The role and limitations of scientific theory in listening research is explored. The researcher as person is found to be intricately involved as creative, interpretive author of concepts, hypotheses, arguments and conclusions. Nor can the researcher ignore their own social and cultural life-world origins. Consequently the importance of the social context and culture assumed by the researcher is detailed. Theory is discussed and its general limitations explicated. Overall, research in social sciences, such as listening, is at base social. This essay is a discussion of the role and limitations of (scientific) theory in listening research. The general points to be addressed include, first, the role of the researcher as creative, interpretive author of concepts, hypotheses, arguments and conclusions, and their origin in the social and cultural life-world, and, second, the importance of the social context and culture assumed by the researcher, not only in a specific study but also globally and generally by theoretical social science. Theory is the use of one particular scientific mode of research that is driven by clear, accurate, and testable relationships about why we listen as we do. Bodie is arguing for the strength of theory-driven research studies 1 for organizing and grounding the field of listening; Purdy is setting out the limitations.Theory plays a special role in listening research but only exists as part of a larger research (ad)venture. As Bodie (2009) so clearly argues, a coherent theoretical approach is critical for understanding and making effective use of the study of listening. Yet as important as theory may be in the organizing strategies for