1)
What is theory?
Theory IS providing explanations with clear argumentation that can be tested.
Theory IS abstract and general text, which answer the question Why? and provide links between ideas, events, structures or things.
Theory’s aims are to describe, explain and predict the future developments based on revealing of the current connections between the cause and the event.
Theory IS NOT subjective opinions, variables, diagrams, listings of references, data, hypotheses – these are not a theory, but it could be used as the kind of reasoning to support the theory.
2)
The research paper I chose is 'Online Communities: Design, Theory, and Practice' from the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (IF 2.172). http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/preece.html
In my opinion, this paper is using theory in an excellent way, and it can be characterized as the first type of theory according Table 2 in Gregor's article: theory of Analysis.
The paper consist of the theory which provides a descriptions of the phenomena of Online Communities, used during the last decades by various researchers, so answers the question ‘what it is’.
There are also the descriptions of various current research trends, used in the field (such as Ethnography, Content and linguistic analysis, Social network analysis, History flow technique, interviews and questionnaires), with the mention that no particular theory or set of theories currently dominates research on online communities: ‘In order to study online communities, researchers have had to adapt methodologies for use online'.
The theory does not extend beyond analysis and description, but only analyses the relationships among these research trends. There are no predictions for the future, and causal relationships among phenomena are not specified.
Theory Component: Instantiation, defining the concept of community
Means of representation: Words
Primary constructs: approaches, methodologies and techniques
Statements of relationship: 'There is the relationship between community involvement and the use of the Internet to support the community'.
Scope: Methodologies that have been proposed in the scholarly literature. A procedure for including new methodologies as they arise is proposed, 'as new and novel practices emerge within the online community environments'.
3)
As to the benefits and limitations of using the selected theory, it is obvious that theory of Analysis is based on the previous research and does not demand for any hypotheses, propositions or prescriptive statements, which makes it clean and indisputable. On the other hand, there is no new knowledge or even causal explanations: it is basically a listing, which should be already familiar for specialists.
What is theory?
Theory IS providing explanations with clear argumentation that can be tested.
Theory IS abstract and general text, which answer the question Why? and provide links between ideas, events, structures or things.
Theory’s aims are to describe, explain and predict the future developments based on revealing of the current connections between the cause and the event.
Theory IS NOT subjective opinions, variables, diagrams, listings of references, data, hypotheses – these are not a theory, but it could be used as the kind of reasoning to support the theory.
2)
The research paper I chose is 'Online Communities: Design, Theory, and Practice' from the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (IF 2.172). http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/preece.html
In my opinion, this paper is using theory in an excellent way, and it can be characterized as the first type of theory according Table 2 in Gregor's article: theory of Analysis.
The paper consist of the theory which provides a descriptions of the phenomena of Online Communities, used during the last decades by various researchers, so answers the question ‘what it is’.
There are also the descriptions of various current research trends, used in the field (such as Ethnography, Content and linguistic analysis, Social network analysis, History flow technique, interviews and questionnaires), with the mention that no particular theory or set of theories currently dominates research on online communities: ‘In order to study online communities, researchers have had to adapt methodologies for use online'.
The theory does not extend beyond analysis and description, but only analyses the relationships among these research trends. There are no predictions for the future, and causal relationships among phenomena are not specified.
Theory Component: Instantiation, defining the concept of community
Means of representation: Words
Primary constructs: approaches, methodologies and techniques
Statements of relationship: 'There is the relationship between community involvement and the use of the Internet to support the community'.
Scope: Methodologies that have been proposed in the scholarly literature. A procedure for including new methodologies as they arise is proposed, 'as new and novel practices emerge within the online community environments'.
3)
As to the benefits and limitations of using the selected theory, it is obvious that theory of Analysis is based on the previous research and does not demand for any hypotheses, propositions or prescriptive statements, which makes it clean and indisputable. On the other hand, there is no new knowledge or even causal explanations: it is basically a listing, which should be already familiar for specialists.
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