Theme 2

Briefly explain to a first year student what theory is, and what theory is not.   
Well dear first year student, what theory is isn't the simplest question to answer, but it's basically what you base you research on when writing a paper or thesis. To quote a man well-versed in this subject: “ theories are abstract entities that aim to describe, explain, and enhance understanding of the world and, in some cases, to provide predictions of what will happen in the future and to give a basis for intervention and action.” (Gregor, 2006). A good example of such theories are the law of gravity, or E = mc^2. 

Can theory be anything then, you might ask? No, that is not the case, although there's constant discussion on what exactly can be classified as theory, there is some more consensus regarding what isn't. Some (Sutton & Staw, 1995) have tried (rather successfully) to organize the five most common things that tends to be wrongly regarded as theory. These can be summed up as follows: 

• Referenses are not theory
  Despite your best intentions, pointing to others using the same theories as yourself doesn't automatically make your paper a prime example of strong theory. You still need to motivate and explain why you are using these specific theories in your paper, and what you are going to use them for. If you skip that part, your paper will almost certainly fell a bit unmotivated and illogical.
• Data is not theory
  This is important. Just because you have performed many tests, or have found interesting literature and facts, it does't mean you have your theory covered. You still need to explain why you are gathering this data, and what you want to use it for. 
• Lists of variables or constructs are not theory
  Basically the same thing as the data, you need a logical connection, why do you collect the data? 
• Diagrams are not theory
  Yes, they might be flashy and all, but they still don't as theory, it's mainly visualized data. 
• Hypotheses (or predictions) are not theory
  Hypotheses in themselves should not include logical arguments about for instance, empirical relationships. They are not statements about why something is expected to occur, only what is.

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?

I've chosen the paper "Fitt's law as a research and design tool in human computer interaction" (S. MacKenzie, 1992). I found this a very good example of a paper that really explains, motivates and uses it's theory, and a strong theory at that. The major theory is of course Fitt's Law, which is basically a model of human movement that predicts that the time required to rapidly move to a target area is a function of the distance to the target and the size of the target. I believe it has to be characterized as a number IV theory (Explanation and prediction), because it both can be used to predict certain movements, and also provides a very testable setting. 

Which are the benefits and limitations of using the selected theory or theories?

There are many benefits. For one, Fitt's Law is a very successful and studied model. It provides a strong theoretical basis for many tests, and there is lot's of data, papers, information and adjoining theories. It's also quite easy for the reader to follow along in the argumentation and the references in the article, as they are mainly centred around Fitt's Law. One limitation is of course that you only have one strong line of theory, and are a bit unable to explore others ends.