Armchair theorizing

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Armchair theory is an approach to providing new developments in a field that does not involve analysis of empirical (real-world) data. The term is typically pejorative, implying such scholarship is weak, frivolous, and disconnected from reality.See, for example, {{Harvcoltxt|Nadel|1956|p=173}}, who defines armchair anthropology.

Armchair scholarship is often contrasted with the scientific method, which involves the active investigation of nature through data collection or testing and developing rigorous mathematical models. Anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski was a major whose views are often summarized in the saying "[come] off the verandah", encouraging fieldwork and participant observation.{{Citation |last=Boon |first=James A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LR04AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22off+the+verandah%22+malinowski&pg=PA10 |title=Other Tribes, Other Scribes: Symbolic Anthropology in the Comparative Study of Cultures, Histories, Religions and Texts |date=1982 |publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=978-0-521-27197-4 |language=en}}{{Rp|10-13}}{{Citation |last=Gioia |first=Dennis A. |date=1 April 1999 |title=Practicability, Paradigms, and Problems in Stakeholder Theorizing |url=https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/AMR.1999.1893931 |journal=Academy of Management Review |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=228–232 |doi=10.5465/amr.1999.1893931 |issn=0363-7425|url-access=subscription }}