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Theory into research practice |
How does one apply theory to research on practice?
- What work do you want a theory to do?
- The answer, of course, depends on many factors, but one inescapable issue is philosophical; it
is an important first step to identify the research paradigm that helps structure a particular view
of practice reality. The work of theory in each research paradigm is different.
Three Research Paradigms
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Positivist
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Interpretivist
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Critical Realist
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Theory, or covering law, does the work of
prediction.
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Theory, often social theory, works at describing the conditions or the context for the
production of meaningful experience. Theory claims to account for how individuals
assign, or not, meaning to primary experience.
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Theory works at describing or identifying hidden, or not readily observable,
structures and objects that have causal powers to produce effects.
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All swans are blue.
There is a swan.
Then, it must be blue.
Or, using probability theory, in 75% of the cases, the swan is blue.
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I wonder under what context(s) (i.e., what social theory) do swans feel or experience being
blue. Or, how is it that primary experience becomes subjectively coded, as, for example, gender,
class, and ethnicity
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What produces the effect of a blue swan? What has the causal power of making that swan appear
blue. The structure that has the power to make the swan blue is independent of my thoughts about
it. For an application see
Appendix A
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- It is necessary to ask: is your theory working to account for a reality independent of your
concepts? Do you assume that the object of your research exists (relatively) independent of your
theory about it? If the answer to the latter question is yes, then rival theories are often at work
to explain the "reality" in question. If not, then theory is deployed to describe multiple
realities and there can be no such thing as rival theories, just a plurality of theories and a
plurality of realities. Again, this is a philosophical issue and related to the paradigm deployed.
- In short, once the philosophical issues are understood, then put theory to work at each phase
of the research process.
- Research Question = Literature Review works to identify theory, concepts, and the revelance of
the research question.
- Research Design = Theory is directly involved in your strategy for data collection. Theory
works alongside qualitative or quantitative methods of data gathering. The methodology, your
epistemological and ontological links, directly relates to your theory.
- Analysis\discussion = Theory does the work of writing, it guides the analysis.
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