The role of theory in social research is that without a sociological theory, nothing can be sociological. Facts disconnected from theory are just facts. Theory lets facts speak; facts do not speak and cannot speak for themselves. Without a connection with other facts we cannot evaluate anything. With theory you can relate facts to each other. Theory is the set of interconnected logical or universal concepts that relate to empirical facts and phenomena. Empirical research is fine as long as there is theory involved in it. Theory helps us select which facts are important and which are not. Theory also allows us to organize facts. Theory helps us create a story and tell which is the dependent variable and which is the independent variable. Theory tells us what we don't know, which is the purpose of all research in sociology. The theory also allows different sociological concepts to talk to each other and this allows sociology to progress. Emile Durkheim had stated in “What is a social fact?” that reason develops theories and observation confirms them. According to Durkheim, social facts are not ideas, they are facts and are observable. Facts without some theory to support them are and will be meaningless. We had talked about this right at the beginning of the semester about how stating some statistics like "men earn .75 cents more than women" might be true, but simply stating it won't be enough. In sociology, what needs to be done are the reasons for stating this fact and what it means for society as a whole. Therefore, facts cannot stand alone without theory because in a sense they complement each other. Talcott Parsons provides a different example in this regard; “Few, if any, empiricists are satisfied with discrete...half-paper......theories. Since Durkheim came long before Parsons and died when Parsons was basically a teenager, it is mainly Parsons who built on Durkheim's work as highlighted in the previous paragraphs through his various theories, however his theories and Durkheim's are very much related and have the potential to connect because both of these theorists were committed to understanding social order, and although their answers were not exactly the same, Durkheim's division of labor and social facts and Parsons' unity of act and social systems are very easily recognizable as has been explained above.Works CitedDurkheim, Emile. (1984). Mechanical and organic solidarity. NY: Free Press. Durkheim, Emile. The rules of the sociological method. NY: Free Press, 1982. Lecture notes. Parsons, Talcott. (1938). The role of theory in social research. American Sociological Review. 3(1), 13-20.