This week
focused around the concept of scientific theory. When starting out this week’s
reading I had a completely different view of what theory meant, to me it was
the more casual definition which is more or less synonymous with hypotheses. To
me a theory was something one thought could be true. But as I read I realized
that scientific theory was concerned with why things are, more explanatory than
a hypothesis. I enjoyed the way Sutton and Saw went about explaining what theory
is by discussing what theory is not, this in combination with Gregor’s text where
theory in the field of information systems was divided into five different
categories with different attributes gave a good overview of theory during the
reading!
I also
chose a paper of my own to read and discuss on my blog. I felt it was rewarding
to actually apply the theory categories on an actual work, it was also a bit
tricky to identifty the theories and the categories they could belong to! It gave me a new way of thinking about papers when reading
them which was interesting.
I unfortunately
missed the lecture this week due to work, this made me appreciate how much
going to the lectures actually does for the learning process during the theme.
This week when going to the seminar I felt like I had not got to hear someone
else’s view on theory, I had just my own thoughts, unlike previous weeks when
the lecture had provided me with new perspectives before the seminar.
During the
seminar I asked other members of my group for a small recap of the lecture, we
also discussed how all of us had interpreted scientific theory. Previous to
this I had felt this was a really straight forward theme, however discussing it
in a group made me realize that we all still had a bit differing view on
exactly what theory is. We talked a great deal about practice vs. theory, how
one can see practice as applied theory and theory as abstracted practice.
All in all
I felt this theme was more up my alley, so to speak, than the previous ones. I
do feel more comfortable discussing theory than I did knowledge during theme 1.
I believe that is because theory as a concept felt more tangible and definable
than knowledge even though it too is somewhat abstract. Or perhaps I feel that
way because this course already has made me more comfortable with thinking
about and discussing abstract concepts.
I like how your post shows how your understanding of theory changed during the last theme. The way Sutton and Saw explained what theory is not also helped me to broaden my horizon about what theory is. I also felt that actually using the knowledge we got from the texts by choosing and analyzing a paper on our own felt good and it showed me once again how critical you have to be when reading someones work. It is always good to keep in mind that papers are also just written by a person who can make mistakes. Seems like you did a good job when catching up about the lecture you missed. I totally agree that talking about theory is easier because it feels as you wrote more tangible than discussing what knowledge is.
SvaraRaderaHi,
SvaraRaderaI think that you have done a great reflection about the theme. And I like the fact that you took the opportunity to ask for a recap during the seminar since the lecture, in my opinion, gave a lot of good information.
I agree with you on the fact that it is not that straight forward as one first can believe and I think many of had preconceptions about theory and what it means. So it is good that we get the chance to discuss in groups and learn form each other.
good work!
I like your reflection. I think you focus very well your thought process through the week and it seems as if you really have aimed to reach an understanding of the material. I too had another idea about what theory really is before this theme and it was truly an eye opener to read the literature and attend the lecture and seminar.
SvaraRaderaWe didn't discuss the distinction between practice as applied theory and theory as abstracted practice; I thought that was a very interesting way of looking at it that I wish we'd had the opportunity to discuss in our seminar. I'm a bit torn to whether this theme was, as you so eloquently phrase it, 'up my alley'; on one hand I thought it was something that I had more experience with during my previous research, on the other hand I don't know that it - and especially the discussion - added so much to that knowledge.
SvaraRadera