I would say that theme 3 was interesting to
work with and although I might have made an air ball in the pre-theme-blog post
about what theory is and what it is not I feel that the lecture was indeed a life saver for my understanding but that the seminar
didn’t brought that much more to the table.
In the lecture we were presented with the
assumption that theory in every day life is interpreted as hypothesis, which is
obviously wrong. Dahlberg presented tree major arguments for what a theory is,
namely that a theory is:
1.
a theory is an explanatory framework
for an observation.
2.
Theory involves stepping back,
or abstracting, from
that which one is viewing.
that which one is viewing.
3.
Theory can be contrasted with
praxis or practice.
But most importantly, theory is something
we construct. It doesn’t exist by itself. When we also look at the scientific
theory it is mainly concerned with event and cause and why, how and what. You
could also argue that research is the tool you need to confirm a theory or to
actually develop a new theory. We also had a seminar that I didn’t care for
that much. I really felt that the lecture for this theme answered my unanswered
question.
Cool to see someone that found the lecture needed! I personally thought more otherwise. The lecturer kind of drags it down though in my opinion so the seminar is more to the point. Nice to see the contrast between your post- and prior posts thought, and that you've centered your text to focus on explaining the concepts of this week since the seminar was not in your interest. I sitll think it would've been nice to hear about what you discussed during the seminar!
SvaraRaderaKeep it up!
Nice that the lecture was helpful, I myself found the first half to be interesting but the second half was a bit confusing - had to go back and re-read the slides afterwards. You have done a good job in summarizing the concept of theory, I do enjoy the list!
SvaraRaderaIt is interesting that we had different experiences of the theme, since I didn't like the lecture, but thought that the seminar contained more concrete attempts at explanations. I think you made a great summary of what theory is. Especially the part about abstracting, which I hadn't really thought about in my own summary.
SvaraRaderaHello !
RaderaIt was the same for me - the seminar was also more helpful to me in regards to my understanding of what theory is, and what it is not.
I like the fact that you've mentioned theory doesn't exist by itself : this shows very clearly that we are the ones responsible for creating it, and it underlines again what theory is not - practice. It also draws attention to the fact that hypothesis and theory are different of course.
Thanks for your interesting post !
Your essay is short but pretty clear. It's a good way to list these important points on theory,which made your
SvaraRaderareflection easy to be understood. I agree with you that the lecture is insightful and I also think the seminar is
meaningful,in which time I had a better comprehension on the relationship between reaearch and theoty. Your essay is
interesting and I like the sentences"theory is something we construct".
Keep it up.