Term Paper on "Childcare and Productivity"

Term Paper 60 pages (16758 words) Sources: 25

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Business

Using Gelso (2006), Harlow (2009), Stam, (2007, 2010), Wacker (1999), and five additional peer-reviewed articles from your specialization, discuss scholarly views on the nature and types of theory. Compare and contrast at least three views of what constitutes a theory, including the view you will use in Part 3 of this question. Be sure to distinguish theory from related concepts, such as hypothesis, paradigm, model and concept.

Using Ellis & Levy (2008), Harlow, E. (2009), and five additional peer-reviewed articles, review the scholarly literature on the relationship between theory and research and the ways research (quantitative and qualitative) can contribute to the theory. Discuss at least three ways research can contribute to theory.

Pick a theory (in one of the views of what constitutes a theory that you identified in Part 1) of current interest directly related to the topic area of dissertation. A theory is currently of interest if there are articles published on it in the past five years. Using at least 10 published, peer-reviewed research articles:

1. Explain how the theory adds or may add to our understanding of your field and/or research topic.

2. Discuss and analyse the literature on two areas of controversy or unanswered questions related to the theory.

Part 1

Theory is usually understood as a systematic demonstration of a real problem, expressed as far as possible in mathematical terms in the natural sciences or in the life and social sciences. The methodical nature of theory is usually intended at providing explanatory influence on a problem, describing new features of a phenomenon or providing prognostic utility. The empirical sufficiency required of a theory is a contentious feature of theories and frequently differs fundamentally across disciplines. As most research in the sciences and social sciences is theory driven, that is, is concerned with the modification or refutation of theoretical claims, the design of that research will have an immediate impact on the nature of theory construction and the presumed relationship among theory construction, observation, and the outcome of empirical research (Stam, 2010).

By definition, theory must have four basic elements: conceptual definitions, domain limitations, relationship-building, and predictions. Theory-building is significant because it provides a framework for analysis, facilitates the competent development of the field, and is needed for the applicability to practical real word troubles. To be good theory, a theory must follow the criteria for good theory that includes individuality, thriftiness, management, generalizability, fruitfulness, internal reliability, empirical riskiness, and abstraction which apply to all research methods. Theory-building research seeks to find comparisons across many different domains to augment its abstraction level and its significance. The procedure for good theory-building research follows the definition of theory as it defines the variables, specifies the domain, builds internally consistent relationships, and makes specific predictions (Wacker, 1998).

According to Weick, (1995), outcomes of the theorizing course rarely come out as complete a theory, which means that most of what passes for theory in organizational studies is made up of estimates. Even though these estimates differ in their generalization, very few of them take the appearance of strong theory, and most of them are really just texts instead of tough theories. These alternatives for theory may result from lethargic theorizing in which people try to splice theory on top of miserable sets of data. But they may also symbolize momentary efforts in which people deliberately move toward stronger theories. The consequences of lethargy and intense struggles may look the same and may consist of references, data, lists, diagrams, and hypotheses. But to label these things theory makes no sense if the difficulty is laziness and ineffectiveness.

There is a thoughtful and predictable connection between theory and research. The thinking is that science would be poor if either were to be relegated to the back seat. Both theory and research are fundamental and necessary elements of science as science without controlled, empirical research would be made up of only untried ideas and biases, and it would be hard even to think of the result as scientific (Gelso, 2006). At the same time, science without theory would consist of an array of disconnected observations rather than meaningful understandings of the psychological world summarize what is believed to be a useful way of thinking about theory. Its definition, its elements, and just what constitutes good scientific theory / examine how theory and research are used in science, how each draws on the other, and how they are reciprocally related to each other.

In contrast to quantitative research, which aims to generate numerical endings based on statistically significant data, a crucial involvement of case studies is the affirmation or development of theory. The term theory does not have a set, general meaning. When looking at the competing research paradigms, the word suggests various meanings. The term theory often suggests a determining law, or system of laws, as in the natural sciences, or a construct or set of constructs for ordering and understanding phenomena. Irrespective of the dissimilar principles informing the term, theory typically has a central role in case study research. In all but descriptive case studies, the basic purpose concerns theory. Case studies either test a particular theory, develop theory, or both. It has been disputed that developing theory unavoidably involves an aspect of testing and thus the two are connected. It is by means of this process that a theoretical input might be made (Harlow, 2009).

Stam, (2007), says that there are three influential outlooks of theory that have been common in the twentieth century include: (a) reducible to observables, (b) used as instruments to do things in the world, or (c) statements about things that really exist. Reductionism, instrumentalism, and realism, as the most prominent theories about theories in science and have considerable influence on philosophers' attempts to explain how it is that scientists generate theories that are true or useful or predictive of the world

Reductionism refers to the practice of dividing the whole into its parts, and then studying them independently. Reductionism is also the inclination to reduce the complex to the simple. Holism, on the other hand, refers to the study of the whole with no division. Universal thinking is consequently a holistic conception. In Western culture, people have been conditioned to think in a reductionistic and linear way. Nevertheless, when people come upon the idea of systems, their reductionistic blurring tends to be substituted by a holistic blurring, one that is only able to see the whole. Therefore, people tend to oscillate between one extreme and the other (Wood & Caldas, 2001).

In the reductionistic mode there is a prospective to decrease the drive for organizational transformation. At worst, it may submerge the organization in a blinded change process, in which the impact is often ignored. In the business field there are regularly negative effects in regards to the implementation of change, such as the loss of strategic functions, lack of flexibility of management and organization models. Indeed, those features are in the very core of the competitive position of organizations, and are crucial in any coherent organizational transformation move (Wood & Caldas, 2001).

According to Caldwell, (1980), instrumentalism is often seen as a strategy, the preferred or chosen means whereby the aims and objectives of an organization are achieved (Davies, 2008). Instrumentalists claim that theories are best viewed as nothing more than instruments. So viewed, theories are neither true nor false, but only more or less adequate, given a particular problem. Within the philosophy of science, instrumentalism is much more than a response to the problem of induction. It is, in reality, one side in the debate over the ontological status of the entities referred to by theories and theoretical terms. In that debate, instrumentalism is contrasted with realism. Realists claim that theories and theoretical terms should make real references, while instrumentalists deny that

Business process change often relies expansively on the workforce for successful integration within the workplace. Still, even though business process change is understood to initiate political, ethical and technical contingencies into the workplace, management often remains focused on the tangibles of technology and the technique of process to the exclusion of the intangibles of ethics or the politics of change (Chapter 7 Decomposition by instrumental instruction, n.d.).

Part 2

A researcher venture might best be viewed as an arrangement that integrates a number of distinct but related parts including the research problem that drives the study, the goals, and research questions, review of the literature, methodology, results and conclusions. The research problem serves as the starting point for the research and is a uniting thread that runs throughout all the elements of the research venture (Ellis & Levy, 2008).

Today's world increases the need for useful research. A lot of companies struggle with new and poorly understood troubles as they adjust to rapidly changing environments. They put into place essential and rapid change in their forms and in their relationships to their workers. New technological abilities have allowed new competitive environments that are demanding new organizational forms. As organizations… READ MORE

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