Hi, New here, new PhD student too!

I'm a D/L student focusing on Global Health/International Relations. Largely happy with the isolation and my subject areas. However...just occasionally working remotely can be a right pain, the echo chamber of my head beyond annoying. I'm quite an instinctive/intuitive person by nature and the abstract nature of the theoretical framework is causing me to go round and round in circles. I can't decide whether I'm using theory (theories) to explain findings (and to provide new insights into the literature) or if it should be the other way round (in the sense that having decided to examine my chosen area through a postcolonial lens I'm looking for validation for that decision from the literature and/or my findings). And speaking of the literature, should the theory (post colonialism in this case) be a thread that runs throughout the literature review, providing alternative takes on others claims as it were or should it be kept to the empirical elements of the thesis?

Any thoughts/support would be much appreciated.

Thanks