Theory Building in Applied Disciplines

6Confirm Phase

CONFIRMATION OR DISCONFIRMATION is seen as a respectable end point for theory building in applied disciplines. Yet, that is not always the case, and concluding with confirmation actually falls short. You can imagine a theorist’s creative and active mind crunching knowledge and experience into a new solution that the theorist immediately tests so as to check it out. The outcome could be very important information that feeds into a more formal and revised conceptualization and operationalization of the theory. Furthermore, to confirm a theory is not a one-time event, yet initial efforts give the theorist enough direction to continue working on a theory, or scrap it and start over. The Refine phase dictates additional confirmation ...