Can we use multiple theories to address our research question in a dissertation?
Thank you for any suggestions.
Shovana - the potential to use multiple theories is always a possibility - and especially with approaches such as mixed methods. You might get a more detailed response if you identify your intended specific topic, methodology and design.
Yes of course, you can add multiple theories based on the variables that you need to measure, for example: If you need to assess concepts regarding beliefs, and intention to screen among respondents, you will need two Theoretical Framework: The Health Belief Model (HBM) for beliefs concepts which include: Perceived susceptibility, Perceived severity, Perceived benefits, Perceived barriers and Health Motivation and for Intention to screen; you need Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Hope you answer your question, if you satisfied of my answer please give me thumb up.
You need a unified theoretical framework for the design of your study. This can include multiple theories, as long as they do not contradict each other.
For your discussion, you can certainly use multiple theories to explain the results, but if you use theories that go beyond your initial theoretical framework, you may need to address them in your literature review, as well, so that they do not "appear out of nowhere" in your discussion.
Thank you Dean Whitehead , Ahmad Saleh and Michael W. Marek for your insightful and clear answers to my question with examples. Much appreciated. I will follow your suggestions in my dissertation.
Thank you
Shovana
Of course you can but I don’t recommend this multiple-theory approach to a doctoral student. It takes a very mature researcher to combine multiple theories without getting bitten. A research framework based on a single theory will be just fine to most researchers as long as you can operationalize your variables into its major concepts.
In congruence with the above answers, I think that theories, fundamentally, are formulated to describe, forecast, and understand phenomena. The theoretical framework presents and indicates the theory that elucidates why the research problem under study exists. It is also the structure that can hold or support a theory of a research study. Hence, to assure good practice, keep in mind what are your variables, paradigm, and research questions?
Thank you Mohamed Hossni . I will keep your words in mind. Much appreciated.
Samy Azer Thank you for taking time to provide your valuable suggestion. Will apply accordingly.
sure. If you want to evaluate a model or meta-theory (trans-theoretical)you must apply multiple theories. Additionally, if you do mixed methods research, maybe you need more than one theory.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Medical Science Nursing
- Dissertations