Theory

Question 1

What are the building blocks of theory development?

Answer 1

1) What: What are the logical factors that need to be considered when explaining the phenomena?
- Comprehensiveness: Does this consider all possible variables?
- Parsimony: Does it include variables that do not need to be included? I.e. does not provide additional value.
2) How: How are the variables above related to each other? (box and arrows)
- Introduces Causality
3) Why: Why do these relationships take place?
- Constitutes the theory’s assumptions
- In this stage, logic replaces data
- Propositions- Involve concepts. Hypothesis: Involves Measures
4) Who, Where, When: Introduces temporal and contextual factors
- Introduces the range of the theory

Question 2

What is a legitimate value-added contribution to theory development?

Answer 2

Changing the What and How
Changing only the Whats
Changing or deepening understanding of the Why
Focusing on boundary expansion through changes in qualitative attributes would prove more fruitful.

Question 3

What factors are considered in judging conceptual papers?

Answer 3

What’s New
So What?
Why So?
Well Done?
Done Well?
Why Now?
Who Cares?

Question 4

“Paradigm Wars”

Answer 4

In-between theory debate (where academics take theories and treat them as theoretical perspectives) should not take away from attention to within-theory improvement (going deeper into the theory to see “is this the best we can do?”

Question 5

“Chrysalis Effect”

Answer 5

the tendency to modify a priori hypotheses little by little until they are consistent with the findings, in order to be published- leading to a post hoc theory rather than
proposed a priori

Question 6

Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST)

Answer 6

Campbell, J.P. & Wilmot, M.P. (Forthcoming).

While this test should have nothing to do with the
probability of getting published, it does influence this, even though there is a plethora of issues related to NHTS, some of which are that Statistical Signifiance (SS) Has nothing to do with substantive significance
- Has nothing to do with the probability of replication
- Motivates biased efforts to reject null hypothesis
- Leads to HARKing

Question 7

TFTS

Answer 7

Theory for Theory’s Sake (TFTS) - This is dangerous as it serves no scientific purpose
Campbell, J.P. & Wilmot, M.P. (Forthcoming).

Question 8

Theory Pruning

Answer 8

hypothesis specification and study design intended to bound and reduce theory, also called the strong inference approach
Levitt, K. Mitchell, T.R. & Peterson, J. (2009)