Can You Visualize Theory? On the Use of Visual Thinking in Theory Pictures, Theorizing Diagrams, and Visual Sketches

Abstract

Although the visualization of data is on the agenda for sociologists today, thanks to big data, the author raises the question of whether it may not also be possible to visualize theory and, especially, to improve it through visual thinking. The main purpose of this article, more precisely, is to open up a discussion of how visualization and visual thinking can be used as a tool for theorizing in sociology and thereby help produce new and creative theories. Three different types of visualization are discussed: theory pictures, visual sketches, and theorizing diagrams. Theory pictures summarize a theory that has already been developed. Visual sketches are used for early attempts to theorize; they are then typically discarded and replaced by new sketches. Theorizing diagrams draw on ideas from Charles Sanders Peirce and can be described as visual representations that are used to generate new theories. Examples are supplied.