Theory Construction

in the Social Sciences

What is Theory?
What is Interesting Theory?
Variance Theory versus Process Theory
A Process for Theory Construction
Testing and Generalizing Theory

WHAT IS THEORY?
You say tomato, I say tomato

Theory is
1. the explanation of a relationship between two entities: why
A influences B
Why do people adopt new technologies?
2. the explanation of factors underlying a specific phenomenon
Why was Windows Vista not widely adopted?
3. the explanation of a phenomenon
What does it mean to adopt a technology?
4. the explanation of theoretical meaning
What is Marxist theory?
5. an overall perspective of understanding
Technology can be thought of as a system of people and
tools
Abend, 2008

Components of a Theory

Toulmin
Claim

Reasons
Evidence
Context
Qualifiers
Reservations

What
the entities that comprise the relationship
How
the relationship(s) among the entities
Why
the underlying dynamics that link the entities
Who, Where, When
the boundary conditions to the relationship
Whetten, 1989

Components of a Theory
What
How
Entity B

Entity A
Because .

Why
Boundary Conditions

Who,
Where,
When
Whetten, 1989

Big T Theory versus small t theory

Big T Theories are given a name and usually
have an acronym, written in capital letters
Little t theories explain a phenomenon within
a smaller domain, often an empirical paper

Dennis and Valacich, 2001

What Theory is Not

References
Data
Variables and Constructs
Boxes and Arrows
Hypotheses

Theory is a story with a plot that explains

how and why the characters (entities)
interact with each other
Sutton and Staw, 1995

Is This Theory?
The intention to adopt a new technology has often been
influenced by the perceived usefulness of that technology, the
extent to which the technology can enable the user to
accomplish a needed task. Venkatesh et al. (2003) conducted
several experiments with undergraduate students and found that
perceived usefulness had a significant positive impact on the
intention to adopt. As perceived usefulness increased, so did the
intention to adopt. This relationship has been observed in many
other studies in a variety of experimental and organization
settings (Morris, et al., 2000; Taylor and Todd, 2005; Venkatesh,
et al. 2000). Therefore:
H1: The perceived usefulness of a technology has a direct
positive relationship with the intention to adopt that technology

Dont write to get published,

Write to get read and cited

WHAT IS INTERESTING THEORY?

Upending Conventional Wisdom is

Interesting

Organization
Something that appears to be organized/chaotic isnt
Stability
Something that appears to be stable/changing isnt
Evaluation
Something that appears to be good/bad isnt
Correlation
Two things that appear to be independent/related arent
Causation
The independent variable is the dependent variable
Davis, 1971

Finding the Essence is Interesting

Starting a New Research Stream
Studying the uncommon, but not the unnecessary
Formal Models
Translating behavior into math
Simplifying the Complex
The definition of a Nobel prize in physics is Oh
#$@!, why didnt I think of that.

Tesser, 2000

Extending Implications is Interesting

Surprising Implications of the Obvious
When obvious truths leads to unexpected
predictions
Implications of the Bizarre
When impossible beliefs are true
Look for paradox
Scientific discovery does not start with the word
Eureka; it starts with the words Thats funny.
Tesser, 2000

Which is Interesting?
1. As perceived ease of use of a technology
increases, so does the intention to adopt.
2. As Web sites get slower, Internet users
search for more information.
3. Novice Internet users are more likely than
experienced users to believe that Web sites
presented first in a Google search are
better than others in the list.

VARIANCE THEORY VERSUS PROCESS THEORY

Every good variance theory has

a good process theory at its
core

VARIANCE THEORY
Variance theory strives to understand What
What entities explain the behavior of another
entity?
What explains the variance in an entitys behavior?
Variables with different attributes affect other
variables
Often tested with quantitative data
Van de Ven, 2007

TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE MODEL

IS A VARIANCE THEORY
Perceived Ease of
Use

Intention to Adopt
Perceived
Usefulness

PROCESS THEORY
Process theory strives to understand How
How do entities explain the behavior of
another entity?
How do events explain the behavior of an
entity?
Entities move through different stages at
different times
Often tested with qualitative data
Van de Ven, 2007

ROGERS THEORY OF ADOPTION IS

A PROCESS THEORY
Knowledge
Persuasion
Decision

Accept Implementation
Confirmation

Reject

A PROCESS FOR THEORY CONSTRUCTION

How to go from a blank page to a first draft?

The Rational Model of Science

Theory
is a waterfall model

Method
Data
Analysis

Conclusions

Martin, 1982

THE GARBAGE CAN MODEL OF SCIENCE

Data

Theory

Method

Analysis
Conclusions

Mine your Garbage Can

Martin, 1982

Get The Idea

Prior Theory in
Other Disciplines

Prior Theory

Prior Empirical
Results

The Idea
A B

Methods

Resources

Personal Experiences

Martin, 1982

DEFINE THE IDEA

The Idea
A B
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

What

How
Why

Title (the idea)

What is the problem or issue (why do I care)?
What are the key concepts (i.e., A and B)?
What is the Research Question (RQ)?
What answer do you expect to the RQ?
Why do you expect that answer?
What are the boundary conditions?
What are the methods?
How will the data answer the RQ?

Who, When,
Where
How do I know what I think until I see what I write?

Van de Ven, 2007

WRITE THE IDEA

Title (1)
Introduction
- Setting (7)
- Problem or Issue (2)
- What this paper does (4&9: RQ and its answer)
Prior Research and Theory
- Prior Research
- Hypothesis development
- Define concepts (3)
- State the relationship (5)
- Explain the relationship (6)
- State the hypothesis (4)
Methods (8)

The Idea
A B

REFINE THE IDEA

Targeted Literature
Search
The Idea
A B

Thought Experiments

TARGETED LITERATURE SEARCH

The Idea
A B

Like Qualitative Research

Search for evidence to support or refute your idea
One hypothesis at a time
Code articles (at the paragraph level) that
offer evidence about your idea
Both theoretical processes and data
Review the codings, change the categories, iterate
Multiple raters (authors) debate the evidence and
change the idea

THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS
Like Quantitative Research
Set up tests of your idea like experiments
Think about the manipulations
Run the experiment in your mind
Multiple raters (authors) debate the evidence
and change the idea
The Idea
A B

YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR DATA

Literature searches and thought experiments guide
your thinking, not dominate it.
If you dont like what the literature tells you can
change your data.

Assess The Idea

Whats New?
Value-added contribution to current thinking
So What?
Will this change research or practice?
Why So?
Is the underlying logic solid?
Well Done?
The Idea
A B
Is it complete and thorough?
Done Well?
Is it well written and understandable?
Whetten, 1989

TESTING AND GENERALIZING THEORY

Every research method
is critically flawed

THE 3-HORNED DILEMMA

Maximum Precision

Lab Experiments

Maximum
Generalizability

Surveys

Field
Studies

Maximum
Realism

McGrath, 1982

GENERALIZATION
Setting 1

Setting 2

Generalize

Data

Data

GENERALIZATION
Setting 1

Instantiate

Theory

Data

Generalize

Instantiate

Draw
Conclusions

Setting 2

Theory

Data

Draw
Conclusions

Lee and Baskerville, 2003

IS SCIENCE MARKETING?
Publishing a theory is like marketing a new product
Find the message of the theory
Its unique selling proposition

Know the attributes that help sell a theory

Who developed it (halo effect)
Its origins (borrowed theory is easier to sell)
Simplicity sells faster than the complex
Consistency with current Zeitgeist

Test market the theory

With colleagues
At conferences
Peter and Olson, 1993

REFERENCES
Abend, G. (2008) The Meaning of They, Sociological Theory, 26:2, 173-199.
Davis, M. S. (1971) That's Interesting: Toward a Phenomenology of Sociology and a Sociology of Phenomenonology, Philosophy
of Social Science,1, 309-344.
Dennis, A. R., and Valacich, J. S. (2001) Conducting Experimental Research in Information Systems, Communications of the AIS,
7:5
Lee, Allen S.; Baskerville, Richard L.,(2003) Generalizing Generalizability in Information Systems Research, Information Systems
Research, 14:3, 221-243.
Martin, J. (1981). A garbage can model of the psychological research process. American Behavioral Scientist, 25(2), 131-151.
Martin, J. (1982) "A Garbage Can Model of the Research Process," in J.E.McGrath (ed.) Judgment Calls in Research, Beverly Hills:
Sage, pp. 17-39
McGrath, J.E. (1982) "Dilemmatics: The Study of Research Choices and Dilemmas," in J.E. McGrath (ed.) Judgment Calls in
Research, Beverly Hills: Sage, pp. 69-80
Meade, A. W., Watson, A. M., & Kroustalis, C. M. (2007, April). Assessing Common Methods Bias in Organizational Research. Paper
presented at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, New York.
Peter, J. P. and J. C. Olson, (1983) "Is Science Marketing?" Journal of Marketing, (47) pp. 111-125.
Runkel, P.J., & McGrath, J.E. 1972. Research on human behavior: A systematic guide to method. New York: Holt, Rinehart &
Winston.
Sutton, R. I. And Staw, B. M. (1995) "What Theory is Not," Administrative Science Quarterly, (40), pp. 371-384.
Tesser, A. (2000) Theories and Hypotheses, in Sternberg, R. J. (ed) Guide to Publishing in the Psychology Journals, Cambridge
University Press, 58-80.
Van de Ven, A. (2007) Engaged Scholarship, Oxford,
Whetten, D.A. (1989) What Constitutes a Theoretical Contribution? Academy of Management Review, (14), pp.490-495