What is a theory? Theories exist to explain phenomena, and the theoretical framework is the structure that supports a theory of a research study.
Students have to write a thesis or dissertation – a research project for the final assignment of a PhD degree. The dissertation allows students to present their findings in response to a question they choose themselves.
The purpose of the project is to test the research skills the student has acquired at university.
If a student writes a college thesis or dissertation, they will have to know how to write a literature review – a survey of scholarly sources. These can journal articles or books. Like with any academic text, the review will need an introduction, body, and conclusion.
To select the best suited theoretical framework for your dissertation research:
- Identify your beliefs
- Consider several theories that broaden your way of thinking about the concepts in your study.
- Understand why each theory is important to you.
- Do a literature review to find support for your theories.
- Review how others have applied the theories you are thinking of.
- Consider arguments that oppose your theories.
- Provide answers to the study’s purpose.
- Select one theoretical framework that provides a solid plan for your readers.
What is Theoretical Framework?
Another word for the framework is structure, and with these frameworks, students want to know where you use the framework and what effect it has on their research. There are books and articles online that provide direct explanations to answer these questions.
The theoretical framework must show an understanding of theories relevant to the topic of your research paper. Simply put, the theoretical framework definition is that the framework provides a general background to support your investigation, providing readers with a justification for your studies of the particular topic. The whole purpose of this kind of essay is to demonstrate that the relationships you propose are formed from facts that come from authors of previous research.
The theoretical framework is an important aspect of the research process. When students request examples of theoretical framework nursing to understand the nature of the framework, they see that it is the answer to a couple of basic questions -‘what is the problem’ and ‘why is your particular approach feasible’.
Different types of theoretical frameworks are likened to a lens for examining a topic. There are different lenses – social theories or economic theories for instance – all used to define concepts and explain phenomena.
The theoretical framework will explain the key concepts in your research and discuss relevant theories based on a literature review.
A framework will give your research a sound scientific basis and give it direction, allowing you to explain your findings.
A theoretical framework in qualitative research can be developed based on your research problem and objective. The purpose of the conceptual framework is to illustrate your research approach in such a way as to make it easy for readers to understand your research.
Theoretical frameworks are important theory-testing studies and need to be well-thought-out. These frameworks are important in exploratory studies, where you don’t know much.
Theoretical framework in research is important as it allows your readers to form a concept of the study as the study has all the knowledge components to support the purpose of the research.
Theoretical Framework Examples
When you request theoretical framework examples, you’ll see it’s detailed in the opening pages of the essay or report and written as formally as a research paper. The samples will suggest you assume your readers aren’t experts on the subject.
- An example will suggest you introduce your reader to the subject.
- Summarize the various approaches researchers before you have taken.
- Introduce your project
- Complete your framework by describing the ways your project connects to your core idea
How does the Framework strengthen your Study?
- Allows readers to evaluate your assumptions critically.
- Connects researchers to knowledge as they have a basis for different investigation methods to choose from.
- Makes you tackle basic questions and move from describing to generalizing.
Without a theoretical framework, the structure of a study is unclear. A theoretical framework provides you with scientific proof for your project because it proves that theories that exist support your research.
There aren’t any hard and fast rules as to the length of your framework, but as a guide, 3 – 5 pages will do. Write an interesting introduction that will catch the readers’ interest and include a strong thesis.
Structuring your Framework
There are no hard and fast rules to follow. The idea is to create its logical structure by drawing on key terms. The framework mostly appears at the onset of the research paper and is a key part of the paper’s structure. It’s a summary of the writings in the field you are researching. It needs to provide a critique of each work, and not just be a summary of articles to which you refer.
Conceptual Framework vs Theoretical Framework
These are similar terms with little difference between them. Researchers need to simply adopt one of the terms and adhere to that particular term throughout their work. They can’t be used interchangeably and you can’t have both within your study.
A theoretical framework comes from existing theories in the literature that have already been tested and accepted by others. A conceptual framework is a specific direction the research will take, and the relationship between the different variables in the study.
Summing Up
A theoretical framework can support your theory. If you want a theoretical framework example, you can find them online and they give you a sense of what this part of your dissertation may look like.
Making an effective theoretical framework isn’t easy, as many students have already found. It’s not surprising then that many students turn to qualified, professional writers who get the job done to improve their grades.