Description
Research designs primarily follow inductive and deductive reasoning, either moving from theory to data or from data to theory. While these approaches are foundational to rigorous research, the pressure to conform to pre-existing theoretical frameworks has become a routine exercise in many academic settings. This often results in a disconnect between theory and other components of the study, such as analysis and conclusions, weakening the coherence and depth of the research.
This issue disproportionately affects African scholars, both in the Global North and South, due to the pressure to apply external theories. While critical engagement with theory can address some gaps, such frameworks remain limited. Encouraging African scholars to advance their fields beyond the role of “native informants”, to develop new theories that accurately reflect their research findings and the sociopolitical nuance within Africa is essential. Through a critical reflection of my experience employing inductive logic to construct a new theory, I highlight both the institutional limitations, and the intellectual rigor involved in constructing theory from empirical insights. I discuss the process of navigating institutional pressures to ground my research in established theories, the increased scrutiny it attracted, and the challenges in articulating the emergent theory derived from my analysis. I answer the questions:
• In what ways does framing African research within foreign theoretical paradigms limit the accurate representation of African experiences?
• When a context-specific theory is absent, can robust research, sound analysis, and persuasive arguments stand alone as sufficient contributions?
• How does grounding African research in theories with roots in different empirical and scholarly contexts affect the objectivity of inductive research on Africa?
The goal is to underscore the need to encourage control over knowledge production on the continent, narratives, or practices that have been historically marginalized, and to rethink global knowledge systems.
