THEORY

BUILDING
Discussions

• Meaning of theory
• Goals of theory
• Meaning of concepts, propositions and hypothesis
• Discuss: How are theories developed?
What is a theory

A formal, logical explanation of some events that

includes prediction of how things are relate to
one another.

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Goals of theory
• Understanding, and
• Predicting
Some common research terminologies
• Concept/Construct: A generalized idea about a class of objects that has
been give a name.
• Examples of Constructs: Psychologists develop and research constructs to
understand individual and group differences. Some common constructs
include:
• Self-esteem
• Logical reasoning
• Academic motivation
• Social anxiety
Construct
Construct
 In research, it’s important to operationalize constructs into concrete and measurable
characteristics based on your idea of the construct and its dimensions.
Example of Construct measure:
You develop a simple questionnaire to assess social anxiety in college students. You create
questions to measure your construct of social anxiety:
1. How often do you avoid entering a room when everyone else is already seated?
2. Do other people tend to describe you as quiet?
3. When talking to new acquaintances, how often do you worry about saying something
foolish?
4. To what extent do you fear giving a talk in front of an audience?
5. How often do you avoid making eye contact with other people?
6. Do you prefer to have a small number of close friends over a big group of friends?

Example: Evaluating your measure

You go through your questionnaire with some questions in mind:
• Does your questionnaire solely measure social anxiety?
• Are all aspects of social anxiety covered by the questions?
• Do your questions avoid measuring other relevant constructs like shyness or introversion?

Construct
•Convergent validity: The extent to which your measure corresponds to measures of related
constructs
•Discriminant validity: The extent to which your measure is unrelated or negatively related to
measures of distinct constructs

We can analyze convergent validity by comparing the results of a test with those of
others that are designed to measure the same construct. If there is a strong positive
correlation between the results, then the test can be said to have high convergent
validity.

We can analyze discriminant validity by comparing the results of an assessment that measures
one thing with those of a test that measures something else altogether. If there is no correlation
between the scores, the test can be said to have high discriminant validity; a strong correlation
would indicate low discriminant validity.

Types of Construct validity

Some common research terminologies

• Propositions: Statement explaining the logical linkage among certain

concepts by asserting a universal connection between concepts.
• Hypothesis: Formal statement of an unproven proposition that is
empirically testable.
• Empirical testing: Examining a research hypothesis against reality
using data.
How to develop a
theory?

Deductive reasoning: A logical process of

deriving a conclusion about a specific instance
based on a know general premise or
something known to be true.
Inductive reasoning: A logical process of
establishing a general propositions on the
basis of observation of particular facts.
Some common research terminologies
Inductive
vs
Deductive
Thank you
Mohammad Abdul Jabber
jabber@du.ac.bd