Bugaboo is nasty as long as imaginary By Prof Dr Sohail Ansari

 Jabir ibn Abdullah reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, enjoined good treatment of slaves and he would say, “Feed them from the same food you eat, clothe them from the same clothes you wear, and do not torture the creation of Allah Almighty.”

Do not use lash when your tongue Suffices

·       As long as nation holds ability to obtain desired results abroad by projecting than exercising power, limits of its power remain unexposed.

Quotes:

·         I don't know why people are so keen to put the details of their private life in public; they forget that invisibility is a superpower. Banksy

·       Mu'awiya Bin Abi Sufyan, founder of the Umayyad Dynasty, once famously said: "I do not apply my sword where my lash suffices; nor my lash where my tongue is enough. And even if there be one hair binding me to my fellow men, I do not let it break. When they pull, I loosen, and if they loosen, I pull."

Theory testing and theory construction:  Attempts to answer the `why' questions in social science are theories. These theories vary in their complexity (how many variables and links), abstraction (the quality of dealing with ideas rather than events.

"topics will vary in degrees of abstraction") and scope.

To understand the role of theory in empirical research it is useful to distinguish between two different styles of research: theory testing and theory building.

Theory building: Theory building is a process in which research begins with observations and uses inductive reasoning

( Inductive reasoning is a type of logical thinking that involves forming generalizations based on specific incidents you've experienced, observations you've made, or facts you know to be true or false. Jennifer leaves for school at 7:00 a.m. Jennifer is always on time. Jennifer assumes, then, that she will always be on time if she leaves at 7:00 a.m.) to derive a theory from these observations.  These theories attempt to make sense of observations. Because the theory is produced after observations are made it is often called post factum theory (Post factum After the event; with hindsight). (Merton, 1968) or ex post facto theorizing. This form of theory building entails asking whether the observation is a particular case of a more general factor, or how the observation fits into a pattern or a story. For example, Durkheim observed that the suicide rate was higher among Protestants than Catholics. But is religious affiliation a particular case of something more general? Of what more general phenomenon might it be an indicator? Are there other observations that shed light on this? He also observed that men were more suicidal than women, urban dwellers more than rural dwellers and the socially mobile more than the socially stable. He argued that the common factor behind all these observations was that those groups who were most suicidal were also less well socially integrated and experienced greater ambiguity about how to behave and what is right and wrong. He theorized that one of the explanations for suicidal behaviour was a sense of normlessness ± a disconnectedness of individuals from their social world. Of course, there may have been other ways of accounting for these observations but at least Durkheim's explanation was consistent with the facts.

Theory testing In contrast, a theory testing approach begins with a theory and uses theory to guide which observations to make: it moves from the general to the particular. The observations should provide a test of the worth of the theory.

Deductive reasoning is defined as figuring out something by first reaching a conclusion on a bigger picture issue in order to reach a conclusion on a smaller picture issue.

An example of deductive reasoning is that all grammar is difficult, and then deciding that punctuation is part of grammar which leads to the deduction that punctuation is difficult.

It is a type of reasoning which goes from general to specific. ·  Since all humans are mortal, and I am a human, then I am mortal. 

·  All dolphins are mammals, all mammals have kidneys; therefore all dolphins have kidneys. 

 Using deductive reasoning to derive a set of propositions from the theory does this. We need to develop these propositions so that Empirical level Deductive reasoning Theory testing approach Start here Obs 1 Obs 2 Obs 3 Obs 4 Obs 1 Obs 2 Obs 3 Obs 4

If the theory is true then certain things should follow in the real world. We then assess whether these predictions are correct. If they are correct the theory is supported. If they do not hold up then the theory needs to be either rejected or modified. For example, we may wish to test the theory that it is not divorce itself that affects the wellbeing of children but the level of conflict between parents. To test this idea we can make predictions about the wellbeing of children under different family conditions. For the simple theory that it is parental conflict rather than divorce that affects a child's wellbeing there are four basic `conditions'.

 For each `condition' the theory would make different predictions about the level of children's wellbeing that we can examine. If the theory that it is parental conflict rather than parental divorce is correct the following propositions should be supported:

 Proposition 1: children in situations (a) and (b) would be equally well off That is, where parental conflict is low, children with divorced parents will do just as well as those whose parents are married. ·

 Proposition 2: children in situations (c) and (d ) should be equally poorly off That is, children in conflict couple families will do just as badly as children in post-divorce families where parents sustain high conflict.

 Proposition 3: children in situation (c) will do worse than those in situation (a) That is, those with married parents in high conflict will do worse than those who have married parents who are not in conflict.

 Proposition 4: children in situation (d ) will do worse than those in situation (b) That is, those with divorced parents in high conflict will do worse than those who have divorced parents who are not in conflcit.

 Proposition 5: children in situation (b) will do better than those in situation (c) That is, children with divorced parents who are not in conflict will do better than those with married parents who are in conflict.

 Proposition 6: children in situation (a) will do better than those in situation (d ) That is, children with married parents who are not in conflict will do better than those with divorced parents who are in conflict. Parents divorced?

Parental conflict No Yes Low (a) (b) High (c) (d)

The relationship between divorce and parental conflict

No single proposition would provide a compelling test of the original theory. Indeed, taken on its own proposition 3, for example, would reveal nothing about the impact of divorce. However, taken as a package, the set of propositions provides a stronger test of the theory than any single proposition. Although theory  testing and theory building are often presented as alternative modes of research they should be part of one ongoing process. Typically, theory building will produce a plausible account or explanation of a set of observations. However, such explanations are frequently just one of a number of possible explanations.

While plausible they are not necessarily compelling. They require systematic testing where data are collected to specially evaluate how well the explanation holds when subjected to a range of crucial tests.