Distinguishing between Theory, Theoretical Framework, and Conceptual

Across many years of teaching Research Methods and assessing many applications for admission into higher degree studies which require an understanding of theories, principles, strategies and skills needed to complete a higher degree such as a Masters or a PhD, one of the things I have found problematic for many students is the inability to articulate differences between theory, theoretical framework and a conceptual framework for a proposed research project. This paper uses experiential methodology to draw upon my experience in practice, and systematic literature review methodology to draw upon supporting scholarly literature by leaders in the field, to contribute to existing knowledge on the meaning of each of these concepts, and more importantly to distinguish between them in a study of Research Methods, and in particular as they relate to designing a research proposal and a thesis for a higher degree. The primary aim is to help the reader develop a firm grasp of the meaning of these concepts and how they should be used in academic research discourses. The review answers five questions. 1. What does each of these terms mean? 2. When and how should each be used? 3. What purposes does a theoretical framework serve? 4. How do you develop a theoretical framework for your research proposal or thesis? 5. What does a good theoretical framework look like?

 Meaning of Conceptual Framework and Differences between Conceptual Framework and Theoretical Framework 

https://www.google.com/search?q=theoretical 

A conceptual framework is the total, logical orientation and associations of anything and everything that forms the underlying thinking, structures, plans and practices and implementation of your entire research project. So, the conceptual framework comprises your thoughts on identification of the research topic, the problem to be investigated, the questions to be asked, the literature to be reviewed, the theories to be applied, the methodology you will use, the methods, procedures and instruments, the data analysis and interpretation of findings, recommendations and conclusions you will make (Ravitch & Riggan, 2017). Thus, the conceptual framework is the logical conceptualization of your entire research project. Saying that it is a logical conceptualization means that a conceptual framework is a metacognitive, reflective and operational element of the entire research process. This in turn means that the conceptual framework involves high order consideration of the following questions and/or issues about your research:

1. What do you want to do in your research? For example, as articulated in your research topic. 
2.  Why do you want to do it? For example, why is it important to conduct that research? Why it is significant? What aims will it seek to achieve? Which specific objectives will it pursue? How much scope will it cover? 
3.  How do you plan to do it? For example, which methodology will you apply? Which methods will you use? Who will be your participants? How will you gather data? How will you analyse the data? 
4. How will you make meaning of the data? For example, which theoretical framework will you use to analyse the data? Which software will you use? Which skills will you need?
5.  Which worldview will you locate your research in? For example, will it be in the positivist or interpretivist paradigm; critical or pragmatic paradigm? 
6.  How will you report your findings? For example, in a research paper, or a seminar paper, or a conference paper, a book chapter, or a book or a thesis?

Thus, you can look at the conceptual framework as the logical master plan for your entire research project. It is noteworthy, as you can see from the above, that a theoretical framework is only a little sub-set of the conceptual framework. A helpful analogy might be, that while the conceptual framework is the house, the theoretical framework is but a room that serves a particular purpose in that house. The purpose of the room could, for example, be the kitchen, or living room, or bathroom or bedroom, or garage. While each room has a unique purpose, no single room can serve all the functions that a house serves. This analogy should help you to appreciate better, why these two terms should never be used interchangeably. Only in a one-room ‘house’, would the house and room be one and the same thing. Most houses are not built like that.

The conceptual framework is thus the umbrella term relating to all the concepts and ideas that occupy your mind as you contemplate, plan, implement and conclude your research project. Thus, whereas the conceptual framework could be the product of your own thinking about your research study, the theoretical framework comprises other people’s theoretical perspectives that you interpret as relevant to your research, and in particular, helpful in your data analysis and interpretation. That is why the term conceptual framework is so all-inclusive, that trying to unpack it in your research proposal could be messy. And since most of the constituent parts of the conceptual framework have sections of their own which need to be addressed in the research process, there is no need of taking the risk of trying to unravel this complex set of concepts. For all your practical purposes, there is no need to explain your conceptual framework. It is too diverse, too big a task for you to explain in a research proposal or a thesis. The advice I give my students is to avoid using this term. You need to design and explain the theoretical framework for your PhD thesis. However, you are not required to explicitly discuss your conceptual framework.

What is the Purpose and Importance of a Theoretical Framework?

The main reason you should develop a theoretical framework for your research is so as to have a scholarly foundation for all your sense making of the meaning contained in your data (Neuman, 1997). The theoretical framework provides a structure for what to look for in the data, for how you think of how what you see in the data fits together, and helps you to discuss your findings more clearly, in light of what existing theories say. It helps you to make connections between the abstract and concrete elements you observe in your data. For example, the theoretical framework helps you to raise questions such as, what do leaders in this field theorise about my research question? What existing theoretical ideas can I use to investigate and to understand my research problem? According to the theories, what should I be looking for in the data to answer my research question? Thus, the theoretical framework helps you to substantiate your argumentation. It helps you to justify what you say about the findings and recommendations. As I said earlier, the theoretical framework serves as a coat hanger for all your data analysis, interpretation of results and discussion of findings. I use the metaphor of the coat hanger to emphasise that it is the structure that you use to make the bits and pieces of your data hang together as one body of knowledge. Another helpful metaphor I could give you is that your research data are bricks lying haphazardly in the backyard, and your theoretical framework organises them into a particular structure – a wall of a house, a wall across territorial borders, a pier of a cathedral, an arcade into a shopping mall. In each of these four structures, the bricks are given a different meaning by the structure in which they hang. I invoke this metaphor here to emphasize that the theoretical framework is the structure which helps you to interpret the meaning contained in your data. For this reason, and to invoke another metaphor, the theoretical framework serves a very important purpose as a lens through which you focus upon your data and see the meaning embedded within the data. This lens can magnify the contents in the data, and reveal interconnections which make meaning in answer to your research question, and in addressing your research problem. Without this lens, chances are you could miss some of such interconnections. 

The theoretical framework enables you to add depth to your data analysis by supporting what you say with reference to the theories advanced by people whose knowledge on your topic is much deeper than yours, and in many cases proven or unquestionable. It enables you to report your findings in an analytical, evaluative and creative way. This adds to the depth of your analysis and discussion of findings. It demonstrates your deep rather than surface understanding (Kivunja, 2015), of the meaning contained in your data. It helps you to frame your arguments in light of what can be normally expected and in consideration of what is most likely to be true. It deepens the academic and scholastic flavor of your arguments. To invoke Guba’s (1981) criteria for good research, we can say that a theoretical framework helps the achievement of these criteria:

• It increases the credibility of qualitative data or the internal validity of your quantitative data. It may enhance the transferability of the findings from your qualitative data or external validity and generalizability of quantitative data analysis.  
• It increases the confirmability of your findings in qualitative data or objectivity of your findings in quantitative data. 
• It improves the dependability of your findings in qualitative data or reliability of findings in quantitative data.

How do You Develop a Theoretical Framework?

 An existing theory is not likely to provide plausible explanations of the meaning contained in your data, without modification. This is because, by definition, a theory, as we saw earlier, is an abstraction, a generalization, and therefore, it is not content, or topic specific. In contrast, by definition, your theoretical framework is an analytical structure you put together or develop to suit your research purposes, which as you know, are to answer your particular research question and address your stated problem. Therefore, the best way to develop your theoretical framework is to conduct a thorough literature review so that your theoretical framework can emerge from that literature, as represented in the theoretical views expressed by leaders in the field in which your thesis is located (Scott & Usher, 2004). Whereas you might be able to identify a theory in the literature and borrow that for your data analysis, the preferred approach which demonstrates the critical mind and creativity capacity of a PhD graduate is to synthesise the contents of existing theories into one that is custom-tailored to your own problem statement and research question. This is a challenging task, but so are all the tasks expected of a PhD candidate. To accomplish this task, you review the theories that are relevant to your topic, research question and problem, and use the contents, that is the concepts, assumptions, assertions, models and predictions, to come up with a theoretical framework purposely tailored to the needs of your research study so that it helps you to explain the findings in your study. Asking yourself the following questions, should help you to develop an effective theoretical framework, tailored to your own data analysis needs:

1. Is there a theory that can help me to make sense of the meaning of the data that I will gather to answer the research question/s? 
2.  Are there theories that have been developed in the field of my research topic, or in similar topics that might inform an understanding of my research question, my research problem and data analysis? 
3.  What do experts in the field of my proposed research say about the problem I want to investigate? 
4.  What do they say about the research questions I want to investigate, from theoretical perspectives? 
5.  What do they say are the key variables to be investigated? 
6. Which assumptions, definitions, and propositions are in these leading scholars’ theories, and how can I make them explicitly relevant to my research question, research problem, and data analysis? 
7.  How can I modify what they have said, so as to come up with my own theorization about the meanings contained in my research data? 
8.  Have I defined the key concepts in my theoretical framework? 
9. Does the theoretical framework I am developing address the research questions and hypotheses of my research? (i.e. If you have developed hypotheses). 
10. Does the theoretical framework I am developing address my research problem? 
11.  Have I included in my theoretical framework all the key theories and analytic models in literature that relate to my study?
12.  Will the use of this theoretical framework enable me to analyze and discuss the findings in my data? 
13.  Does the theoretical framework have a logical structure and make academic sense? 
14.  Is my theoretical framework easily applicable to my data analysis? 
15. Does my theoretical framework encompass all the key variables or factors in my data? 
16.  Does my theoretical framework enable me to explain the meaning contained in my data? 
17.  Have I used the latest data available on the theoretical aspects of my planned research? 
18.  Given my theoretical framework, which data shall I include in the analysis, and which data shall I exclude, and why?

 How do You Know Whether You Have Developed a Good Theoretical Framework or not? 

These points should help you to answer this question. 

•  Is my theoretical framework clearly seen as emerging from my literature review? 
•  Is it the result of my analysis of the main theories advanced by leaders in the field in which my research is located? 
• Does it represent or is it relevant to the most current state of theoretical knowledge on my topic? 
•  Have I explained the meaning embedded in the different parts of the theoretical framework? 
•  Does the theoretical framework present a logical, coherent, analytical structure that will be a good coat hanger for my data analysis? 
•  Do the different parts of the theory constitute a coherent, and comprehensive model that is capable of helping me to analyse the relationships among the variables I plan to investigate? 
•  Does the theoretical framework target how I will answer my research questions or test the hypotheses?  Have I documented every source I have used in developing this theoretical framework? 
•  Is my theoretical framework a Model, a Table, a Figure or a description? 
•  Have I explained and justified why this is the appropriate theoretical framework for my data analysis?