This essay aims to provide a critical overview of the main themes to emerge from the Higher Education Close Up 5 conference held at Lancaster University in July 2010. The conference explored the relationship between theory and method in higher education (HE) research. This essay focuses upon four themes that developed from the proceedings. I begin by considering the emergence of HE research as a field of study, and then look at the theoretical and methodological approaches which could, perhaps, help to define the field. I then explore the extent to which HE researchers can rely upon the work of one thinker to provide a theoretical underpinning to their work or whether we should instead be prepared to exercise a degree of instrumentalism in our decision to adopt certain theoretical approaches over others. Finally, I consider how we can (and whether we should) theorise silences and absences in our research.