Integrating Theory.

There have been lot of questions about the
integration of theory within your projects.
There are many ways that you can approach
this, and in many ways it’ s a decision that
is based upon the type of project you wish to
make. The theoretical component shouldn’t
be tacked on at the end to explain your work,
more so it is something that should help define
the type of questions you want to answer and
even the kind of communities you wish to
document.

Theory is almost impossible to escape, so better
that you work with it and integrate it into your
research. You don’t need to frame every interview
question with Toennies says….so what do you
think? But you can use theory to set a direction
for your investigation. Eg; set out to explore or
challenge Toennies’ theories of Germeinschaft
and Gesellschaft. Think of theory as the backbone
which supports your argument, or the framework
on which you can devise your questions and
overall approach to making your doco. Theory
can just sit quietly in the background, but it offers
another level of complexity for the reader.

Jenny offers some great insight into the integration
of theory on her blog. So why not check out her post
how to add theory.