Four methods for completing the conceptual development phase of applied theory building research in HRD

✍ Scribed by Julia Storberg-Walker; Thomas J. Chermack

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 171 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1044-8004
• DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.1217

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe four methods for completing the conceptual development phase of theory building research for single or multiparadigm research. The four methods selected for this review are (1) Weick's method of “theorizing as disciplined imagination” (1989); (2) Whetten's method of “modeling as theorizing” (2002); (3) Chermack's method of “scenario planning as theorizing” (2006); and (4) Storberg‐ Walker's method of “five components of conceptual development” (2007b). Each method is described in detail with a goal of providing readers with four alternative ways of approaching and completing the conceptual development phase. We present the methods from more to less abstract, beginning with a method illuminating the imaginative aspects of conceptual development and ending with a method that illuminates specific and interdependent cognitive tasks involved with conceptual development. These four methods cover a broad spectrum of ideas on how to best complete this most challenging component of theory building.