Workshop 6 has been timely as I have just started my PhD studies a few months ago and it helped me understand the basis of research design and the role theory plays in research.
Research is a structured process and this topic allowed me to understand how theory provided the lens for viewing and explaining the world. For my research, I explored how theories can help me identify factors, variables, concepts i can explore as well as how experiments and data analysis can be conducted.
(Gregor, 2006) suggested that theories are used to provide guidance on four levels – analysis, explanation, prediction of phenomena and for providing design and action guidelines. Put simply, while an empirical analysis may suggest correlated phenomena, theory tells us why they are correlated.
(Weber, 2012) in his paper defined theory more generally as .. ” a particular kind of model that is intended to account for some subset of phenomena in the world. A theory is a social construction. It is an artefact built by humans to achieve some purpose. It is a conceptual thing rather than a concrete thing”.
My understanding from the above two papers is that theory can be used (1) as a paradigm – which underpins research design. It may also be (2) used a a ‘lens’ which may inform our understanding of the phenomenon under investigation or it can be something that may (3) emerge from our study as new knowledge.
One of the interesting learning from this topic was that well-established theories can be borrowed from a different fields and applied to a related research projects in a totally new area. For instance, as part of my assessment task, I explained the paper (Wells et..al, 2007) which used the Signalling Theory from the field of economics in an information systems research project to see how website quality meets the theoretical conditions for being a viable signal of product quality.
As for my PhD research, although I have yet to define my research question, the topic allowed me to ask myself and reflect on a number of important questions about my research journey, (Crotty, 1998) such as:
- What methods do I propose to use? – process & techniques
- What methodology governs your choice and use of the methods? – broad strategy/plan of action
- What theoretical perspective lies behind the methodology in question? – philosophical stance informing the methodology
- What epistemology informs this theoretical perspective? – how we know what we know
References:
Crotty, M. (1998). The foundations of social research. Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
Gregor, S. (2006). The nature of theory in information systems. MIS quarterly, 611-642.
Weber, R. (2012). Theory building in the information systems discipline: Some critical reflections. Information systems foundations: Theory building in information systems, 1-20.
Wells, J. D., Valacich, J. S., & Hess, T. J. (2011). What Signals Are You Sending? How Website Quality Influences Perceptions of Product Quality and Purchase Intentions. MIS quarterly, 35(2), 373-396.
