THEORETICAL /

CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK
MAYEYEAN T. TAGUIBALOS, RPm
Instructor I
 What is a THEORY?
￮ Theories are formulated to
explain, predict, and understand
phenomena and, in many cases,
to challenge and extend existing
knowledge, within the limits of the
critical bounding assumptions.

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 What is a THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK?

￮ Set of interrelated concepts, definitions,

and propositions that present a systematic
view of phenomena by specifying relations
among variables (Kerlinger, 1973)

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 What is a THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK?

￮ The theoretical framework is the structure that

can hold or support a theory of a research
study. The theoretical framework introduces
and describes the theory which explains
why the research problem under study exists.

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 What is a THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK?
￮ A theoretical framework consists of
concepts, together with their definitions,
and existing theory/theories that are used
for your particular study.
￮ The theoretical framework must demonstrate
an understanding of theories and concepts
that are relevant to the topic of your research
paper and that will relate it to the broader
fields of knowledge in the class you are
taking. 5
 What is a THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK?
￮ The theoretical framework is not
something that is found readily available
in the literature.
￮ You must review course readings and
pertinent research literature for theories and
analytic models that are relevant to the
research problem you are investigating. The
selection of a theory should depend on its
appropriateness, ease of application, and
explanatory power. 6
1 THE THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK
STRENGTHENS THE
STUDY IN THE
FOLLOWING WAYS:
 The theoretical framework
strengthens the study in the
following ways.

￮ 1. An explicit statement of theoretical

assumptions permits the reader to evaluate
the research critically.

￮ 2. The theoretical framework connects the

researcher to existing knowledge. Guided
by a relevant theory, you are given a basis
for your hypotheses and choice of
research methods.
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 The theoretical framework
strengthens the study in the
following ways.

￮ 3. Articulating the theoretical assumptions of

a research study forces you to address
questions of why and how. It permits you to
move from simply describing a phenomenon
observed to generalizing about various
aspects of that phenomenon.

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 The theoretical framework
strengthens the study in the
following ways.

￮ 4. Having a theory helps you to identify the

limits to those generalizations. A theoretical
framework specifies which key variables
influence a phenomenon of interest. It alerts
you to examine how those key variables
might differ and under what circumstances.

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2 DEVELOPING
THE
FRAMEWORK
Here are some strategies to develop of an
effective theoretical framework:

￮ 1. Examine your thesis title and research

problem. The research problem anchors
your entire study and forms the basis from
which you construct your theoretical
framework.

￮ 2. Brainstorm on what you consider to be

the key variables in your research. Answer
the question, what factors contribute to the
presumed effect?
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Here are some strategies to develop of an
effective theoretical framework:

￮ 3. Review related literature to find answers

to your research question.

￮ 4. List the constructs and variables that

might be relevant to your study. Group these
variables into independent and dependent
categories.

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Here are some strategies to develop of an
effective theoretical framework:

￮ 5. Review the key social science

theories that are introduced to you in your
course readings and choose the theory or
theories that can best explain the
relationships between the key variables in
your study.

￮ 6. Discuss the assumptions or

propositions of this theory and point out their
relevance to your research.

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3
PURPOSE
 To the end, the following roles
served by a theory can help guide
the development of your
framework.*

￮ 1. Means by which new research data can be

interpreted and coded for future use,

￮ 2. Response to new problems that have no

previously identified solutions strategy,

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 To the end, the following roles
served by a theory can help guide
the development of your
framework.*

￮ 3. Means for identifying and defining

research problems,

￮ 4. Means for prescribing or evaluating

solutions to research problems,

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 To the end, the following roles
served by a theory can help guide
the development of your
framework.*

￮ 5. Way of telling us that certain facts among

the accumulated knowledge are important
and which facts are not,

￮ 6. Means of giving old data new

interpretations and new meaning,

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 To the end, the following roles
served by a theory can help guide
the development of your
framework.*

￮ 7. Means by which to identify important new

issues and prescribe the most critical
research questions that need to be answered
to maximize understanding of the issue,

￮ 8. Means of providing members of a

professional discipline with a common
language and a frame of reference for
defining boundaries of their profession, and 19
 To the end, the following roles
served by a theory can help guide
the development of your
framework.*

￮ 9. Means to guide and inform research so

that it can, in turn, guide research efforts and
improve professional practice.

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 IMPORTANT REMINDER:

“ ￮ After discussing the

theoretical framework, it
is important to
relate the variables in the
study to the
theory/theories selected.

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CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK
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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
￮ A conceptual framework illustrates what
you expect to find through your research. It
defines the relevant variables for your
study and maps out how they might relate
to each other.
￮ You should construct a conceptual
framework before you begin collecting
data.
￮ It is often represented in a visual format.
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WHEN TO CREATE A CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK?

￮ If you want to investigate any kind of

relationship between variables, it’s a
good idea to create a conceptual
framework.

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In Example;

You want to know if students who study more

hours get higher exam scores. To investigate
this question, you can use methods such as
an experiment or survey to test the
relationship between variables.

￮ Before you start collecting data, construct

a conceptual framework to show exactly
which variables you will measure and how
you expect them to relate to each other.
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 IMPORTANT REMINDER:

“ ￮ THE CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK IS
DEVELOPED BASED ON
A LITERATURE
REVIEW OF EXISTING
STUDIES ON THE TOPIC.

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Designing a conceptual
framework.
￮ A conceptual framework can be designed in
many different ways. The form yours takes
will depend on what kinds of relationships
you expect to find.

￮ To visualize our expected cause-and-

effect relationship, we will use the basic
design components of boxes, arrows, and
lines.

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Designing a conceptual
framework.
￮ To indicate a causal relationship, each
arrow should start from the
independent variable (the cause)
and point to the dependent variable
(the effect).
￮ Use a line when you expect
a correlation between two variables,
but no cause-and-effect relationship.

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Meaning of different lines
and arrows:
A line may mean division or difference

￮ A one-headed arrow means

influence or effect

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Meaning of different lines
and arrows:
A double headed arrow may imply
that both variables are affecting one
another

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Let’s have a
recap!!!

￮ What is the difference

between theoretical
framework and
conceptual framework?

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WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK?

THEORETICAL CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK FRAMEWORK

Set of interrelated ￮ A conceptual

concepts, definitions, framework illustrates
and propositions that what you expect to
present a systematic find through your
view of phenomena research. It defines
by specifying the
relations among relevant variables for
variables (Kerlinger, your study and maps
1973) out how they might
relate to each other.

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TRUE OR FALSE?

The theoretical framework is

something that is found readily
available in the literature.

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TRUE OR FALSE?

￮ The conceptual framework is

developed based on a
research problem of existing
studies on the topic.

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