Theme 3: Post-reflections

This week we have read about theories; what a theory is and about different types of theories.

To summarize what a theory is you can say it is something that can answer the question "why”. For example why the result of a study turn out in a special way. I think it is a simple and good explanation that is easy to understand. Theory is a term that we often use, but no one really knows what it means. Therefor I believe that this kind of assignment is a good way to learn more about terms that we otherwise take for granted.

Before the seminary I read the texts "The Nature of Theory in Information System" and "What Theory is Not". I also read the paper; "The Benefits of Facebook "Friends:" Social Capital and College Students".

The paper examined how the use of Facebook can affect our social capital. I think it was a current and relevant paper and it was very interesting. To decide which theory that the authors used in the paper was quite difficult. To read one article about the different theories was not enough; I would need a deeper insight into the subject to make a good decision.

But after I read the literature, I came to the conclusion that the theory that was used in the paper was the type "analysis". No concrete conclusions were drawn in the paper, and therefor I think the paper just analysed the topic. 

On the seminar this Monday, we got the chance to present the paper we had read and then discuss them with the rest of the class. It was interesting to hear what the other had written about. One of the papers was presented two times; "Social Networking Sites: Their Users and Social Implications - A Longitudinal Study". This paper was also about how social media affects our social capital, but the authors had study this over a longer period.

The paper and the study seemed interesting, so I have decided to choose this paper for this week's assignment.