During this week I have learned both practical and theoretical things that I definitely going to use in my academic researches.
First of all, I found both articles by Gregor and Sutton & Staw very useful. After reading and fruitful discussion on the seminar I have a firm definition of what is theory. We tried to find answers (and I believe we succeed :) to the following questions: What is theory? Of what is theory constructed? How could theory be expressed? How could knowledge be applied? Should the knowledge be relevant and useful in a reasonable sense? Are there some political for example or social issues that are associated with the use of the disciplinary knowledge? Now I know that theory describes, explains, enhances understanding of the world and provides predictions of what will happen in the future and to give a basis for intervention and action. Theory is explanation of why and how acts, events, structure, and thoughts occur. Theory is definitely not data, references, variables, diagrams and hypothesis, but the theory can be supported and built on them. Also we got to know 5 different types of theories (analysis, explanation, prediction, explanation and prediction, design and action), their distinguishing attributes, structural components of theory and their definitions [1].
Second of all, I found very interesting the discussion about different kind of theories during the seminar. It was interesting to develop and sort out in “Game Theory”. With my group-mates we examined the definition and applicability of this theory. We made out that Game Theory provide both explanation (with a set of mathematical tools) and prediction of possible actions of individuals participating in some sort of game. It is a theory that has its roots in EP-theory - explanation-and-prediction-theory. EP-Theory in general does not however have its aim at explaining behavior by applying math methods, but it uses psychology. Also we had a very interesting discussion about applying this theory to practice (including the discussion of the movie “21”).
Thank to our seminar group I also know more about digital politics theory that is using the internet is a positive predictor for all forms of political participation for young people, and media richness theory that is used to rank and evaluate the richness of certain communication mediums, such as phone calls, video conferencing and e-mail.
References:
[1] Gregor, S. (2006). The Nature of Theory in Information Systems. MIS Quarterly, 30(3), 611-642.
First of all, I found both articles by Gregor and Sutton & Staw very useful. After reading and fruitful discussion on the seminar I have a firm definition of what is theory. We tried to find answers (and I believe we succeed :) to the following questions: What is theory? Of what is theory constructed? How could theory be expressed? How could knowledge be applied? Should the knowledge be relevant and useful in a reasonable sense? Are there some political for example or social issues that are associated with the use of the disciplinary knowledge? Now I know that theory describes, explains, enhances understanding of the world and provides predictions of what will happen in the future and to give a basis for intervention and action. Theory is explanation of why and how acts, events, structure, and thoughts occur. Theory is definitely not data, references, variables, diagrams and hypothesis, but the theory can be supported and built on them. Also we got to know 5 different types of theories (analysis, explanation, prediction, explanation and prediction, design and action), their distinguishing attributes, structural components of theory and their definitions [1].
Second of all, I found very interesting the discussion about different kind of theories during the seminar. It was interesting to develop and sort out in “Game Theory”. With my group-mates we examined the definition and applicability of this theory. We made out that Game Theory provide both explanation (with a set of mathematical tools) and prediction of possible actions of individuals participating in some sort of game. It is a theory that has its roots in EP-theory - explanation-and-prediction-theory. EP-Theory in general does not however have its aim at explaining behavior by applying math methods, but it uses psychology. Also we had a very interesting discussion about applying this theory to practice (including the discussion of the movie “21”).
Thank to our seminar group I also know more about digital politics theory that is using the internet is a positive predictor for all forms of political participation for young people, and media richness theory that is used to rank and evaluate the richness of certain communication mediums, such as phone calls, video conferencing and e-mail.
References:
[1] Gregor, S. (2006). The Nature of Theory in Information Systems. MIS Quarterly, 30(3), 611-642.
The five types of theory by gregor are really good to understand and it is easy to categorize several theories with these types. But for me it was impossible to think of an example for theory of design and action, I am really excited to find an example for this. Or can you already think of one?
ОтветитьУдалитьI think that social cognitive theory could be good example for that) It is used in games to provide plain goals for players to achieve. It is based on the idea that people learn by watching what other people do. When observing others we learn from three main factors: environment, behavior and cognition. What do u think? =)
Удалить