Levels of theoretical thinkingTheor

Levels of theoretical thinking

Theory in the human sciences has been used to delineate and legitimate the emerging disciplines and substantiate knowledge development.4 There are 4 levels of theoretical thinking in nursing: meta-theory, grand theory, middle-range theory, and micro-range theory.5 Each level of theory will be discussed according to level of abstraction and scope, generalizability, typology, and role. Figure 1 describes the relation-ships among the 4 levels and provides examples of theoretical thinking for each level.