Theory formation

Theory formation

This is the landing page for topics related to formulating the theory that ties into your intensive longitudinal study.

A theory explains why or how your process of interest works the way it does. Theory formation—the building and specification of a theory—is an essential part of ILD research: It helps establish what knowledge we have about about our process, and where we have knowledge gaps. These gaps can then be translated into research questions.

Below we have specified multiple articles where you can read more about theory and theory formation.

Think more about your theory

Before you start—selecting the foundations of your study

The foundations of your study–—constructs, temporal lens, and population—–determine the relevance and generalizability of your findings.

Writing down your theory as precisely as possible

Clearly articulating your theory is crucial to ensure testable hypotheses, accurate operationalization, and meaningful interpretations of results.

[Phenomena]
[Writing down your theory in equations]
[Generating research questions from gaps in theory]
[Adapting your theory]

Using models as inspiration

Understanding the model-implied data patterns can help you think about what patterns are or are not plausible for your process.

[Models for stationary processes]
[Models for development]
[Measurement models]