Research and Theory, or the almighty question of why

Analyzes of a research journal

I have chosen to work with the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology. It’s a peer reviewed journal, published on behalf of the Association for Information Science and Technology. It was originally a journal about documentation and library science, but as computer took over as the leading medium for information the focus shifted towards information technology and communications. In 2014 it had an impact factor of 2.23

Critical examination of a research paper

The Effect of Social Network Sites on Adolescents’ Social and Academic Development: Current Theories and Controversies

by June Ahn

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.21540/epdf

This paper examines how, why, and to what effect teens and young adults use social media. The author examines and analyzes previous studies on the subject, looks at the frameworks in which those studies has been produced, and also discusses the links between use of social networks and issues such as self esteem, well being, privacy, and educational achievement.

In my examination of this paper, I’m going to focus on the author's conclusions, and implications for future research. The reason for this is that the focus of the paper itself is not to present new data, but rather to gather the current theories and research being done and put it in a larger context. It is in a way a meta study, but perhaps not in the strictest sense.

The conclusions being drawn are, in short: There are a lot of issues worrying parents and educators regarding children's use of social networks. However, while there is a lot of discussion going on there are very little empirical research being done. Most of the data being gathered is qualitative, and Ahn stresses the need for other types of data gathering. She also calls for studies to be more conscious and aware of the medium itself, and to be done with the structures of social networking in regard.

Since the focus of the paper is not the collection of data, but rather the compilation of a number of other studies, I would assume that the conclusion is a logical extension of the information gathered. Also, since the study is meant to assist future researchers to find areas of study for future research, I find that the conclusions drawn are appropriate and helpful for the target audience. This also applies to the significance of the research, in that it clearly points to the limitations of the previous research being done in the field.

I actually find this paper to be a very complete and well rounded meta-study, and have no opinions on what might have been done differently.

What is theory?

1. Briefly explain to a first year university student what theory is, and what theory is not.
2. Describe the major theory or theories that are used in your selected paper. Which theory type (see Table 2 in Gregor) can the theory or theories be characterized as?
3. Which are the benefits and limitations of using the selected theory or theories?

Theory is answering the question of why. When doing research it is easy to get lost amongst your data, and to believe that hypothesis and diagrams are theory. However, just listing your findings would be an example of bad theory, as it does not attempt to explain the things being observed. Theory would then be to, as I stated in the first sentence, try and explain why. Why is what you’re seeing happening, and why is that interesting?

If I’m to look at the paper I chose and analyze the type of theory it uses, I would say it is a combination of type 1, analysis, and type 2, explanation. The author mostly look at and presents the information as is. She does however make some attempt to take what she finds further and to try and explain a little both on what she believes the previous work has been lacking, and a little speculation on what she believes could be construed from the information.

I would say the the benefits of using that kind of theory is that it is quite difficult to go majorly wrong. Analysis requires no leaps of logic or assumptions to be made. When you venture further down the subtypes of theory you risk making incorrect assumptions, as they require you to answer the terrifying question of why it is happening. So while Ahn does attempt to talk a little about why and how the phenomenons she views are occurring, she doesn’t really risk being to wrong about the subject.