Inductive, Abductive and Deductive Theorizing

Autor: Chitu Okoli
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: SSRN Electronic Journal.
ISSN: 1556-5068
DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3774317
Popis: Considering the very broad range of approaches to theorizing, it is challenging to try to encompass them all at once. Indeed, most theory-building guides focus on theorizing within established paradigms, such as positivism or interpretivism. To provide a comprehensive perspective, we develop a unified framework that spans multiple research epistemologies by discussing theory-building from the perspective of inductive, abductive, and deductive theorizing. Based on this framework, we present a simple way of thinking of theoretical contribution as development towards increasing maturity of theory. This theorizing framework is sufficiently general to apply to any social science study that aims to build theory, whether empirical or conceptual. Moreover, the principles of theory building are sufficiently general that they are readily applicable to a wide range of social sciences.
Databáze: OpenAIRE