“Paradigms Lost”: On Theory and Method in Research in Marketing

TLDR

Marketing science has only recently begun to address philosophical issues. The paper highlights the neglected impact of theoretical tradition on research method choice. The authors propose balancing theory construction and testing by triangulating methodologies to reduce method bias. Marketing science has largely relied on a single theoretical tradition, leading to a focus on hypothesis testing over developing rich explanatory theories.

Abstract

Only recently have marketing scientists become concerned with issues in the philosophy of science. This paper points to one neglected area—the implications of a theoretical tradition for the selection of research methods (design, data collection, and data analysis). It is argued that marketing has been relying primarily on only one theoretical tradition. The dominance of this philosophy has led to marketing science growing more rapidly in the area of hypothesis testing than in the development of new, rich explanatory theories. Several suggestions are made to achieve a balance in theory construction and testing, with implications for reducing methods bias by a process of triangulating methodologies.