Explanation. Theories of this type explicitly explain. What constitutes an explanation is a nontrivial issue. However, a common view is that an explanation answers to a question of why something is – or happens (rather than what happens) (Van Fraassen, 1980; Sandborg, 1998). Current views insist that explanations include notions of causality and asymmetry (if A explains B, then B should not also be a viable explanation of A) (Salmon, 1989).

D. I. K. Sjøberg, T. Dybå, B. C. D. Anda, and J. E. Hannay, “Building Theories in Software Engineering,” in Guide to Advanced Empirical Software Engineering SE - 12, F. Shull, J. Singer, and D. K. Sjøberg, Eds. Springer London, 2008, pp. 312–336. [Springerlink]