Specifying the relation between known concepts

Note that such a theory-building study rather than further exploration followed by testing is only necessary and appropriate if no educated guess is possible about the most likely type of relation. In most situa- tions in which we know the independent and dependent variables, we will also have an idea about the most likely relation between them. For instance, often practitioners will implicitly or explicitly talk about some factors as “having an influence” implying a probabilistic relation, and about others as “critical”. If it is said that concept A is quite likely a “critical” success factor for a project, it is implicitly defined as a neces- sary condition. In other words, it is quite rare that we genuinely do not know what the best formulation would be for a proposition expressing a relation between two already known concepts.

8.1.2 Discovering a not yet known concept

If we need to design and conduct theory-building research, it is more likely that this concerns a situation as represented in Figures 8.2 and 8.3, in which we know either the independent or the dependent concepts but do not yet know the other. The research objective of a theory-building study that begins from such a situation, with one known and one unknown concept, can be fur- ther specified as follows: The objective of this study is to contribute to the development of theory regarding topic T {specify the object of study} by finding an independent Figure 8.1 Conceptual model with not yet known relation ??? Independent Dependent Concept A Concept B ??? Independent Dependent ??? Concept B Figure 8.2 Conceptual model with not yet known determinants concept A “cause” for a known concept B {define the concept} or finding a dependent concept B “effect” for a known concept A {define the concept} and, next, by specifying the relation between concepts A and B. We think that most theory-building research takes this form, in which a cause must be found in order to explain a desired or undesired effect or an effect must be found for a given cause.

8.1.3 Discovering concepts and their relation

A theory-building study might also start from the probably quite rare situation in which there is no known concept see Figure 8.4. The research objective of such a theory-building study can be fur- ther specified as follows: The objective of this study is to contribute to the development of theory regarding topic T {specify the object of study} by discovering and explaining a phenomenon of interest {specify the phenomenon}. On first sight, this appears to be a nonsensical aim. How could one begin to conduct an empirical study with the aim of finding something concepts and a relation between them without having any idea of what one is searching for? But actually this is a quite common situation in academic research, which is stimulated by the implicit or explicit aim of “being original”, meaning that it is a good thing to discover and describe a phenomenon that no one has seen before. This is one of the implicit aims of Grounded Theory see 9.1.4. ??? Independent Dependent Concept A ??? Figure 8.3 Conceptual model with not yet known effects ??? Independent Dependent ??? ??? Figure 8.4 Conceptual model that is entirely empty