Barriers to the Theory Building in Iran (Case Study: Tarbiat Modares University)

Document Type : مقالات پژوهشی

Authors

• Mohammad Hassanzadeh ¹
• Behruz Rasooli ²
• Elmira Karimi ²

¹ Tarbiat Modares University

² Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology (IranDoc)

10.22067/riis.v0i0.71623

Abstract

Introduction: Theorizing is one of the key scientific foundations and most scientists and countries are at the same levels of science that are highly advanced. That is why the upstream documents related to science, technology and innovation in Iran have also paid particular attention to this issue. However, it seems that this phenomenon has not yet made significant progress in Iran. The purpose of this study is to explore the main obstacles to the growth of theoretical capacity in the country.
Methodology: The worldview of this research is defined in the philosophy of interpretiveism with a mixture of the pragmatism. A methodology for answering selected research questions is ethnography with a mixture of the grounded theory. Interviewed with 12 experts from Tarbiat Modares University, interviews data were coded and analyzed in Maxqda.
Findings: There are many obstacles that can prevent leading to theorizing. In a general view, these barriers can be categorized into two broad categories of general non-organizational barriers and organizational barriers. Since the focus of this study is on organizational barriers, these barriers can be organized into seven general categories, including the lack of institutional linkages, organizational resource constraints, incorrect evaluation systems, poor academic communications, inadequate university education,
students' poor academic quality and the inertia of scholars. .
Conclusion: Theorizing is one of the key scientific phenomena that must be pursued with seriousness in the scientific field of Iran and the first step towards realizing this phenomenon is identifying obstacles that slow it down. The present study is conducted with a qualitative approach, which provides a deep overview of the theoretical barriers and introduces a new categorization that makes decision making and policy making possible in this field.

Keywords

• Theory building
• Theory
• Tarbiat Modares University
• barriers
• Higher Education

---

References

پورعزت، علی‌اصغر، رضایی،‌ پریسا و یزدانی، حمیدرضا. (1388). بررسی موانع نظریه‌پردازی در قلمرو علوم اجتماعی. نشریه مدیریت بازرگانی، 1(2). 47-62. بازیابی شده در تاریخ 20 بهمن 96 از http://ensani.ir/file/download/article

جواهردهی، علی (1391). موانع نظریه‌پردازی. روزنامۀ کیهان. بازیابی شده در تاریخ 30 بهمن 1396 از http://pajoohe.ir/C__a-46556.aspx

دانایی‌فرد، حسن (1387) روش‌شناسی نظریه‌پردازی در مطالعات سازمان و مدیریت: پژوهشی تطبیقی. فصلنامه مدرس علوم انسانی- پژوهش‌های مدیریت در ایران، 13(4). 165- 191. بازیابی شده در تاریخ 10 اسفند 96 از https://www.sid.ir/fa/Journal/ViewPaper.aspx?ID=115481

دانایی‌فرد، حسن (1388). روش‌شناسی عمومی نظریه‌پردازی. روش‌شناسی علوم انسانی، 15(58). 7-32. بازیابی شده در تاریخ 12 اسفند 96 از https://www.sid.ir/fa/journal/ViewPaper.aspx?id=100993

رشاد، علی‌اکبر (بی‌تا). موانع روانی ـ فرهنگی تولید علم و نظریه‌پردازی. بازیابی شده در تاریخ 30 بهمن 1396 از http://rashad.ir/2017/09/13//

رضایی اصفهانی، محمدعلی (1390) نظریه‌پردازی‌های علمی قران، پژوهش‌نامه قرآن و حدیث. (9).57-86. بازیابی شده در تاریخ 30 بهمن 96 از https://www.sid.ir/fa/journal/ViewPaper.aspx?ID=155511

رفیع‌پور، فرامرز (1393). کندوکاوها و پنداشته‌ها: مقدمه‌ای بر روش‌های شناخت جامعه و تحقیقات اجتماعی. تهران: شرکت سهامی انتشار.

رفیع‌پور، فرامرز (1395). موانع رشد علمی ایران و راه حل های آن: با اضافات (کرسی های نظریه‌پردازی) (کاربرد و محدودیت). تهران: شرکت سهامی انتشار.

شوقی‌نیا، احمد و جلالی، خداداد (1383). نظریه‌پردازی در اقتصاد اسلامی. فصلنامه اقتصاد اسلامی، 16، 131-146.

قیومی بیدهندی، مهرداد (1384). ساختار نظریه و الفبای نظریه‌پردازی. صفه، 15(4)، 122-139. بازیابی شده در تاریخ 10 فروردین 96 از http://sofeh.sbu.ac.ir/article/view/1665

میرزایی رافع، مهری (1390). بررسی موانع نظریه‌پردازی در حوزه علوم انسانی از دیدگاه اعضاء هیأت‌علمی رشته‌های مختلف علوم انسانی دانشگاه بوعلی سینا همدان. پایان‌نامۀ کارشناسی ارشد رشتۀ روانشناسی تربیتی، دانشگاه بوعلی سینا.

میرفردی، اصغر ( 1394). چالش‌ها و فرصت‌های تولید علم و نظریه‌پردازی در حوزه علمی جامعه‌شناسی در ایران. سیاست‌های راهبردی و کلان، 3(9)، 1-20. بازیابی شده در 15 بهمن 1396 از

http://ensani.ir/file/download/article/20160104090907-9886-55.pdf

Amaratunga, D. and Baldry, D. (2001). Work Study. 50 (3), 95-104.

Andrade, A. (2009). Interpretive Research Aiming at Theory Building: Adopting and Adapting the Case Study Design. The Qualitative Report. 42-60. Retrieved at 11 jaunary 2016 from https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol14/iss1/3

Babbie, E. R. (2010). The practice of social research. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Carlile, P. R. and Christensen, C. M. (2004). The Cycle of Theory Building in Management Research. Working Paper Summaries Retrieved Jan 5 2018. From http://www.innosight.com/documents/Theory%20Building.pdf.

Cipriani, R, (2013). Empirical Data and Theory Construction: An Example of Application in Social Science Research. Ongoing Research. 118, 73–84. 10.1177/0759106313476188

Dooley, L. M. (2002). Case Study Research and Theory Building. Advances in Developing Human Resources. 4(3),335-353. 10.1177/1523422302043007

Dubin, R. (1978). Theory building (Rev. ed.). New York: Free Press.

Eisenhardt, K. M, (1989). Building Theories from case study research. Academy of management review. 14 (4), 532-550. 10.2307/258557

Eisenhardt, K. M and Graebner, M. E. (2007). Theory building from cases: opportunities and Challenges. Academy of Management Journal. 50 (1), 25-32. 10.5465/amj.2007.24160888

Encyclopedia Britannica (February 16, 2017). Scientific theory. Accessed February 16, 2017 from https://www.britannica.com/science/scientific-theory

Estabrooks, C A, Field, P. A and Morse, J. M. (1994). Aggregating qualitative findings: An approach to theory development Qualitative health research. 4(4), 503-511. 10.1177/104973239400400410

George, A. L. and Bennett, A (2004). Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. MIT Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England.

Glaser, B. G. (2002). Conceptualization: On Theory and Theorizing Using Grounded Theory. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. 1(2), Article 3. 23-38. Retrieved 15/1/2018 from http://www.ualberta.ca/~ijqm/.

Hansen, C. D. (1998). HRD theory building through qualitative research. In R. J. Torraco (Ed.), Proceedings of the Academy of Human Resource Development Annual Conference (pp. 281–284). Baton Rouge, LA: Academy of Human Resource Development.

Holt, G. D., Goulding, J. S Akintoye, A , (2016),"Enablers, challenges and relationships between research impact and theory generation", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management , 23 (1). 20-39 10.1108/ECAM-12-2014-0161

Hughes, M, A, Price R. L and Marrs, D W. (1986). Linking Theory Construction and Theory Testing: Models with Multiple Indicators of Latent Variables Academy of management review. 11(1), 128-144. 10.5465/amr.1986.4282643

Jaccard, J., and Jacoby, J. (2010). Theory construction and model-building skills: A practical guide for social scientists. Guilford Press.

Kroto, H(2017). There are Two Types of Theory – Scientific Theories and Unscientific Theories. Accessed February 16, 2017 from http://thesciencenetwork.org/docs/BB3/Kroto_Theories.pdf

Lewis, M. W. (1998). Iterative triangulation: a theory development process using existing case studies. Journal of Operations Management. 16, 455–469. 10.1016/S0272-6963(98)00024-2

Llewelyn, S. (2003). Methodological Issues: what counts as 'theory' in qualitative management and accounting research? Introducing five levels of theorizing. Accounting, Auditing and accountability journal. 16(4), 662-708.

Lynham, S. A. (2000). Theory building in the human resource development profession. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 11(2), 159. 10.1002/1532-1096(200022)1

Lynham, S. A. (2002). The general method of theory-building research in applied disciplines. Advances in developing human resources, 4(3), 221-241. 10.1177/1523422302043002

MAUTNER, T., (ed), 2000. The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy, Penguin Books; London

Marsick, V. J. (1990). Altering the paradigm for theory building and research in human resource development. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 1 (1), 5–24. 10.1002/hrdq.3920010103

Meredith, J. (1993). Theory building through conceptual methods. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 13(5), 3-11. 10.1108/01443579310028120

Michailova, S, Piekkari, R and Plakoyiannaki, E and Ritvala, T. (2014). Breaking the silence about exiting fieldwork: a relational approach and its implications for theorizing. Academy of Management. Review. 39(2), 138-161. 10.5465/amr.2011.0403

Miles, M. B, A. Huberman, M and Saldaña, J (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook. 3 Ed: SAGE Publications, Incorporated.

Mott, V. W. (1996). Knowledge comes from practice: Reflective theory building in practice. In R. Rowden (Ed.), Workplace learning: Debating five critical questions of theory and practice. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, no. 72 (pp. 57–63). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Popper, K (2005). The Logic of Scientific Discovery. New York: Taylor & Francis Group (First English edition published in 1959 by Hutchinson & Co.)

Saldana, J (2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Sage publications: London.

Shah, S. K. Corley, K. G. (2006). Building Better Theory by Bridging the Quantitative–Qualitative Divide. Journal of Management Studies 43: 1821- 1835. 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2006.00662.x

Stake, R. E. (1994). Case studies. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Stewart, J., Harte, V. and Sambrook, S. (2010). What is Theory? Journal of European Industrial Training. 35 (3), 221-229.

Thomas, G. (1997). What is the use of theory? Harvard Educational Review, 67 (1), 75–104. 10.17763/haer.67.1.1x807532771w5u48

Torraco, R. J. (1997). Theory-building research methods. In R. A. Swanson & E. F. Holton III (Eds.), Human resource development handbook: Linking research and practice (pp. 114–137). San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

Underwood, B. J. (1975). Individual differences as a crucible in theory construction. American Psychologist available online at citeseerx.ist.psu.edu

Van de Ven, A. H. (2007). Engaged scholarship: A guide for organizational and social research; London: Oxford Uuniversity Press, 2007.

Wacker, J. G. (1998). A definition of theory: research guidelines for different theory-building research methods in operations management. Journal of operations management, 16(4), 361-385. 10.1016/S0272-6963(98)00019-9