Interesting and impactful research: on phenomena, theory, and writing

Tellis, Gerard J.

doi:10.1007/s11747-016-0499-0

Cited by 44 publications

(34 citation statements)

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“…With the objective of fostering further debate and discussion on an important issue, in this commentary, I attempt to: (1) provide further substantiation for some of the points highlighted and guideposts offered by Tellis, by drawing attention to other supporting literature; (2) address certain other issues pertaining to potentially interesting and impactful research to complement the issues addressed by Tellis; and (3) elaborate on certain views espoused by Tellis on which I hold a different point of view.Perspectives on characteristics of good theory Tellis (2016) notes that a good theory is a simple explanation for a phenomenon, and the best theory is the simplest explanation for a wide set of phenomena. He further notes that simplicity is not a limitation, but a paramount virtue of a theory.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…In his editorial on interesting and impactful research, Tellis (2016) makes a number of insightful observations and offers valuable suggestions for researchers. With the objective of fostering further debate and discussion on an important issue, in this commentary, I attempt to: (1) provide further substantiation for some of the points highlighted and guideposts offered by Tellis, by drawing attention to other supporting literature; (2) address certain other issues pertaining to potentially interesting and impactful research to complement the issues addressed by Tellis; and (3) elaborate on certain views espoused by Tellis on which I hold a different point of view.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Perspectives on characteristics of good theory Tellis (2016) notes that a good theory is a simple explanation for a phenomenon, and the best theory is the simplest explanation for a wide set of phenomena. He further notes that simplicity is not a limitation, but a paramount virtue of a theory.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The theories that survive are those that haven't been rejected yet, and that's a good reason for humility.^In a similar vein, Wilson (1998) notes that scientific theories are constructed specifically to be blown apart if proved wrong, and if so destined, the sooner the better. In his editorial, Tellis (2016) also alludes to theories having a limited life span. He notes that while theories may come and go, phenomena are enduring.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…According to Osserman, their simple but clever use of a little-known elementary result from number theory evolved into a multi-million dollar software business with millions of copies of a software program being installed on computers worldwide. Tellis (2016) posits that while the attention that a counterintuitive premise engenders increases linearly with the strength of the refutation, persuasion or buy-in is bell-shaped. That is, up to a point, the stronger the refutation the greater the degree of buy in; however, beyond that point, refutation strength is likely to engender more negative than positive response leading to shock and ultimate rejection (absurd).…”

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Musings on interesting and impactful theory and research

Varadarajan

2016

J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci.

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In his editorial on interesting and impactful research, Tellis (2016) makes a number of insightful observations and offers valuable suggestions for researchers. With the objective of fostering further debate and discussion on an important issue, in this commentary, I attempt to: (1) provide further substantiation for some of the points highlighted and guideposts offered by Tellis, by drawing attention to other supporting literature; (2) address certain other issues pertaining to potentially interesting and impactful research to complement the issues addressed by Tellis; and (3) elaborate on certain views espoused by Tellis on which I hold a different point of view.Perspectives on characteristics of good theory Tellis (2016) notes that a good theory is a simple explanation for a phenomenon, and the best theory is the simplest explanation for a wide set of phenomena. He further notes that simplicity is not a limitation, but a paramount virtue of a theory. In this regard, Dawkins (2008) notes that a measure of the power of a scientific theory is its explanatory ratio (the number of facts that the theory explains divided by the number of assumptions it makes in order to explain). In characterizing Darwin's theory of evolution as a powerful theory, he notes that the numerator of the explanatory ratio for the theory is large (explains all of life and its complexities) and its denominator spectacularly small and simple (natural selection, the non-random survival of genes in gene pools).Also pertinent in this regard are the characteristics that Wilson (1998, p. 198) enumerates as qualities that scientists look for in theory generally, and mathematical models in particular: (1) Parsimony: the fewer the units and processes used to account for the phenomenon, the better. (2) Generality: the greater the range of phenomena covered by a model, the greater the likelihood of it being true. (3) Consilience: units and processes of a discipline that conform with solidly verified knowledge in other disciplines have proven to be consistently superior in theory and practice in comparison to units and processes that do not. (4) Predictiveness: theories that are precise in the predictions they make across many phenomena and whose predictions are easiest to test by observation and experiment endure.I n a n a r t i c l e t i t l e d BT h e t y r a n n y o f s i m p l e explanations,^Ball (2016) cautions that there is no easy equation between simplicity and truth. He points out that while simple and elegant theories have sometimes turned out to be wrong, simpler but less accurate theories can be more useful than complicated ones for clarifying the bare bones of an explanation. In this regard, he draws attention to the use and misuse of Occam's razor (a philosophical concept credited to a 14th-century English Franciscan friar, William of Ockham) as a tool for adjudicating between rival theories. Ball notes that Occam's razor, which is often invoked as an injunction against making more assumptions than absolutely needed, is only relevant i...

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Musings on interesting and impactful theory and research

Varadarajan

2016

J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci.

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Addressing the sins of consumer psychology via the evolutionary lens

Saad

2021

Psychology and Marketing

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As is true of any scientific discipline, consumer psychology faces some challenges, many of which can be ameliorated via the use of evolutionary psychology. This includes broadening the scope of the research questions tackled as well as their interestingness; increasing the epistemological and theoretical scope of the discipline; reducing the likelihood of succumbing to the WEIRD sampling bias; decreasing methodological fixation; increasing interdisciplinarity; and augmenting the ethos of replications as well as the field's consilience via the building of consilient nomological networks of cumulative evidence. Modern-day consumers exhibit preferences and behaviors that are vestiges of evolutionary forces that occurred long ago in deep evolutionary time. Marketing academics and practitioners alike, seeking to unlock the mysteries of what makes consumers tick, can only be enriched in recognizing that Homo consumericus is a product of the same evolutionary processes that have shaped all life forms. To deny this reality ensures that marketing knowledge will remain largely decoupled from biology, and in doing so engender at best an incomplete understanding of consumer behavior.

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Veenendaal¹

2019

Contributions to Management Science

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Interesting and impactful research: on phenomena, theory, and writing

Cited by 44 publications

References 4 publications

Musings on interesting and impactful theory and research

Musings on interesting and impactful theory and research

Addressing the sins of consumer psychology via the evolutionary lens

General Discussion

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