Abstract
In this chapter, the decisiveness of theory for scientific knowledge building is argued, and different functions served by theory are discussed. In light of this discussion, practices such as triangulation and the mixing of theories are criticized. The important distinction between term and concept is made and exemplified with reference to learning theories. The theoretical nature of research questions is exemplified, and the difference between process and product studies is explained. The localization of a study is discussed in terms of the difference between context and contextualization. Ontology and epistemology are introduced through etymology, and examples of their relationship from the research field of early childhood education are discussed.
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Notes
- 1.
It is quite common that references are misplaced. Something that has perhaps become more common, not only in popular-scientific texts but also in scientific fora, is to almost consistently place references at the end of sentences. This often leads to an unfortunate lack of clarity regarding where to locate claims, which in turn serves to hide one’s own contributions behind those of other researchers. For instance, “In this study I have shown how children change their participation in the practice of… when teachers do…” (Name, 2017, 2020). Writing in this way becomes confusing; the sentence starts by stating what the contribution of the present study is, but ends with references to other researchers’ work. Thus, it not only hides the contributions of the present study but also transfers the study’s findings to the work of other researchers.
- 2.
Variation theory (Marton, 2015; Marton & Tsui, 2004) builds on the premises that (a) meaning springs from difference, not similarity; (b) learning can be conceptualized as increased differentiation and reintegration; and (c) in order to facilitate learners’ discernment of something, it has to vary (while other things are kept invariant). To give a classic example, if everything that exists were blue, people would not be able to discern blue (as blue only exists in contrast to other colors); nor would they have a concept of color (as this category presumes more than one color). In order for us to discern something as blue, there also has to be non-blue.
Cognitive psychology actually exists in two major traditions, the European and the American. The European, which I allude to here, fundamentally builds on the major contributions of Jean Piaget (e.g., 1970) and has an interest in the development of cognition (while the American is the so-called information-processing tradition, in which models of human thinking, memory (e.g., Atkinson et al., 1996), etc. are built on the analogy of the information processor (the computer).
Cultural-historical theory (Daniels et al., 2007; Luria, 1976; Vygotsky, 1987) (aka sociocultural theory) builds on the founding works of Lev Vygotsky and Alexandr Luria, and subsequent development, with a focus on human development as a process informed by biology, culture, and society. Central to this theory is how human inventions (cultural tools and artefacts) come to mediate people’s perception and thinking.
- 3.
When defining terms conceptually, it is crucial not to include the term itself in the (alleged) definition. For example, do not write “Intersubjectivity is defined as how participants intersubjectively…” or “Learning in this study is defined as learning to…”. If the term to be conceptualized (theoretically specified)—in these examples “intersubjectivity” and “learning”—is included in the definition, the reasoning becomes entirely circular and no definition is provided. To define a concept means to explicate it in other terms.
- 4.
Even though the reference here is to 1978, it should be recognized that this is a collated volume of separate texts that were written by Vygotsky in the 1930s. The particular text cited here is from 1931.
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Pramling, N. (2023). The Importance and Functions of Theory. In: Methodology for Early Childhood Education and Care Research. SpringerBriefs in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24174-1_3
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