What is the difference between concept, model, and theory?

Concept

I have this concept of a unicorn in my thoughts. I know unicorns do not exist but I have this idea of what they would look like if they existed

Model

I had this model made to make it easy to explain my concept. You can see from my model my concept idea looks like a horse with a horn growing from the forehead

Theory

I have a theory that unicorns might exist on other planets and that is where our concept of unicorns comes from. I intend to test my multiple ideas into the theory of unicorns on our planets by checking people who think about unicorns and what planets they also think of. Perhaps I can narrow it down to 1 planet

Concept - Generally (there can be exceptions) a idea about something which does not exist or a idea about something which might exist if we build it

Model - Build a model or make a drawing to show what the concept will look like if made

Theory - A collection of ideas which can be arranged or linked together to produce a new idea which can be tested to see if agrees with reality.

A concept is similar to an idea. Conceptualizing an object, for instance, in your mind without it being finalized or finished. A model is a material object that represents a finished product but possibly not to scale or not complete. A model may be the physical reality of a concept. A theory sometimes comes before a concept. A theory may harbor a mathematical reality of the concept. Quora.com

Difference Between Model and Theory

Key difference between model and theory

Models and theories have to be understood as two forms used in comprehending phenomena, and between which some differences can be identified. In various disciplines, both in the social and natural sciences, various models and theories are being used to understand phenomena. This can relate to society, individuals, the human brain, plant life, etc. Although both theories and models are used, these two are different from one another. By paying attention to the definitions of the two words, we can understand the key difference between a model and a theory. A model can be understood as a representation of something. A model provides us with a structure. On the other hand, a theory is a set of ideas that provide us an explanation to something.This is the key difference between a model and theory. This article attempts to elaborate the difference between the two. Let us begin with the word model.

What is a Model?

A model can simply be defined as an example of something. A model provides the individual with a structural representation of the phenomenon, allowing him to gain a fuller understanding of it. In various disciplines, models are used to comprehend the phenomena. This allows the individual to build his theory based on the constructed model. In some cases, models are used by scientists to support their ideas.

When speaking of models there are various types. There are mathematical models, analytical models, conceptual models, statistical models, etc. Having a model makes it easier for students to gain a better understanding of the concept.

What is a Theory?

A theory can be defined as a set of ideas that provide an explanation to a phenomenon. Once the researcher has gained sufficient data, he builds the theory based on the information that he has gathered. In some cases, the information can come in the form of a model. However, in other cases, it is through observation and analysis of data.

When formulating theories, most scientists use a proper scientific methodology so that the theory holds validity. Also, theories can be tested in order to check this validity. Theories usually do not remain the same in a field for a long period of time. Very often theories become disproven as scientists expand their horizons.

What is the difference, if any, between belief and opinion?

A “belief” is a subjective commitment to the truth of a proposition. It can be based upon anything — facts, evidence, reasoning, faith, or anything else. However, people usually opt to use the word “belief” to indicate specifically that the commitment is not based on sufficient reason or evidence to justify claiming to have knowledge.

The term “opinion” is used several different ways.

Sometimes it’s used to indicate a statement made as if it was universal fact where the person is not actually claiming a universal fact. For example, if I say, “Vanilla is the best ice cream flavor”, you might respond that that’s just my opinion. What you mean is that I’m really just claiming that I liked vanilla, but using the same words we would use to report an objective fact like “vanilla is the best selling ice cream flavor”.

It is also used to describe factual claims that one is not as confident about or cannot justify sufficiently. For example, if someone claimed that Abraham Lincoln believed in legal equality for all men despite not explicitly saying so for political reasons, you might say that was just their opinion. But you don’t mean that they’re really making a different objective claim. What you mean is that their conclusion is not based on sufficient reason and evidence to justify the considering the conclusion to be known to be true. They’re definitely claiming something is a universal fact, they’re just doing it without the justification normally required to make such a claim.

So something that is a “matter of opinion” could be something that is just not a universal fact claim. Which ice cream flavor tastes best is a matter of opinion in this sense. But also can be a case where we just don’t have enough evidence to know what universal fact we should believe. Lincoln’s true feelings about racial equality is a matter of opinion.

Belief is based on fact. Believers are only saying that they do not have all the knowledge that another being has. You believe your doctor, for instance, who has more knowledge than you.

Opinion has nothing to do with some being having more knowledge and insight than you do. It is not humbling. We are asked to give our opinions almost as if we are deciding to like something or not like it. We are asked to think for ourselves and form an opinion so we can acquire the things we need, vote, and make decisions that effect how we live.

Belief means someone knows more than we do. Opinion means we think over what we know to take action.

What exactly is a Paradigm?

. a paradigm is a set of rules and regulations that does two things:

(1) it establishes and defines boundaries; and

(2) it tells you how to behave inside those boundaries to be successful."

He adds:

"... Words that represent subsets of the paradigm concept:

theory, model, methodology, principles, standards, protocol, routines, assumptions, conventions, patterns, habits, common sense, conventional wisdom, mind-set, values, frames of reference, traditions, customs, prejudices, idealogy, inhibitions, superstitions, rituals, compulsions, addictions, doctrine, dogma.

Words like culture, organization, worldview, business, education did not appear because they are forests of paradigms.

Thomas Kuhn introduced the notion of a scientific paradigm in his seminal work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. From there, the term paradigm was popularized and generalized to refer to a framework that we use to understand and do things. We could define a paradigm more precisely as having the following components:

Exemplars. A paradigm’s exemplars are usually its creators who are then held up as pedagogical models for later generations to emulate. For example, Newton.

Symbolic generalizations. These are formulas expressed in the paradigm’s technical language which state its fundamental principles. For example, F=ma.

Ontological models. These are the metaphysical assumptions or beliefs about the nature of reality which are held by members of a community adhering to a common paradigm. For example, physical reality consists of material bodies in space and forces that act upon them.

Shared values. This includes things like aesthetic standards, such as simplicity and elegance, which guide scientists in their selection of competing theories.

Epistemological criteria. These criteria determine what a community accepts as being valid ways to gain knowledge.

So, a paradigm shift is a change from one paradigm to another, typically involving basic changes in the fundamental concepts that define the paradigm. In physics, for example, quantum theory represented a new paradigm that changed some of the basic notions of the nature of matter and energy.

A paradigm is not a process, but a normative perceptual worldview that is a reflection of what the practitioner views as reasonable or unreasonable, possible or impossible. The term was originally coined in 1962 by Thomas Kuhn in his work, “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.” A paradigm is your fundamental conceptual framework for how you make sense of the world around you. Most people are not aware of their perceptual limitations due to the pervasive and hidden impact of a paradigm, in much the same way as you wouldn’t notice the air that you breathe. To Thomas Kuhn’s point, much of science has progressed through a series of paradigm shifts that demonstrate the scientific community arriving at a new way of thinking about the world, for example, Newtonian Physics, Galilean Astronomy, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, etc. The challenge with paradigm shifts is that, by definition, one only realizes it has occurred until after the fact, or if you are in the brave unappreciated minority trying to boil the ocean.

More recently, the internet has created communities of people who share fringe paradigms such as a fear of vaccines or a belief that the world is flat. The term has largely fallen out of favor in most business circles as a lofty expression that demonstrates the speaker’s lack of familiarity with modern innovation concepts for generating pragmatic solutions. The ubiquitous expression “paradigm shift” or '“paradigm change” is most likely to show up in a corporate game of Buzzword Bingo. Usage of the term peaked in the 1990’s as managers would try to compel their team members to “think outside the box” and “seek a new paradigm,” usually resulting in eye-rolls, snickers, and content submissions to Scott Adams for another Dilbert cartoon.

Defining Paradigms

Have you ever stopped to consider all of the little pieces that make up the culture in which you live? There are, of course, many traditions and institutions, like public schools, but what about the beliefs that you share with those around you, like friends and family? These ideas, concepts, and beliefs that you and others share about religion, nationality, and other pieces of culture are probably a big part of your individual and collective identities, but how often do you consider where they came from or how they might change?

The collection of beliefs and concepts is what is known as a paradigm, which is a set of theories, assumptions, and ideas that contribute to your worldview or create the framework from which you operate every day. For example, you've probably heard the phrase 'the American way of life,' which is a paradigm because it refers to a collection of beliefs and ideas about what it means to be American. For people who find this paradigm very important, it may serve as the foundation of how they view or interact with the world around them. This emphasizes one of the most important purposes of a paradigm, which is that it is comprised of beliefs and ideas that form a framework to approach and engage with other things or people.

Where Do Paradigms Come From?

In sociology, paradigms originated in the work of some key European philosophers, like Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim, during the mid-to-late 19th century. Although they may not have specifically labeled them paradigms, these thinkers constructed a number of theories to explore how certain elements of society were related or to address social problems caused by, among other things, the growing power of capitalism. Throughout the 20th century, sociologists built on these earlier concepts and theories to form the basis of modern sociological approaches and traditions.

Margaret Eisenhart (1991) has identified three types of research frameworks: theoretical, practical, and conceptual.

Theoretical Frameworks

A theoretical framework guides research activities by its reliance on a formal theory;that is, a theory that has been developed by using an established, coherent explanation of certain sorts of phenomena and relationships—Piaget’s theory ofintellectual development and Vygotsky’s theory of socio-historical constructivism are two prominent theories used in the study of children’s learning. At the stage in the research process in which specific research questions are determined, these questions would be rephrased in terms of the formal theory that has been chosen.Then, relevant data are gathered, and the findings are used to support, extend, ormodify the theory.

What is the difference between a conceptual framework and a research paradigm?

A conceptual framework is really just names for things, including relationships between things. These relationships maybe empirical and based on well established ways of looking at the world or a field, and in particular include “a kind of” and “a part of” as well as ownership relationships and spatiotemporal relationships and causal relationships.

A research framework may or may not build on a particular conceptual framework or naming system for the target domain or application area. But once established it will tend to name the features and putative causal relationships that are assumed or predicted. However, more important than any of that is the methodologies used, including experimental paradigms, data collection conventions, statistical approaches, mathematical models, computational techniques and simplifying assumptions.

For example deep learning using neural networks, or deep neural networks trained with particular algorithms, are (resp. general and specific) research paradigms that are agnostic to any target domain, application area or conceptual framework. The same might be said for statistical methods in general, and Bayesian Statistics in particular.

On the other hand, established theories associated with specific names, often will have both an associated conceptual framework that helps explain and further develop the theory, as well as a research paradigm that delimits what approaches are and are not acceptable in order to advance the theory.

Differences between theory and study

Theory is something that is believed to be true because experiments and/or Maths have proved it to be true or because no better explanation currently exists. Chaos Theory, for instance, is the idea that seemingly unrelated events actually work in tandem to an inevitable end. This has been proven true in many cases but remains unproven in far more cases. The theory of evolution, similarly, is simply the best available theory. It contains too many scientific loopholes to ever be conclusively proved to be true, in any specific case.

Study is a very general term. It means disciplined observation. Study includes research, theory, and principle, but is not limited to these things. Research, theory, and principle, are the results of study. However,study also results in the dismissal of certain types of research, theory, and principle. For instance, even rudimentary study of eugenics dismisses the value of research, theory, and principle underlying eugenics and/or associated with eugenics.

Differences between theory and previous study

Most of the time previous studies means exactly that: studies published were disseminated in the past that report results of research findings. This could mean the authors tested a specific hypothesis, test the tenets of the theory, or tried to answer a specific research question. For the most part studies are published in peer-reviewed journal articles, however research findings are also sometimes disseminated as standalone monographs, independent reports, or as books or chapters in books.

On the other hand, theories are proposed explanations of observed phenomena or relationships, usually based on some systematic analysis of the existing literature, or on the preponderance of evidence observed in case studies.

.What is a construct in research methods?

A construct is an indicator variable that measures a characteristics, or trait. For example, college admission scores are constructs that measure how well a student is likely to do in their first year. Construct validity measures how well the observed construct predicts the outcome expected.

Roughly stated, a construct is a variable with no physical being. For example, “personality” or “job satisfaction” or “organizational commitment” don’t physically exist. They are more like concepts.
This is part of what makes a field like Organizational Behavior tougher than the physical sciences. So many of the variables in our field can’t be directly measured (they’re constructs). We have to transform these constructs into something measurable (e.g., responses on a survey or a given behavior in an experiment) in order to get some approximation of them.

It would be useful for you to not only understand the terms ‘construct’ and ‘variable’ but should first have an improved understanding of the term “concept”. A concept is a verbal abstraction drawn from observation of a number of specific cases. For example, we can observe people paying money for occupying a place and can call it the concept of ‘rent’. In similar lines, we observe individuals and find some of them heavily build while some others are seen to be thin, and from these observations we generate the concept “weight”. It is important to understand that concepts are “observed”, because it means that there is a direct link between the concept (the abstraction) and its referents (the reality).

Constructs are theoretical creations that are based on observations but which cannot be seen either directly or indirectly. Examples of constructs are satisfaction, happiness, norms, IQ, values, etc. construct serves the same function as a concept, but it is more abstract. Importantly, constructs are not characterized by a direct link between the abstraction and its observed manifestations. Thus, even though we can use the term satisfaction in the same way as a concept, but we should recognize that we cannot directly observe different levels of satisfaction directly. Constructs are built from the logical combination of a number of more observable concepts. For example, if we talk about the construct source credibility, then we could define the construct as the combination of the concepts of expertise, objectivity, and status. Each of these concepts can be more directly observed in an individual.

Both, concepts as well as constructs, could be variables if they are free to vary else they are constants.

Farooq Ahmed

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

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