I want to know if it is possible for a researcher to design an instrument for his/her study from reading the Literature without having a particular theory for his/her study? What are the justifications for his/her actions?
You can use a conceptual framework, theory or a combination of both. I do not know how you can have a dissertation without either. That is the very essence of chapter 2. The instruments are going to be tailored to your research questions which will address your problem statement and purpose statement. This should add to the body of literature to include your chosen theory and/or conceptual framework. You will not necessarily design all of your questions from the conceptual framework or theory. You will certainly design them to your topic and your research questions.
You definitely need to know what you want to measure and why. This may not required a complete theory, but you should at least have a meaningful hypothesis about how what you want to measure is related to at least one other variable.
You definitely need a theory. The research framework which consists of constructs you developed with the theoretical support, from here you figure out how to measure every construct in the model. So, the theory is there already.
Thanks to you all, I gain more from your wealth of experiences and explanations. I really appreciate your feedbacks.
I think no. You have to have at least framework to use as a corner stone for your instrument.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Instrumentation Engineering
- Instruments