Discussion about Role of Theory

Question: Discuss about tthe role of theory. Answer: Johnson (2012) mentioned theory is a model or framework for observation and understanding, which shapes both what we see and how we see it. Theory allows the researcher to make links between the abstract and the concrete; the theoretical and the empirical; thought statements and observational statements. Michael Quinn Patton mentioned theory could intimidate people. To say that something's a theory makes it sound like there's no evidence for it or people are just sort of making it up or it's just a belief system. However, theory is an important part of research and scholarship. It is the central idea in the field of science. It plays different role in quantitative, qualitative and mixed method of research. Swiss educational psychologist had formulated a theory to analyze the moral and cognitive development of children. There are numerous amount of research work has been done all over the world in order to find out whether Piagets stages of development are applicable for different cultures or not. It is known as deductive theory and this approach is known as deductive approach as the research is derived or deduced form the theory (Johnson, 2012). This type of theory typically uses quantitative method. It has been found that theories highly depend on constructs and the identification of key variables. Unfortunately, men have been beating up on women across cultures throughout a great deal of history. But until that phenomenon and its impact was called the battered woman syndrome (Cooper et al., 2012). The understanding of battered woman syndrome comes from inductive theory. It requires studying women who are battered (interviewing or watching their lives). Inductive theory comes from qualitative field of work (Cooper et al., 2012). The theory is developed form the gathered data. Reference list Cooper, R., Chenail, R. J., Fleming, S. (2012). A Grounded Theory of Inductive Qualitative Research Education: Results of a Meta-Data-Analysis.Qualitative Report,17, pp.8-10. Johnson, R. H. (2012).Manifest rationality: A pragmatic theory of argument. Routledge.