Q: 1 What type of qualitative research design best suits the need for "extending a theory" which saw developments in say last five years?
Q: 2 Can an Exploratory Case Study strategy be used for theory extension? Where the phenomenon being studied isn't that novice/contemporary? Where you have to interview participants but also study policy documents of last five years. (As two sources of data collection)
Keeping in in view what Yin, Stake & Marriam say about case study strategy.
In my view, the best way to extend a theory would be go with an empirical study design, rather than exploratory design, if the literature generated in those 5 years is substantial. However, if the literature isn't sufficient, you can go with an exploratory design.
Thank you for your input Priyakrushna Mohanty . I agree with you in case of major developments but I won't term the developments as substantial or significant. Lets see what others opine on RG.
PS: I was reading to find answers and would share that Silverman & Marvasti (2008) says, "Arguably, any research endeavor is theoretical. i.e. certain assumptions about social world are always present and influence our observation".
In an example it cites Michael Arter's report:
"The theoretical schema [.....] with a substantial portion of literature review. .... I felt [...] to apply theory directly to my study. I also allowed the data to become grounded as the collection and analytical processes evolved". p. 51.
So there is some evidence available. Please share your thoughts. Thanks.
Theory elaboration might be what you are looking for. Check
"Using Theory Elaboration to Make Theoretical Advancements" by Greg Fisher, Herman Aguinis, Organizational Research Methods Vol 20, Issue 3, 2017 and
"Renaissance of case research as a scientific method" by Mikko Ketokivi and Thomas Choi, Journal of Operations Management, Volume 32, Issue 5, July 2014
I suggest you consider Phenomenology as a design. The work should be driven by the theory and you need to have a broader understanding of the theory. I suggest you look extensively at the various tenets of the theory and the relationship between/among them. In your data analysis, you should consider both inductive and deductive thematic coding and analysis. Let the theoretical framework guide the analysis. In this case, the data will provide evidence on what the theory is lacking. You then extend the theory to capture what the theory lacks at it current state based on the evidence.
There could be several possible ways to extend the theory. First, you can use a quantitative design to test or evaluate the assumptions of the existing theory. Second, you can complete a thematic synthesis or comprehensive and critical literature review of the existing studies that have used or tested the theory, and then add additional aspects in your theory. Finally, if the previous studies pertaining to the theory are inadequate to meet your purpose, you can use an exploratory design. You can review the following paper by Grant et al., 2009 to see if you decide to use a literature review for theory extension.
Article A typology of reviews: An analysis of 14 review types and as...
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