The role of theory in research and practice

Book excerpt: Essay from the year 2018 in the subject Speech Science / Linguistics, grade: 60, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, course: BA honors, language: English, abstract: Theory is usually used to explain certain conditions and events in society. It’s can be viewed as a collaboration between agreeing thought that has been developed over time. In social research the role of a theory differs depending on the type of methodologies and methods used to conduct the research. This paper aims to look at the relevance of theory and context of theory to a study by referring to grand theory and meta – theory. The aim is to do this firstly by looking at what a theory is and the nature of theory development. It will discuss how a single thought can be developed into a theory and how theories develop and become adaptable to the changing world. It will also look at the different levels of theories with a special focus on meta theory and grand theories. Relevant theories of social sciences but mainly political sciences will be used where applicable to highlight the different levels of theories. This paper also aims to explain the uses of theory when conducting social research and why we use theory to conduct research. In this section the focus will be place on the position and role of theory in Qualitative and Quantitative studies. The section that follows will examine how theory is analysed in social sciences, it will discuss the steps of theory analysis. This paper will also look at the relationship between theory, research and practice, here emphasis will be placed on the role and relevance of theory in improving practice through research.