This course invites students to collaboratively explore how literature review can be conducted through engagement with theory and data, and how original theory building can emerge through reflexive and dialogue inquiry. We will critically examine major philosophical traditions in the social sciences - including positivism, constructivism, and critical realism - with an emphasis on how theory building can be practiced from a critical realist perspective. Drawing on examples from the development of theories in the sociology of education, especially those related to human agency (teacher agency), students will explore how theoretical frameworks are shaped from diverse theoretical perspectives. Throughout the course, students will learn how to engage in literature review and theory building through reciprocal and reflexive processes.
