Simultaneously Considered. In This Way Matters Pertaining

¶ … simultaneously considered. In this way matters pertaining novelty, contribution, and contemporary interest will be integrated with rules of sampling, observational recording, statistical assumptions, interviewing techniques, and mathematical procedures. Theory and method should in practice be highly interrelated (Maanen, Sorensen, & Mitchell, 2007). Theories without methodological implications are more of idle speculation with minimal empirical import. Methods without theoretical backing can be sterile representing technical sophistication in isolation. Methods generate data that is used to test the plausibility or validity of theories (Maanen, Sorensen, & Mitchell, 2007).

The interplay between theory and data follows a prescribed sequence beginning with identification of a problem that is of interest to an identifiable research community followed by posing of specific research questions or hypothesis that rest on theoretical resources that a given research community possesses (Maanen, Sorensen, & Mitchell, 2007). After this, appropriate research strategies are spelled out based on either or both deductive or inductive logic. Qualitative or quantitative measures are chosen and put to work. Data is then compiled and analyzed. Method generates and shapes theory. Empirical studies generate data that is used in the theorizing process thereby allowing a study to progress as a cognitive or sense making venture that unfolds over time (Maanen, Sorensen, & Mitchell, 2007).

Theory drives method through its level of analysis, its stage of articulation, type of constructs it proposes, and its descriptive or prescriptive nature. Theory informs research design, choice of measures, and samples. Method helps to develop and enhance theory development (Maanen, Sorensen, & Mitchell, 2007).

A study that pays too much attention to t available or potentially available data is more likely to be trapped by operations. This potentially stifles theorizing. A study that, nevertheless, pays no attention to data makes the whole process of theorizing remote (Maanen, Sorensen, & Mitchell, 2007). The key here is to strike a balance by designing a research methodology that respects both the primacy of theory and the primacy of evidence.

Research should use theory and method simultaneously so that they provide covering laws that govern the relationship among variables or constructs in a highly specified field of study. The methods will help in verifying those covering laws (Maanen, Sorensen, & Mitchell, 2007). As theory seeks to provide novel explanations or even provoke enlightenment among knowledgeable readers by putting forth new and potentially useful constructs, method will defamiliarize and deconstruct the existing conceptual landscape and bring new classification and category schemes to the fore and question conventional domain assumptions (Maanen, Sorensen, & Mitchell, 2007). Theory will in this respect provide a step-by-step account of particular social processes and place their methods in service of showing the plausibility of various linkages involved in the constructed analytic narrative. A high quality research can only be produced when there is a fit between theory and method. In this regard a prior work in a research area should be used to design a new research project (Maanen, Sorensen, & Mitchell, 2007). This underscores the interchangeable use of quantitative and qualitative data. To overcome mismatch between theory and method set-theoretic methods that permit algebraic manipulation of proposed attributes constituting a particular configuration should be used as a methodological alternative to conventional or variable approaches (Maanen, Sorensen, & Mitchell, 2007). Such methods allow for investigation of equifinability and limited diversity. They are open to categorical and ordinal data and therefore provide a way to direct verbal statements into logical category.

Sample selection helps in theory development. Samples observed are a result of a selection process. Sampling processes generate empirical findings consistent with theoretical explanations. However, empirical data can at times be an unreliable guide for theory validation and theory generation.

To help us deeply understand why theory and method should simultaneously be used we will bring the grounded theory as an analytical tool into perspective. This theory is committed to research and discovery through direct contact with the social world (Shah & Corley, 2006). It rejects priori theorizing. The fact that it rejects priori theorizing does not therefore mean that researches should enter the field lacking an understanding of the literature or the theoretical question to be addressed. Researchers have to generate theories out of their data collection experiences. Theory building involves identifying theoretical question of interest, choosing an appropriate research context, sampling within the context so that data collection facilitates the emerging theory (Shah & Corley, 2006). Choice of procedures for gathering and documenting data is the preserve of the researcher. Questions asked should explore new areas, uncover processes, lay bare poorly understood phenomena, understand ill structured linkages, and examine variables that cannot be studied by experimentation (Shah & Corley, 2006).

Theoretical sampling should endeavor to direct data gathering efforts towards collecting information that best supports the development of a theoretical framework. Samples chosen should support emergent theory or even refine and extend the emergent theory (Shah & Corley, 2006). Refining and extending emergent theory calls for settling on a data collection context that shows that the theory applies across a variety of contexts. For researchers to assign and create meaning from observations recorded in data constant comparison method has to be put in place. This helps in comparing incidents applicable to each category, integrating categories and their properties, focusing the theory, and writing the theory (Shah & Corley, 2006). These processes are integral in explaining patterns in the data. Constant comparisons made throughout the process of data collection influences data collection efforts and theory development.