Theoretical and conceptual frameworks are challenging for many reasons. Indeed, Bloomberg (2023, p.23) describes them as “…one of the most misunderstood pieces in the dissertation puzzle and … a source of anxiety and frustration for many.”
Theoretical and conceptual frameworks are structures that will guide your research from the first chapter of your document to the last.
A theoretical framework is based on a relevant theory, in whole or part. In contrast, a conceptual framework comprises related concepts that you purposefully select from theories and/or past empirical research and then cobble together into a structure to explain your research phenomenon. You may choose to use either a theoretical framework or a conceptual framework to guide your study.
As your framework is the guiding structure of your research, it needs to be the guardian of every chapter of your document.
In the introduction chapter, your theoretical or conceptual framework needs a presence. Here, you introduce the framework to your reader at a high level as a potential solution to your research problem or as a diagnosis of the problem.
By the end of the literature review chapter, you need to have detailed your framework explicitly, have made it must be made explicit, and justified it so your reader understands how it will be used to explain your research phenomenon and guide your research.
In your methodology chapter, your theoretical or conceptual framework will structure your research questions and the way your research will answer them.
In your results or findings chapter, the framework needs to structure the presentation of your results or findings logically.
In your discussion or interpretation chapter(s), your framework will form the structure of the outcome of your research process, clearly linking your results to your research questions, thereby addressing the purpose of your research and filling the knowledge gap that you identified at the outset of your dissertation.
Undoubtedly, arriving at such a framework requires careful thought and effort while reviewing the research literature relevant to your topic. And it takes time to savour and digest what you have read to gain the necessary perspective. But, ultimately, your framework will support you and your entire research process.
