Ethical Assumptions

According to our student text, a theory explains how or why things are related to each other. For instance, a theory of crime would explain how a certain thing or several different things would be related to criminal behavior (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). Like any explanation, theories are built on a foundation known as concepts. Hence, concepts are a symbolic representation of something that is a real thing, such as, a chair, computer, distance, or crime ("Introduction To Theory"). Concepts are the things which are studied and compared to find the relation to one another. Scientific theories are comprised of concepts, definitions of concepts, and propositions. Definitions of concepts refer to both nominal and operational definitions. Nominal definitions are “dictionary definitions” assigned to concepts to clarify what the concepts mean to a researcher (Bohm & Vogel, 2011).

Operational definitions describe how concepts are or will be measured for research purposes. Propositions are simply described as
A philosophical assumption is an idea that cannot be tested scientifically or empirically, which is with the use of human senses to discover some aspect of the world. The philosophical assumptions on which all theories are based are broken down into three important types: ethical, epistemological, and metaphysical. Ethical assumptions are ideas about what is good and bad or right and wrong. Epistemological assumptions address the question of how knowledge is obtained. Metaphysical assumptions address the question of what is the nature of reality (Bohm & Vogel, 2010). Therefore, theory will assist in trying to explain in what we see and to figure a way to bring change to the situation. Hence, theory is a tool that would allow us to identify a problem and come up with a plan to help correct or alter a situation ("Introduction To