Simpliphd - PhD concepts simpli’fied’

Technological frames are the set of assumptions, expectations, and meanings that people use to understand the role and purpose of technology in organizations (Bijker 1987). As technological frames change the opportunities that become possible with a given technology change, leading to innovative and previously unimagined applications of IT.

The thought of having software-as-a-service (using gmail in place of a program installed on your computer, or google documents in place of microsoft word) was not thought about back in 2003. But, our technological frames have shifted, and now they are thought about all the time.

Bijker, W. E. (1987). The social construction of bakelite: Towards a theory of invention. The social construction of technological systems. WE Bijker, TP Hughes and T. Pinch. Cambridge, Massachusetts, The MIT.

I think this is the most simple definition:

Constructs are abstractions that help us understand the essence of the phenomena being studied (Christensen 2008).

However, the meaning of the term construct is different depending on the field it is used in. Within the psychology discipline, a construct is “some postulated attribute of people, assumed to be reflected in test performance.” A construct cannot be observed directly and no single measure can completely capture its value. Rather it is defined by a nomological network, which links constructs and observable variables through a set of theory-guided lawful relations (Cronbach and Meehl 1955).

Bunge, defines a construct in the philosophy of science sense as an ideal object, whose existence is predicated on one’s mind, in contrast to real objects, whose existence is not dependent on the mind. Therefore concepts, hypotheses, classifications, and other conceptual items are constructs (Bunge 1983).

Vincent Kenny provides some good insight.

There are also formative and reflective constructs more on that later.

Bunge, M. A. (1983). Epistemology & methodology. Dordrecht; Boston; Hingham, MA: Reidel ; Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Boston.

Christensen, C. M., Johnson, C., & Horn, M. (2008). Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns (p. 288). McGraw-Hill.

Cronbach, L. J., & Meehl, P. E. (1955). Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin, 52(4), 281-302. doi: 10.1037/h0040957.