How to build theory 26 02 2014 19 53 00 1 Observe phenomenon 2 develop explanation theory for phenomenon define concept create logical explanation 3 test your explanation theory of the phenomenon 4 refine modify and or change your theory How to test theory Scientific Quantitative approaches Social scientists Laws theorists Methods surveys experiments quasi experiments What counts as data data are numbers statistics Qualitative approaches Humanists Rhetoricians Rules theorists Data are words rhetorical tool conversational analysis in depth interviews Analyze topic of research through stories myths and themes Textual analysis specific text identified rhetorical theory used as a test of theories are published in academic journals communication monographs communication theory quarterly journal of speech how to evaluate theory scope good theories should have adequate scope o able to generalize theory general enough to cover a lot of concrete events but not so general that they re trying to do way too much precision good theories should have precision o how well you lay out your explanation logically consistent tested possibly wrong o casual necessity and practical necessity testable falsifiable create a theory in a way that allows it to be o there are conditions under which your theory could be heuristic values how much research does it generate o how much argument does it generate validity represent reality but not reality in and of itself o how realistic is your experiment theory utility valid on some level correspondence of fit how well does it solve the problem that you re trying to solve parsimony theories that are concise cheap in words are better than long winded theories o DOES NOT MEAN short theories are better 26 02 2014 19 53 00 26 02 2014 19 53 00
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