10Min Research Methodology - 22(P2) - Search a Theory and How to Write Theory and Contributions
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Search within your downloaded PDFs for “theory” or “theories” to identify which frameworks are already used in the literature you collected.
Briefing
Finding which theories appear in a pile of downloaded papers can be done quickly inside a PDF library—then the real work starts: turning those theories into a clear “theoretical lens” and a defensible contribution in the introduction and literature review. The workflow begins by searching within your documents for keywords like “theory” or “theories.” For example, if the papers are about leadership and behavior, searching for “theory” can surface which frameworks have been used—such as social exchange theory paired with servant leadership, or conservation of resources theory paired with related outcomes. The key practical point is that the search can be done with flexible capitalization (capital or lowercase yields the same results), and that searching for an exact phrase may return no matches if the tool treats the query as a full phrase rather than a single word.
Once the relevant theories are identified, the transcript emphasizes where they belong in a research paper. The theory should be introduced in the introduction after the study’s gap is established—typically in a dedicated paragraph that explains the theoretical lens guiding the study. Simply naming a theory is not enough. The introduction should briefly define what the theory means and then connect it to the study’s contribution.
That contribution is framed as how the research advances the theory through integration with the concepts being studied. One example uses knowledge-based view (KBV) as the theoretical lens. After describing the research gap, the introduction states that the study makes “significant contributions through the integration of KBV,” then spells out the conceptual linkage: knowledge management (KM) enablers and KM processes are associated with project success (PS). Another example again uses KBV to argue that KM processes form a distinct pathway linking entrepreneurial leadership (EL) to project success, explaining how entrepreneurial leadership influences KM processes and ultimately improves project success.
A second example uses two theories—social identity theory and the resource-based view (RBV)—to explain a relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts and organizational performance (OP). In the introduction, the transcript shows how to define each theory in a sentence or two, then state the contribution: the study demonstrates the relationship between CSR team outcomes and OP. The literature review then carries the heavier reasoning. Using RBV, CSR is treated as a resource—described as valuable and non-imitable, like other scarce resources—and the logic is that CSR can provide differentiation, which improves performance. With that chain of reasoning supported by citations (including Sun and Price, 2016 for the resource framing), the study can then claim a testable proposition such as CSR having a significant positive impact on OP.
Overall, the method is two-step: (1) locate theories already used in your existing papers by searching for “theory/theories” within your PDF set, and (2) write those theories into your own paper by defining the lens in the introduction and using it to justify conceptual relationships and contributions in the literature review.
Cornell Notes
The transcript lays out a practical method for using a theory in research writing: first, identify which theories appear across a set of downloaded papers by searching within PDFs for “theory” or “theories.” After selecting the relevant framework(s), place them in the introduction after the research gap is explained, and define the theoretical lens in brief, concrete terms rather than just naming it. The next requirement is to state how the study contributes to the theory by integrating the theory with the specific concepts under investigation—often by mapping relationships (e.g., KBV linking KM processes to project success). In the literature review, the theory is then used to justify why the proposed relationships between variables should hold, such as treating CSR as a resource under RBV to explain its positive effect on organizational performance.
How can a researcher quickly find which theories are used across many downloaded papers?
Where should a chosen theory appear in a research paper—introduction or literature review?
What makes a “theoretical lens” write-up more than just naming a theory?
How is research contribution to theory expressed in these examples?
How does RBV get used to justify a relationship like CSR → organizational performance?
Review Questions
- When searching within a PDF library, what difference does it make between searching for “theory” versus searching for an exact phrase?
- What three elements should appear in the introduction paragraph where the theoretical lens is presented?
- Using the RBV example, what logical steps connect CSR to organizational performance?
Key Points
- 1
Search within your downloaded PDFs for “theory” or “theories” to identify which frameworks are already used in the literature you collected.
- 2
Introduce the chosen theoretical lens in the introduction after stating the research gap, not only in the literature review.
- 3
Define the theory briefly in the introduction; naming it alone is insufficient.
- 4
State the study’s contribution as an integration of the theory with the specific concepts being studied (e.g., KBV linking KM processes to project success).
- 5
Use the literature review to build the causal or relational logic that justifies how variables connect through the theory.
- 6
When using RBV, justify why the focal construct (like CSR) qualifies as a resource and how that resource enables differentiation and performance gains.