These newer areas may require reading outside BER; fortunately, summaries of some of these topics can be found in the Current Insights section of the LSE website. Theoretical frameworks provide a broad and general view of the research problem, rooted in established theories. Conceptual frameworks, on the other hand, offer a more focused view of the specific research problem. They explicitly outline the concrete concepts and variables involved in the study and the relationships between them. A theoretical framework refers to existing theory, concepts, and definitions that you use to collect relevant data and offer meaningful empirical findings.
We explored the similarities and differences across objectivist deductive approaches and subjectivist inductive approaches. Our descriptions of objectivist deductive and subjectivist inductive approaches are not tied to specific paradigms. Instead, these research approaches can be used across paradigms.26 Our descriptions should act as guideposts for when and how to engage with theory, theoretical frameworks, theoretical framework versus conceptual framework and conceptual frameworks. The real work of research is negotiating across these terms when we put them into action in our projects. If more than one theory is used, the researcher must also describe how the theories inform each other and how they inform all aspects of the study. This is the work the researcher engages in to demonstrate how theory informs all aspects of the study design.
A literature review explores already existing studies about a specific topic in order to highlight a gap, which becomes the focus of the current research study. A theoretical framework can be considered the next step in the process, in which the researcher plans a specific conceptual and analytical approach to address the identified gap in the research. A well-conceptualized, comprehensive, and critical literature review reveals the understanding of the topic that the researcher brings to the study. Literature reviews should not be so big that there is no clear area of focus; nor should they be so narrow that no real research question arises.
- As you can see, conceptual frameworks often make use of different shapes, lines and arrows to visualise the connections and relationships between different components and/or variables.
- Employees love to stay longer with employers who are providing work-life balance and competitive compensation (Singh and Rokade, 2014; Tanwar and Prasad, 2016).
- A study conducted by Gehrke and Kezar (2017) used the CoP framework to understand organizational change by examining the involvement of individual faculty engaged in a cross-institutional CoP focused on changing the instructional practice of faculty at each institution.
- Conceptual frameworks, the way I see them, are like lenses through which you can see a particular phenomenon.
In the CoP, faculty members were involved in enhancing instructional materials within their department, which aligned with an overarching goal of instituting instruction that embraced active learning. Not surprisingly, Gehrke and Kezar (2017) revealed that faculty who perceived the community culture as important in their work cultivated institutional change. Furthermore, they found that institutional change was sustained when key leaders served as mentors and provided support for faculty, and as faculty themselves developed into leaders.
Purpose of conceptual framework
Conceptual frameworks are different from theoretical frameworks in both their breadth and grounding in established findings. Whereas a theoretical framework articulates the lens through which a researcher views the work, the conceptual framework is often more mechanistic and malleable. When a theoretical framework is https://personal-accounting.org/ selected, it should clearly connect to all parts of the study. The framework should augment the study by adding a perspective that provides greater insights into the phenomenon. For instance, a framework focused on learning would correspond to research that reported different learning outcomes for similar studies.
A literature review and a theoretical framework are not the same thing and cannot be used interchangeably. While a theoretical framework describes the theoretical underpinnings of your work, a literature review critically evaluates existing research relating to your topic. A theoretical framework can sometimes be integrated into a literature review chapter, but it can also be included as its own chapter or section in your dissertation.
The conceptual framework specifies which data you need to collect and provides a structure for interpreting and making sense of the collected data. For instance, if your conceptual framework identifies a particular variable as impacting another, your data collection and analysis will be geared towards investigating this relationship. Your chosen theoretical framework directly influences your research questions and methodological choices. It contains specific theories or sets of assumptions drawn from relevant disciplines—such as sociology, psychology, or economics—that you apply to understand your research topic. These existing models and concepts are tools to help you organize and make sense of your data.
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The objectivist deductive approach to research
This framework contributes to theory and has implications for empirical research, theory, and practice, especially in policy and strategy design. Job design has been taken into account and explained in research studies (e.g., Okolo et al., 2018; Kamel, 2019) as a core antecedent of employees’ engagement. Job design is explained through skills variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback of job characteristics model (Hackman and Oldham, 1975) that is perceived on the basis of experiences of the incumbents. An employee with a better perceived work design is more likely to become involved with the task. Despite having motivational features, the literature lacks evidence that work design is a precursor to employer branding. As a result, this concept has been adopted as an antecedent for both employee engagement and employer branding (Ashraf et al., 2018).
Theoretical vs. Conceptual framework
The theoretical framework is sometimes integrated into the literature review chapter of a thesis, but it can also be included as a separate chapter, depending on the complexity of the theories. Sabel et al. (2017) used a conceptual framework in their exploration of how scaffolds, an external factor, interact with internal factors to support student learning. Their conceptual framework integrated principles from two theoretical frameworks, self-regulated learning and metacognition, to illustrate how the research team conceptualized students’ use of scaffolds in their learning (Figure 1). Sabel et al. (2017) created this model using their interpretations of these two frameworks in the context of their teaching. An early draft may seem well suited to the study because the need for and approach to the study are well described.
While theoretical frameworks provide a broad perspective and structure, theoretical models represent the specific relationships between variables. Both frameworks and models have distinct attributes and serve different purposes, guiding the research design, aiding in the interpretation of findings, and contributing to the existing body of knowledge. Researchers should carefully consider the appropriate use of theoretical frameworks and theoretical models to ensure the rigor and validity of their research studies. A theoretical framework is a conceptual model that provides a systematic and structured way of thinking about a research problem or question. It helps to identify key variables and the relationships between them and to guide the selection and interpretation of data.
A researcher holds assumptions about how the phenomenon will be effected, influenced, changed, or portrayed. It is ultimately the researcher’s assumption(s) about the phenomenon that aligns with a theoretical framework. An example can help illustrate how a researcher’s reflection on the phenomenon and acknowledgment of assumptions can result in the identification of a theoretical framework.
