Theory building in research methods: study materials

Some study materials on "theory building in research methods"

1. Theory building: meanings and functions (video)
2. Theory building (video)
3. Building blocks of theory (video)
4. Role of theory in research (video)
5. Inductive and deduct research, with regard to theory building and verification (video)
6. General method of theory-building research (pdf)
7. Theory building through conceptual methods (pdf)
8. The cycle of theory-building in management research (pdf)
9. 
   

** It is also highly relevant to study grounded theory, which embraces the theory-building research goal.

How literature review is guided by the agile literature review approach for academic-oriented dissertation projects

This study note is on "how literature review is guided by the agile literature review approach for academic-oriented dissertation projects". It is mainly provided for my MBA dissertation project students. It is also a useful reading for students who are interested in the agile literature review approach (ALRA).

The first guidance comes from the The dissertation academic topic theme, which is the outcome of an intellectual imaginative leap from the response to the triggering point of intellectual curiosity by the researcher. The topic theme tends to be broad at the management topic level, such as innovation barriers, business model design and market development approach for SMEs, etc.... 

The dissertation academic topic theme offers the student a broad sense of direction, with specific key words, for doing literature search and, subsequently, for literature review. Via the literature review on the literature search findings (e.g. journal articles), the student should now assemble useful academic concepts and sub-topics, and  then construct the theoretical framework-A as a conceptual synthesis exercise. The theoretical framework-A in this regard represents a  holistic, visualized as well as a more narrowly defined form of understanding of the dissertation academic topic theme. The student can now, based on personal intellectual preference, decide on a few specific research gap items (2 main items, plus 1-2 minor items), which are mapped onto the theoretical framework-A.

Once the theoretical framework-A has been constructed, the literature review context, the theory measurement unit and a few more literature review tasks (based on the research gap items in the framework) become explicit. Moreover, the framework, especially the research gap items shown there, provides even more specific keywords to performance further literature search and review.

The whole literature review process, in line with the agile literature review approach thinking, is an agile one. The following diagram shows the process as a 2-phase one.

Note: In terms of steps and techniques (e.g. diagramming tools to employ) to use, this literature review process for the academic-oriented dissertation project type is different from that of the consulting-oriented ones in the agile literature review approach (ALRA).

Additional readings: (reading 1) a fake example of synopsis doc and (reading 2) the four deliverables of the ALRA for academic-oriented project work.

A fake synopsis sample for an academic-oriented dissertation project (for the ALRA)

 A fake Synopsis sample for the academic-oriented dissertation project (for the ALRA) [recommended word count: 250 words]

Project title: An investigation on the internal innovation barriers of "owners/ managers characteristics" and "firm characteristics" for the BBB sector in Hong Kong: an empirical research

1. The dissertation academic topic theme: This dissertation project examines some research gap issues as related to the topic of innovation barriers.
2. The triggering point of intellectual curiosity of the researcher: The intellectual starting point is the curiosity of why the HK BBB sector has a very low adoption rate of XYZ application in its business operation as compared to that of other countries, such as Australia and South Korea.
3. The researcher positioning with regard to the dissertation project: I support using mixed methods research and pragmatism to approach this study which has is highly related to my professional career in the BBB sector.
4. The gross research gap position statement: It appears that the existing theories on innovation barriers are not adequately usable for analyzing the innovation barriers of XYZ application in HK.
5. The main theories involved and the main theory measurement unit considered: Two main theories to be examined in this study are Richard Lee's Innovation V theory and Vicky Poon's Innovation L theory.
6. The main research gap items and the corresponding research objectives: Specifically, the main factors of "managers/owners' characteristics" and "firm characteristics" are both unclear and not formulated in a usable way for the study of innovation in the BBB sector in HK with regard to XYZ application. Specifically, the two main research objectives are: Research objective 1: to develop more knowledge on the innovation barrier factor of "managers/ owners characteristics" for the HK BBB sector with regard to XYZ application and Research objective 2: to develop more knowledge on the innovation barrier factor of "firm characteristics" for the HK BBB sector with regard to XYZ application 
7. The research methods to use with regard to the research objectives: The primary research methods of questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview are to be used for the two main research objectives of this study.

References

_____ now you could make it more concise by deleting the content subheadings. The result is as follows:

Project title: An investigation on the internal innovation barriers of "owners/ managers characteristics" and "firm characteristics" for the BBB sector in Hong Kong: an empirical research

This dissertation project examines some research gap issues as related to the topic of innovation barriers. The intellectual starting point is the curiosity of why the HK BBB sector has a very low adoption rate of XYZ application in its business operation as compared to that of other countries, such as Australia and South Korea.

I support using mixed methods research and pragmatism to approach this study which has is highly related to my professional career in the BBB sector.

It appears that the existing theories on innovation barriers are not adequately usable for analyzing the innovation barriers of XYZ application in HK. Two main theories to be examined in this study are Richard Lee's Innovation V theory and Vicky Poon's Innovation L theory. Specifically, the main factors of "managers/owners' characteristics" and "firm characteristics" are both unclear and not formulated in a usable way for the study of innovation in the BBB sector in HK with regard to XYZ application. As such, the two main research objectives are: Research objective 1: to develop more knowledge on the innovation barrier factor of "managers/ owners characteristics" for the HK BBB sector with regard to XYZ application and Research objective 2: to develop more knowledge on the innovation barrier factor of "firm characteristics" for the HK BBB sector with regard to XYZ application 

The primary research methods of questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview are to be used for the two main research objectives of this study.

References

** also see the synopsis template.

Synopsis template for academic-oriented dissertation project (for the ALRA)

Synopsis template for the academic-oriented dissertation project (for the ALRA) [recommended word count: 250 words]

Project title

1. The dissertation academic topic theme
2. The triggering point of intellectual curiosity of the researcher
3. The researcher positioning with regard to the dissertation project
4. The gross research gap position statement
5. The main theories involved and the main theory measurement unit considered
6. The main research gap items and the corresponding research objectives
7. The research methods to use with regard to the research objectives

References

The chain of evidence structure for the academic-oriented dissertation projects (with the agile literature review approach)

The chain of evidence structure for the academic-oriented dissertation projects (with the agile literature review approach)

This brief note introduce the chain of evidence structure for the academic-oriented dissertation projects. As the current research work is for the MBA students doing dissertation projects, it should be mainly employed in this type of dissertation works. Briefly, the chain of evidence structure (i.e., sequence of evidence pointers) is as follows:

(A) The triggering point of intellectual curiosity ---> (B) research gap items # ---> (C) research objectives # ---> (D) theoretical framework items ---> (E) academic theories/ concepts/ research gaps (in the academic literature)/ contextual contingency factors --> (F) research methods employed ---> (G) research findings ---> (H) discussion findings ---> (I) academic values/ practical values of research/ discussion findings---> (J) future research works to do/ recommendations on improved business practices. 

Note: A to J are evidence pointers.

The following evidence pointers are covered in the four project deliverables:

Deliverable 1. The research gap-translation diagram: A, B.

Deliverable 2. The research gap-objective table: B, C.

Deliverable 3. Theoretical framework-A: D, E.

Deliverable 4. Theoretical framework-B: F.

In addition, the rest of the evidence pointers are covered in the following dissertation report chapters:

Chapter 4: Presentation of research findings: G.

Chapter 5: Discussion of findings: H, I.

Chapter 6: Conclusions and recommendations: I, J.

Dissertation report Chapter 7: Reflection on personal development

 "Chapter 7 Reflections on developing your personal competence. This chapter provides the opportunity for you to reflect on your programme experience and the learning which has impacted on the development of your professional identity. Drawing on evidence you have collated throughout the module you are to write a reflective commentary which addresses the following: what were your initial motivations for undertaking aMBA and what were the central components of your professional identity during semester 1? What did you learn about yourself as a developing business professional and how that learning will shape your future professional self? (Approximately 2000 words)".

MBA Dissertation Report Chapter 6: Conclusions and recommendations (for academic-oriented project type)

Chapter 6: Conclusions and recommendations

6.1. Chapter introduction

6.2. An evaluation of the project outcomes with references to the research objectives of the project

6.2.1. An evaluation in terms of research objective 1

6.2.2. An evaluation in terms of research objective 2

6.2.3. An evaluation in terms of research objective 3

6.3. An overall assessment of the academic and practical values of the dissertation project

6.3.1. An assessment of the academic value of the project findings

6.3.2. An assessment of the practical value of the project findings, notably on recommendations with regard to specific  managerial practices

6.4. Some reflexivity-related comments on the dissertation project practice performed.

6.5. Concluding remarks and suggested future research works to perform (as recommendations)

MBA Dissertation Report Chapter 5: Discussion of findings (for academic-oriented project type)

Chapter 5: Discussion of findings

5.1. Chapter introduction: the objectives and approach of the findings discussion

5.2. Evaluation on the findings of individual research methods
5.2.1. Evaluation on the research findings of research method 1 and the resultant discussion findings highlighted
5.2.2. Evaluation on the research findings of research method 2 and the resultant discussion findings highlighted
5.2.3. Evaluation on the research findings of research method 3 and the resultant discussion findings highlighted

5.3. An examination on the discussion findings in terms of the theoretical framework-A and the research gap-objective table of the project

5.4. A summary of the overall discussion results on the main discussion findings

MBA Dissertation Report Chapter 4: Presentation of research findings (for academic-oriented project type)

 Chapter 4: Presentation of research findings

4.1. Chapter introduction: the objectives and approach of the analysis
4.2. Findings from individual research methods: highlights
4.2.1. Main findings from research method 1
4.2.2. Main findings from research method 2
4.2.3. Main findings from research method 3

4.3 Some observations of research findings in terms of the research methods flowchart 

4.4. Findings in terms of the theoretical framework-B and the research gap-objective table of the project

4.5. A synthesis of the main research findings: some overall comments

Table of content template for MBA academic-oriented dissertation projects

Table of content template for MBA academic-oriented dissertation projects (suggested report length: 12,000 words)

Dissertation project title

Statement of originality and authenticity

Executive summary

Acknowledgement

Table of contents

List of figures and tables

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Literature review

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

Chapter 4: Presentation of research findings

Chapter 5: Discussion of findings

Chapter 6: Conclusions and recommendations

Chapter 7: Reflection on personal development

< word count figure: XXX>

References

Appendix

MBA Dissertation Report Chapter 3: Research Methodology (for academic-oriented project type)

MBA Dissertation Report Chapter 3: Research Methodology (for academic-oriented project type)

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

3.1 Introduction on the research methodology of the dissertation project

3.2. An overview of the research methods employed with reference to the project research gaps and research objectives

*** insert the theoretical framework-B here. Alternatively, insert the academic literature review tree-b.

3.3. A description and justification of the research methods used.

3.3.1. Primary research methods used

3.3.1.1 Research method 1

3.3.1.2 Research method 2

3.3.1.3 Research method 3

3.3.2 Secondary research methods used

3.3.3. A flow-chart view of the research methodology

3.3.4. A discussion of the research methodology in terms of the research onion framework

** insert the table of research methods and research approach tasks involved.

3.3.5. A brief discussion of the theory-building effort with the chosen research methods

3.3.6. An evaluation of the research methods in terms of research method quality criteria

3.4. Concluding remarks of the chapter

MBA Dissertation Report Chapter 2: Literature Review (for academic-oriented project type)

 MBA Dissertation Report Chapter 2: Literature Review (for academic-oriented project type)

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

2.2. A brief description of the theoretical framework with research gap indication for portraying (i) the literature review scope, (ii) literature search strategy, and (iii) literature review approach

*** insert the theoretical framework-A here.

2.3. An account of the literature review findings with reference to the theoretical framework-A.

*** insert the academic literature review tree here.

2.4. Concluding remarks for Chapter 2

MBA Dissertation Report Chapter 1: Introduction (for academic-oriented project type)

 MBA Dissertation Report Chapter 1: Introduction (for academic-oriented project type)

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1. A brief introduction of the topic theme, project background, the researcher's positionality and the triggering point of intellectual curiosity.

*** insert the research gap-translation diagram here.

1.2. A description of the research gaps and the corresponding research objectives of the dissertation project, with specific reference to specific real-world business and managerial phenomena in mind.

*** insert the research gap-objective table here.

*** describe the overall research objective profile.

1.3 An overview of the dissertation report structure

On the theory measurement unit in the theory-based research gap-translation process

The first diagram produced in the academic-oriented dissertation project (of the agile literature review approach) is the research gap-translation diagram. There are three component in the diagram, for the MBA students' project work:

Component A. The real-world business domain

Component B: The theory-based research gap translation process

Component C: The academic literature domain.

The research gap translation diagram template is as follows:

This note focuses on component B; specifically it is on the theory measurement unit of the process (Component B). To illustrate the concept of the theory measurement unit, I would like to make use of the academic literature of Organizational Behavior. The examples of five theory measurement unit types as follows:

Theory measurement unit type	Examples in Organizational Behavior
Type 1: One single theory	Maslow’s theory of motivation
Type 2: One single approach (comprising a number of theories of the same approach)	The contingency approach of leadership (with more than 1 contingency theory of leadership)
Type 3: Two or more theories which are incompatible	Maslow’ theory of motivation (hierarchical) vs Alderfer’s ERG model of motivation (non-hierarchical)
Type 4: Two or more approaches which are incompatible	The scientific approach of management vs the contingency approach of management
Type 5: The overall academic theme in Organizational Behavior study	The organizational behavior’s academic theme of employee engagement has a number of academic issues related to conceptual clarity, conceptual obsolescence, theory adaptation and empirical finding adequacy with regard to the context of Hong Kong in 2023.

Note 1: the theory measurement unit decided on this case will also be reflected in the research gap statements of the dissertation project study, thus also explicitly indicated in Component C study (re: the research gap-translation diagram).

Note 2: for the MBA dissertation project students doing literature review on these theories, I suggest that your literature review should examines at least 9 direct academic references (academic textbooks, academic articles, academic conference papers, university white papers and dissertation reports) on these theories. Together with the indirect references on these targeted theories, the number of academic references at least reach 19. The full reference list of the dissertation report should at least reach 45 (which could also include professional journal articles, academic references on topics such as research methods, newspaper articles, policy and empirical reports of various kinds in the public domain, etc.).

Note 3: When deciding on the theory measurement unit to use for a student's dissertation project, the student should discuss with his/her dissertation project supervisor to assess whether such measurement unit selection indicates an adequate level of intellectual complexity for the Degree project requirement (notably at the Master Degree level, for the MBA programme).

Related readings: 

Reading 1: illustrative examples on the four deliverables of academic-oriented dissertation report (ALRA).

Reading 2: on research gap analysis.

On the task of extracting practical value from the researching findings of an academic-oriented dissertation project

Academic-oriented dissertation project is primarily focused on responding to specific research gaps, which in turn derive the project's research objectives. Moreover, the recommended practice is to identify 2 main research objectives so derived to constitute the core-focused domain of the project. And they, together with 1 to 2 minor research objectives (also derived from research gap statements), should be mapped onto a theoretical framework to express a coherent dissertation project theme. Nevertheless, it is still important to extract some practical and actionable knowledge from the research gap-oriented research findings. As such, there needs to be a research objective (a major one or minor one) that explicitly endeavor to do so. My suggestion is a follows:

Formulate a research objective such as: to explore the practical and actionable knowledge from the researching findings as related to research objectives 1 to 3 [the research gap derived ones] via the employment of the research method of [e.g. semi-structured interview research, focus group, etc.]

In short, including a practical oriented research objective is to acknowledge that, even for an academic-oriented dissertation project [that is interested in producing research findings with academic value], it remains valuable to also extract some practical value from the research gap-oriented dissertation project endeavor. In the case of MBA dissertation projects, that means to explore how the project research findings can be relevant for improving the real-world business practices in a particular contemporary situation.

Related reading: the four academic-oriented dissertation project.

Illustrative examples on the four ALRA deliverables for an academic-oriented dissertation project

Drawing on my study note on the research gap-translation exercise to firm up on a research gap idea, I present an example on each of the four agile literature review approach (ALR) deliverables for an academic-oriented dissertation project as follows:

Deliverable 1: a research gap-translation diagram:

For component C, the gross research gap position statement could be expressed in a clearer style as follows: the existing academic theories on the topic of innovation barriers, notably on AI adoption, do not offer a sufficiently usable set of conceptual tool to examine the observed AI adoption barriers in the HK BBB sector [as indicated in component A]. Such gross research gap position statement subsequently supports the formation of a number of research gap items as stated in the research gap-objective table (Deliverable 2).

Deliverable 2: a research gap-objective table:

Research gaps	Corresponding research objectives
Research gap item 1 (main): an inadequate empirical study of the internal innovation barrier of "owner/ manager characteristics" with regard to the HK BBB sector on AI applications.	Research objective 1 (main): to conduct empirical research in HK to gain more understanding on the internal innovation barrier of "owner/ manager characteristics" with regard to the HK BBB sector on AI applications.
Research gap item 2 (main): a lack of conceptual agreement in the academic literature on the internal innovation barrier of "firm characteristics", especially with regard to the HK BBB sector on AI applications.	Research objective 2 (main): to conduct empirical research in HK to gain more understanding (including conceptual agreement) on the internal innovation barrier of "firm characteristics", especially with regard to the HK BBB sector on AI applications.
Research gap item 3 (minor): Unclear academic methodologies for investigating the internal innovation barrier of "innovation project] cost/ ROI [evaluation]" especially with regard to the HK BBB sector on AI applications.	Research objective 3 (minor): to conduct empirical research in HK to inform the development of a methodology for investigating the internal innovation barrier of "[innovation project] cost/ ROI [evaluation]" especially with regard to the HK BBB   sector on AI applications.

Note: the core-focus-domain comprises the two main research objectives of 1 and 2.

Deliverable 3a: theoretical framework-A

Note: the illustrative example of theoretical framework makes use of the diagram obtained via Google search (re: the source). In actual practice, a customized theoretical framework should be the output of the idea synthesis effort from the research project student.

Deliverable 3b: the academic literature review tree

Deliverable 4: theoretical framework-B

A related reading: on the theory measurement unit of the theory-based research gap-translation process.