THEORY AND OTHER ELEMENTS OF RESEARCH

BUSN 364 – Week 4Özge Can

A research example:

Neuman, Chapter 3 (pg.55) Question: Why do people smoke cigarettes? Theory of social resources:

More educated, high income people tend to smoke less

However, smoking is more than a health issue... Theory of cultural taste:

Pampel (2006): Is taste in music related to smoking because of the different life styles?

Finding: Jazz lovers in general are more likely to smoke than nonjazz lovers of the same social class.

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Theory...

Helps us to understand the complexities of social life

Explains why people do what they do Clarifies and systematize thinking, extends

understanding, deepends discussions and enriches analysis

Plays critical role in advancing knowledge and organizing the way we conduct research

Theory...

Has multiple meanings in daily life so don’t confuse!

Theory is NOT: Our explanations in daily life General worldviews; the way of seeing,

interpreting and understanding events Criticisms based on a political or moral

viewpoints; belief/value-based critiques Philosophical commentaries

What is THEORY?

A system of interconnected ideas that condenses and organizes the knowledge about the world and explains how it works

Classical social theorists => e.g. Durkheim, Marx, Smith, Mills, Weber

More recent theorists => e.g. Bourdieu, Giddens, Goffman, Foucault, Krugman

Although they generate many new ideas and theories, we all can use theory!

What is THEORY?

A good research involves theory. If theory remains unclear, incomplete or poorly formulated => it is a weak research

Theories are not static: we constantly modify older theories and develop new ones

Validity = Accuracy of a theory in explaining/ predicting things

Parsimony = the idea that simple is better; everything else being equal, a theory that explains more with less complexity is better

“There is nothing so practical as a good theory.”

- Kurt Lewin

Basis of Difference

Ideology Theory

Certainty of asnwers

Absolute, certain asnwers with no questions

Tentative conditional answers that are incomplete and open ended

Type of knowledge

Closed, fixed belief systems

Open, expanding

Type of assumptions

Based on faith, moral belief or social position

Based on open, informed debate and rational discussions

Use of normative claims

Descriptions, explainations and normative claims all merged

Seperation of descriptions, and explanations from normative claims

Empirical evidence

Selective use, avoiding direct tests; resistance or denial of contrary evidence

Considering all evidence, seeking repeated tests, change with new evidence

Logical consistency

Contradictions and logical fallacies

Highest level of consistency; avoiding logical fallacies

Summary Table: Theory versus Ideology

The Parts of Theory

Assumptions An un-tested starting point in a theory that is

necessary in order to build a theoretical explanation

Concepts An idea that is thought, carefully defined and

made explicit in a theory that we can express as a word or symbol

Relationships Whether the concepts are connected to one

another and if so, how

Concepts

They are everywhere, we use them all the time Concepts have two parts: a symbol (a word,

term, a written character) and a definition. We find them easy to use but difficult to define

or describe For example: “Height” A characteristics of a physical object

indicating the distance from top to bottom. The word “height” refers to an abstract idea. We

associate a sound and a written symbol to this idea.

Relationships

Proposition A theoretical statement about the relatipnship

between two or more concepts Hypothesis

An empirically testable version of a theoretical proposition that is yet to be tested or verified with empirical evidence

It is most used in deductive theorizing

Unit of analysis => In research, we must fit the concepts to a specific type of unit of social life: individual people, groups, organizations, movements, exchanges, institutions, countries etc.

Abstract and Empirical Levels

Treatment to

employees

Employee

loyalty

Social security &

other benefits

Annual turnover

Abstract level

Empirical level

Proposition

Hypothesis

Some Important Aspects of Theory Direction of theorizing

Either deductive or inductive Level of analysis

Micro, macro or meso Forms of explanation

Causal, structural, interpretative Range of a theory

Empirical generalization, a middle-range theory, a framewoek

Direction of Theorizing in Research Deductive Approach: Start with abstract

concepts and propositions then evaluate them against empirical evidence We go from ideas, theory or a mental picture

toward observable empirical evidence

Inductive Approach: Start with specific observations of the empirical world and then generalize from this evidence to build toward abstract ideas We go from empirical observations toward

theoretical concepts and propositions

Causal Explanation

A theoretical explanation about why events occur or how things work in terms of a cause-effect relationship among concepts/variables Example: “Higher poverty causes crime rates to

increase”

Three requirements of causality:1. Temporal order2. Empirical association3. Elimination of alternative explanations

Causal Explanation

1) Temporal order: The cause must come earlier in time than

an effect

Difficult in cross-sectional research: Like a chicken-and-egg problem

To resolve it researcher needs to bring in other information or a research design to test for temporal order

Simple causal relations are unidirectional (single direction). More complex relationships: mutual or simultaneous causation

Causal Explanation

2) Association: Two phenomena occur together in a

patterned way or appear to act together.

When one event happens or is present, the other one is likely to happen or be present as well.

It is a necessary but not a sufficient condition of causality: An association exists between the day of the

week and the exam grades.

Causal Explanation

3) Eliminating Alternatives: We must show that the effect is due to

the causal variable, not to something else.

In experiments, we build controls into the study design

In non-experimental research, we identify possible alternative causes and measure them. Once we measure them, we can use statistical techniques to control them

Causal Explanation

A positive relationship means that a higher value on the cause goes with a higher value on the effect or outcome Example: As the number of years of a person’s

schooling increases, the longer the person’s life expectancy is.

A negative relationship means that a higher value on the cause goes with a lower value on the effect or outcome Example: As the number of years of a person’s

schooling increases, his/her prejudice decreses.

Positive relationship:

Positive and negative relationship:

Positive path relationship:

Examples of Causal Relationships

Role of Theory in Research Process: Close interaction between theory and

research findings: Helps to make connections and see the broader

significance of research findings: To see the forest instead of just a single tree

We refuse, extend or modify a theory based on empirical results of a research.

More central to basic-explanatory research; more indirect impact in applied-descriptive research

Social Theory Examples:

The Philosophy of Science

We can define science in two ways:1) What practicing scientists actually

do?2) What philosophers have claimed as

the core meaning of science?

What makes social science scientific? There is no single answer; there is no one

way to do science => There are multiple alternative approaches

Ontology: The issue of what exists; the fundamental

nature of being. Asks the question: “what reality is?”

Two basic positions: Realist => see the world as being “out there”.

The world exists independent of humans and their interpretations of it.

Nominalist (subjectivist) => humans never directly experience reality “out there”. Our experience is always occuring through the lenses of interpretations and subjectivity.

The Philosophy of Science

The positions are on a continuum:

Epistemology: The issue of how we know the world

around us; the knowledge of the world “How we know what we know or what are

the most valid ways to reach truth”

Realist position: we can produce knowledge and learn about reality by making careful observations of it.

Nominalist position: making observations will not lead to knowledge about reality because interpretations and subjective views influence all observations

The Philosophy of Science

Three Major Approaches:

Positivist social science Emphasizes discovering causal laws, careful

empirical observations and value-free/ objective research

Interpretive social science Emphasizes meaningful social action, socially

constructed meaning and value relativism Critical social science

Emphasized competing surface-level distortions, multiple levels of reality and value-based activism for human empowerment

Positivist Social Science:

The purpose of science is to discover laws The reality is empirically evident Humans are rational thinking View on human agency: deterministic Scientific knowledge is different from and superior to all other

knowledge Explanations are causal and advance by deductive reasoning Explanations are verified using replication by other researchers Social science should be value-free and objective

Interpretive Social Science:

The purpose of science is to understand social meaning in context

The reality is socially created Humans interact and create shared meaning View on human agency: voluntaristic/ autonomy Scientific knowledge is no better than other knowledge forms Explanations are in-depth descriptions and advance by

inductive reasoning Scientific evidence is contingent and context specific Social science should be relativistic regarding social positions

Critical Social Science:

The purpose of science is to reveal what is hidden The reality has multiple layers Social life is relational View on human agency: bounded autonomy Scientific knowledge is imperfect but can fight false

consciousness Explanations are based on critiques and verified through praxis Social science contains a moral-political dimension there is

unequality in terms of human freedom and empowerment

Common Features of the Three Approaches:

All are empirical. All are systematic. All are theoretical. All are public.

All research studies are explicit and shared; transparent

All are self-reflective. All are open-end processes.

All see research as constantly moving, evolving, changing and asking new questions