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Theories, Constructs, Propositions

Scientific theories are explanations for natural or social phenomena that present logical and coherent relationships between abstract concepts. There are four key building blocks to a scientific theory: constructs, propositions, logic, and assumptions. Constructs are the abstract concepts, propositions are the hypothesized relationships between constructs, logic provides justification and meaning for the propositions, and assumptions establish the boundaries of when and where the theory applies. Theories are formulated at a theoretical level with constructs and propositions, and then empirically tested through measurable variables and hypotheses.

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24 views3 pages

Theories, Constructs, Propositions

Scientific theories are explanations for natural or social phenomena that present logical and coherent relationships between abstract concepts. There are four key building blocks to a scientific theory: constructs, propositions, logic, and assumptions. Constructs are the abstract concepts, propositions are the hypothesized relationships between constructs, logic provides justification and meaning for the propositions, and assumptions establish the boundaries of when and where the theory applies. Theories are formulated at a theoretical level with constructs and propositions, and then empirically tested through measurable variables and hypotheses.

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Aashutosh Mule
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Reference: Theories in Scientific Research

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-research-methods/chapter/chapter-4-
theories-in-scientific-research/

Science is knowledge represented as a collection of “theories” derived using the scientific


method.

Theories

Theories are explanations of a natural or social behaviour, event, or phenomenon. More


formally, a scientific theory is a system of constructs (concepts) and propositions (relationships
between those constructs) that collectively presents a logical, systematic, and coherent
explanation of a phenomenon of interest within some assumptions and boundary conditions
(Bacharach 1989). Theories should explain why things happen, rather than just describe or
predict.

Building Blocks of a Theory

David Whetten (1989) suggests that there are four building blocks of a theory: constructs,
propositions, logic, and boundary conditions/assumptions. Constructs capture the “what”
of theories (i.e., what concepts are important for explaining a phenomenon), propositions
capture the “how” (i.e., how are these concepts related to each other), logic represents the
“why” (i.e., why are these concepts related), and boundary conditions/assumptions examines
the “who, when, and where” (i.e., under what circumstances will these concepts and
relationships work). Though constructs and propositions were previously discussed in Chapter
2, we describe them again here for the sake of completeness.

Constructs

Constructs are abstract concepts specified at a high level of abstraction that are chosen
specifically to explain the phenomenon of interest.

Constructs may be unidimensional (i.e., embody a single concept), such as weight or age, or
multi-dimensional (i.e., embody multiple underlying concepts), such as personality or culture.
While some constructs, such as age, education, and firm size, are easy to understand, others,
such as creativity, prejudice, and organizational agility, may be more complex and abstruse,
and still others such as trust, attitude, and learning, may represent temporal tendencies rather
than steady states. Nevertheless, all constructs must have clear and unambiguous operational
definition that should specify exactly how the construct will be measured and at what level of
analysis (individual, group, organizational, etc.). Measurable representations of abstract
constructs are called variables. For instance, intelligence quotient (IQ score) is a variable that
is purported to measure an abstract construct called intelligence. As noted earlier, scientific
research proceeds along two planes: a theoretical plane and an empirical plane. Constructs are
conceptualized at the theoretical plane, while variables are operationalized and measured at the
empirical (observational) plane. Furthermore, variables may be independent, dependent,
mediating, or moderating.

Distinction between theoretical and empirical concepts

Propositions

Propositions are associations postulated between constructs based on deductive logic.


Propositions are stated in declarative form and should ideally indicate a cause-effect
relationship (e.g., if X occurs, then Y will follow). Note that propositions may be conjectural
but MUST be testable, and should be rejected if they are not supported by empirical
observations. However, like constructs, propositions are stated at the theoretical level, and they
can only be tested by examining the corresponding relationship between measurable variables
of those constructs. The empirical formulation of propositions, stated as relationships between
variables, is called hypotheses.

Logic

The third building block of a theory is the logic that provides the basis for justifying the
propositions as postulated. Logic acts like a “glue” that connects the theoretical constructs and
provides meaning and relevance to the relationships between these constructs. Logic also
represents the “explanation” that lies at the core of a theory. Without logic, propositions will
be ad hoc, arbitrary, and meaningless, and cannot be tied into a cohesive “system of
propositions” that is the heart of any theory.

Assumptions

Finally, all theories are constrained by assumptions about values, time, and space, and
boundary conditions that govern where the theory can be applied and where it cannot be
applied. For example, many economic theories assume that human beings are rational (or
boundedly rational) and employ utility maximization based on cost and benefit expectations as
a way of understand human behaviour. In contrast, political science theories assume that people
are more political than rational, and try to position themselves in their professional or personal
environment in a way that maximizes their power and control over others. Given the nature of
their underlying assumptions, economic and political theories are not directly comparable, and
researchers should not use economic theories if their objective is to understand the power
structure or its evolution in a organization. Likewise, theories may have implicit cultural
assumptions (e.g., whether they apply to individualistic or collective cultures), temporal
assumptions (e.g., whether they apply to early stages or later stages of human behaviour), and
spatial assumptions (e.g., whether they apply to certain localities but not to others). If a theory
is to be properly used or tested, all of its implicit assumptions that form the boundaries of that
theory must be properly understood.

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