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2 years ago in Topic Novelty By Preetham M
Can a PhD topic be novel if it applies an old theory to a new case study?
I plan to use Foucault's theories of power, which are well-established, to analyze a contemporary digital platform no one has studied this way. Is this considered a novel contribution, or is it just a routine application?
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By Myrah Answered 1 year ago
Yes, this can be highly novel, but only if you frame it as a theoretical test or extension, not just an application. The novelty lies in asking: "What does studying this specific digital platform reveal about Foucault's theory that we didn't know?" Does it confirm the theory's robustness in a radically new context? Does it expose limitations requiring conceptual adaptation? Does it generate new analytical categories within the theoretical framework? Your contribution becomes empirical and theoretical: you provide a novel case study and reflect back on the theory itself. Without this reflective loop, it's a routine application. Frame your work as a dialogue between theory and a challenging new empirical world.
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