Most of my associates think that I am an Activity Theory advocate. This is not true. While Activity Theory has been my principle research theory for six years, I am ready to adopt any other theory for Activity Theory anytime. So what is it in Activity Theory that kept me coming back for more?

An activity is the basic unit of work
When people work in a social group, we inevitably bring together many elements that make cooperative work possible. Some of these include people and social relationships, tools that we can use, and rules that encourage positive behaviors. At the same time, we arrange these elements into a work system that serves to accomplish our goals. An activity is this goal-directed cooperative work.

Activity Theory provides a research frame that is powerful. It eliminates confounding factors due to dissimilar contexts and culture that we collect our data from. Two different social groups could have developed two different work systems to solve the same problem. The reason is due to the availability of different sets of workers and resources. With different conditions, each group has to adapt differently. By taking any less than an activity as our unit of analysis, we stand the risk of introducing confounding factors due to context dissimilarities.

Activity Theory (actually) explains
Unlike theories setup in a cause-effect structure, Activity Theory actually explains inter-dependencies. Today, too many theory development work are dependent on statistical analysis. But statistics can only tell us whether there is a relationship between two variables, they DO NOT tell us why. Activity Theory which frames an investigation in a more complex way approximates reality better, and most importantly, get us closer to the real reasons for our observed phenomena.

Activity Theory is a grand theory
A grand theory is a theory that explains everything, well...almost. A grand theory is great because it reveals a grand picture of the observed phenomena. Activity Theory as a grand theory provides a framework that encompasses all aspects of human behaviors that can fit into almost any work contexts. From psychological, to sociological, to organizational, and interaction with technology, you name it, Activity Theory has it. A holistic perspective such as one given by Activity Theory allows you to build one finding on top of another, and finally into a durable system of knowledge.