thought through for a particular setting and are, therefore, not meaningful for the members of that context. Their methods may not be appropriate for the situation and their results may be hard to justify, if not unfounded.”

Illustration by Carlos Calderón Gómez

The Hermenuetical Circle

“Their themes include focusing on the constructed nature of people and reality, emphasizing language as a system of distinctions which are central to the construction process, arguing against grand narratives and large-scale theoretical systems such as Marxism or functionalism, emphasizing the power-knowledge connection and the role of claims of expertise in systems of domination, emphasizing the fluid and hyper-real nature of the contemporary world and the role of mass media and information technologies, and stressing narrative/fiction/rhetoric as central to research process. (Alvesson, Deetz, 2000)”

Gadamer – Hermeneutics - the lived experience, interpreting the “texts” of life (Tavallaei, Abu Talib)

Husserl – Phenomenology – the lived experience of several individuals towards an objective essence, presuppositions need to be weeded out. (Tavallaei, Abu Talib)

Illustration by David Gamez

Illustration by David Cot

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