MODELS AND METAPHORS: Theory Making and the Creation of New Knowledge

New knowledge may take many forms, ranging from art works to personal narratives to mathematical theorems to scientific findings. Such knowledge emerging from the research process is most often in the form of theory. Theory, like research, has many definitions and applications. Some of these are narrow and restrictive, requiring a theory to be derived from quantifiable data and capable of being tested. Other definitions are more inclusive and consider a theory to be a systematically organized set of statements that analyze and explain the nature and behavior of a specified set of phenomena. This understanding includes those theories resulting