Theory - Social Science Research Methods - POLS/SOAN 215 - Andrews - Marshall Brooks Library at Principia College

Is the theory stated explicitly?
- Look for words that indicate a theory is being used: common terms are paradigm, theory, perspective, hypothesis, or framework
- Check the introduction, literature review, and/or abstract
- Models are not theories; however, they are influenced by a theoretical framework
- Theories are used to explain things, while models are used to discover things.
What works are cited in the literature review or listed in the references?
(This may provide clues to what theory/perspectives are being used.)
- example: Citing Jean Piaget (in psychology or education) provides a Constructivist framework.
What are the key arguments/questions?
- Check in the abstract and/or introduction
- Sometimes arguments are based on a theoretical framework
Are similar questions posited by your sources?
- Similar questions show a gap or need for explaining a “phenomenon”
How are the articles defining the key terms you note? Are the various researchers in agreement with what these terms mean? If different researchers define these terms in different ways, it may have implications for how to address these concepts in the "field."
- example: How is culture defined?
- Definitions can lead you to a discipline or theoretical perspective used to explain a concept.

Example articles:

Basavaraj, Kiran Arabaghatta, Pahi Saikia, Anil Varughese, Holli A. Semetko, and Anup Kumar. 2021. “The COVID-19—Social Identity—Digital Media Nexus in India: Polarization and Blame.” Political Psychology 42 (5): 827–44. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45395963.

Chaudhry, Irfan, and Anatoliy Gruzd. 2020. “Expressing and Challenging Racist Discourse on Facebook: How Social Media Weaken the ‘Spiral of Silence’ Theory.” Policy & Internet 12 (1): 88–108. https://doi.org/10.1002/poi3.197.

Gallacher, John D., Marc W. Heerdink, and Miles Hewstone. 2021. “Online Engagement Between Opposing Political Protest Groups via Social Media Is Linked to Physical Violence of Offline Encounters.” Social Media + Society 7 (1): 2056305120984445. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120984445.

Griffiths, Paul, Carlos J. Costa, and Nuno Fernandes Crespo. 2024. “Behind the Bubble: Exploring the Motivations of NFT Buyers.” Computers in Human Behavior 158 (September):108307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108307.

Schmid, Ursula Kristin, Anna Sophie Kümpel, and Diana Rieger. 2024. “Social Media Users’ Motives for (Not) Engaging With Hate Speech: An Explorative Investigation.” Social Media + Society 10 (4): 20563051241306322. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051241306322.

Search for your topic in a database, but add "theory" in the abstract field. Since theories are typically mentioned in the abstract, this will help pinpoint potentially relevant theories.

*You may need to experiment with search terms. For example, if your research proposal is exploring the impact of drought on women farmers in Bangladesh, you could try any of these broader topics:

impact of climate change on women
Impact of climate change on farmers
impact of climate change on bangladesh
farming in South Asia
impact of drought in the global south

Haven't found a relevant theory to use? Try critical theory to learn this technique.

1.) Use an subject-specific encyclopedia (or wikipedia) to read an overview of a theory you'd like to explore.

2.) Identify the important theorist(s) related to/responsible for that theory.

3.) Search for the theorist's name, along with your topic, in Library Search.

1.) First, find an article that is a great fit for your topic AND mentions theory.

2.) Next, look through the reference list (bibliography) at the end of the paper for more sources relating to the theory. This is very simple when using Library Search: just look for the red arrows at the top corner of each result:

The "up" arrow takes you to research that cites this article, and the "down" arrows take you to research cited in this article.

3.) If your "perfect fit" article isn't in library search, you can find the sources listed in the bibliography by copying and pasting the title of each item from the bibliography into Library Search.