What Makes a Research Contribution? Putting Research Basics Together

This is the last lesson of Research Basics. What makes a contribution, and how do the twenty lessons connect? In lesson 20, we start with Whetten’s 1989 editorial reflection on theoretical contributions. He notes that most scholars improve what already exists rather than generating a new theory from scratch. A new variable added to a list is not, by itself, a theoretical contribution, though it can matter if it changes the core logic of the theory; relationships, not lists, are the domain of theory. An old model that works in a new setting is not instructive by itself, so ask what the study teaches us about the theory itself. We cover the why as the most fruitful and most difficult avenue, scope versus degree, how to critique a theory, and Whetten’s seven questions: what’s new, so what, why so, well done, done well, why now and who cares. These were written for theory papers and reflect his journal’s broad audience. Webster and Watson add that “it hasn’t been done before” on its own will not convince reviewers. Alvesson and Sandberg argue for problematization, challenging assumptions rather than only spotting gaps, which is their argument and not a guarantee of influence. Sutton and Staw remind us that theory answers queries of why. Then we put the twenty lessons together as a few connected questions, and I close with how hard my own first semester of the PhD was and why I made this series. The diagrams are my own teaching illustrations of the sources’ points. Try it yourself: write your research contribution in one sentence, then test it against Whetten’s first three questions: what’s new, so what, and why so. Research Basics playlist    • Research Basics   Chapters 0:00 Introduction 0:34 Sources 1:20 Whetten: theoretical contributions 2:01 Variables and relationships 2:34 New settings 3:24 Why, the most fruitful avenue 3:44 Scope and degree 4:14 Critiques 4:46 Whetten’s seven questions 6:53 Webster and Watson 7:20 Not done before is not enough 7:46 Sutton and Staw 8:13 Putting the twenty lessons together 10:03 Something personal 10:45 Recap 11:26 Your turn Sources David A. Whetten (1989). What Constitutes a Theoretical Contribution? Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 490–495. Jane Webster and Richard T. Watson (2002). Analyzing the Past to Prepare for the Future: Writing a Literature Review. MIS Quarterly, 26(2), xiii–xxiii. Mats Alvesson and Jörgen Sandberg (2011). Generating Research Questions Through Problematization. Academy of Management Review, 36(2), 247–271. Robert I. Sutton and Barry M. Staw (1995). What Theory Is Not. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40(3), 371–384. Anol Bhattacherjee (2012). Social Science Research: Principles, Methods, and Practices. https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/oa_tex... Illustrative footage from Pexels, not footage of a study: Anton Sergeevich, https://www.pexels.com/video/student-... Ron Lach, https://www.pexels.com/video/man-work... https://www.pexels.com/license/