Running Head: THEORECTICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
1
THEORECTICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
4
Theoretical/Conceptual Framework Assignment
Gretchen Carte
University of Phoenix
DOC/723: Doctoral Semina
Dr. Tiffani Bateman
May 28, 2022
Relation of Located Dissertations to Chosen Research Design
The dissertations from the university li
ary and selected for the research purpose have helped mold the conceptual framework for my research. These dissertations also framed a theoretical framework, which helped me understand different theories related to summer reading loss. To design one for the cu
ent research, it was required to study in depth the available theories so that a workable framework can be developed which has effectiveness when applied in schools.
Theoretical or Conceptual Framework
The research on summer reading is a qualitative study for which several articles were reviewed and available to the scholar as resourceful literature. It is the right fit for the research because it focuses on collecting data through communication and open-ended conversations. The focus is more on why rather than what. The focus groups from schools, li
aries, income groups, and teachers were considered to get the data.
Various programs used by schools are used as a measure to improve summer reading loss. These programs help collect numeric data estimates regarding students who eagerly participated, how the improvement was monitored, the implications of such actions, and how it will positively affect their academic performance.
The literature was also helpful in understanding the application of theory and materializing the conceptual framework. The below-mentioned figure represents the conceptual framework.
Figure: Conceptual Framework
This paper aims to provide the essence of conceptual and theoretical frameworks. Conceptual and theoretical frameworks are aspects that often overlook the basics of research. However, it is not easy to distinguish whether a theory or framework is right or wrong. Therefore, it is crucial to determine how they can be employed in guiding a research study and be described as the results of a study.
The Conceptual Framework of a dissertation represents how the author will explore the problem and is generally affiliated with qualitative research (Laureate Education, XXXXXXXXXXFirst, the author identifies this study's conceptual framework, which will be used to complete a program evaluation (Ayers, 2011).
The Conceptual Framework helps understand what government interventions were taken and how external partners participated in the programs (Hall, XXXXXXXXXXProgram mediators and program components will measure the summer programs and their impact on children's learning curve.
Summer activities and school intervention by giving reading goals as summer holiday homework helped parents get involved and take help from public li
aries or neighborhoods to ensure that their children read and build fluency and vocabulary with the language.
Quantitative or Qualitative Methodology
The qualitative methodology is used for the research. Seemingly, a qualitative study helps study the beliefs, aspirations, motivations, meanings, perceptions, and values of the research participants concerning living contexts and subjectivity (Brooks, XXXXXXXXXXThe qualitative methodology sheathes. The qualitative method can accommodate a
oad spectrum of research methodologies, so different epistemological assumptions.
This planned and strategic design aims to answer the research question governed by philosophy, methods, and methodology. Various theories like Faucet theory and social–learning theory were included so that data collected can justify the impact of theories on summer reading loss. It will also be helpful in purposive sampling to develop a theory.
The nature of the research problem also played a role in deciding the methodology for qualitative study. For instance, how summer readings from leisure activity become a vital part of academic performance since it has been tried to establish a relationship between summer reading and academic performance.
References
Ayres, K. D XXXXXXXXXXA summative program evaluation of a systemic intervention on student
achievement and AP participation (Doctoral dissertation, pp. 18–21). Retrieved from
http:
scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&context=dilley
Brooks, L. R. (2021). A Study of Retention Through the Effectiveness in Academic Support Services at a Historically Black College: A Case Study (Order No XXXXXXXXXXAvailable from Dissertations & Theses @ University of Phoenix XXXXXXXXXXhttps:
www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/study-retention-through-effectiveness-academic/docview/ XXXXXXXXXX/se-2?accountid=35812
Hall, D. (2022). Salient Beliefs of Obese Individuals: A Qualitative Study Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (Order No XXXXXXXXXXAvailable from Dissertations & Theses @ University of Phoenix XXXXXXXXXXhttps:
www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/salient-beliefs-obese-individuals-qualitative/docview/ XXXXXXXXXX/se-2?accountid=35812
Laureate Education (Producer XXXXXXXXXXTheoretical/conceptual framework [Media file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
39
Biologist Bernd Heinrich (1984, pp. 141–151) and his associates once spent a summer
conducting detailed, systematic research on ant lions, small insects that trap ants in pits
they have dug. Returning to the university in the fall, Heinrich was surprised to dis-
cover that his results were quite different from those published by other researchers.
Redoing his experiments the following summer to try to understand these discrepan-
cies, Heinrich found that he and his fellow researchers had been led astray by an unex-
amined assumption they had made about the ant lions’ time frame: Their observations
hadn’t been long enough to detect some key aspects of these insects’ behavior. As he
concluded, “Even carefully collected results can be misleading if the underlying context
of assumptions is wrong” (p. 151).
For this reason, the conceptual framework of your study—the system of concepts,
assumptions, expectations, beliefs, and theories that supports and informs your
esearch—is a key part of your design (Miles & Huberman, 1994; Robson, XXXXXXXXXXMiles
and Huberman XXXXXXXXXXdefined a conceptual framework as a visual or written product,
one that “explains, either graphically or in na
ative form, the main things to be stud-
ied—the key factors, concepts, or variables—and the presumed relationships among
them” (p XXXXXXXXXXHere, I use the term in a
oader sense, to refer to the actual ideas and
eliefs that you hold about the phenomena studied, whether these are written down or
not; this may also be called the “theoretical framework” or “idea context” for the study.
A valuable guide to developing a conceptual framework and using this throughout the
esearch process, with detailed analyses of four actual studies, is Ravitch and Riggan,
Reason & Rigor: How Conceptual Frameworks Guide Research XXXXXXXXXXFull disclosure:
Sharon Ravitch is a former student of mine, and I wrote the foreword for the book.)
The most important thing to understand about your conceptual framework is that it
is primarily a conception or model of what is out there that you plan to study, and of
what is going on with these things and why—a tentative theory of the phenomena that
you are investigating. The function of this theory is to inform the rest of your design—
to help you to assess and refine your goals, develop realistic and relevant research
questions, select appropriate methods, and identify potential validity threats to your
3
Conceptual Framework
What Do You Think Is Going On?
40 QualITaTIve ReseaRch DesIGn
conclusions. It also helps you justify your research, something I discuss in more detail
in Chapter 7. In this chapter, I discuss the different sources for this theory, and how to
use theory effectively in your design. I describe the nature of theory in more detail later
in the chapter, in dealing with the uses of existing theory. Here, I want to emphasize
that your conceptual framework is a theory, however tentative or incomplete it may be.
What is often called the “research problem” is a part of your conceptual framework,
and formulating the research problem is often seen as a key task in designing your
study. It is part of your conceptual framework (although it is often treated as a separate
component of a research design or proposal) because it identifies something that is
going on in the world, something that is itself problematic or that has consequences that
are problematic. Your research problem functions (in combination with your goals) to
justify your study, to show people why your research is important. In addition, this
problem is presumably something that is not fully understood, or that we don’t ade-
quately know how to deal with; therefore, we want more information about it. Not
every study will have an explicit statement of a research problem, but every good
esearch design contains an implicit or explicit identification of some issue or problem,
intellectual or practical, about which more information is needed. (The justification of
“needed” is where your goals come into play.)
Many writers identify the part of a research design, proposal, or published paper that
deals with the conceptual framework of a study as the literature review. This can be a
dangerously misleading term. In developing your conceptual framework, you should
not simply review and summarize some body of theoretical or empirical publications,
for three reasons:
1. It can lead to a na
ow focus on the literature, ignoring other conceptual resources that may
e of equal or greater importance for your study. As Locke, Spirduso, and Silverman (1993)
pointed out, “In any active area of inquiry the cu
ent knowledge base is not in the
li
ary—it is in the invisible college of informal associations among research workers”
(p. 48). This knowledge can be found in unpublished papers, dissertations in progress, and
grant applications, as well as in the heads of researchers working in this field. Locke,
Spirduso, and Silverman emphasized that “The best introduction to the cu
ent status of a
esearch area is close association with advisors who know the te
itory” (p. 49). In addition,
an exclusive orientation toward the literature leads you to ignore your own experience,
your speculative thinking (discussed later in the section titled “Thought Experiments”), and
any pilot and exploratory research that you’ve done.
2. It tends to generate a strategy of “covering the field” rather than focusing specifically on
those studies and theories that are particularly relevant to your research (for more on this,
see Maxwell, XXXXXXXXXXLiterature reviews that lose sight of this need for relevance often
degenerate into a series of “book reports” on the literature, with no clear connecting thread
or argument. The relevant studies may be only a small part of the research in a defined
field, and may range across a number of different approaches and disciplines.2 The most
productive conceptual frameworks are often those that
ing in ideas from outside the
traditionally defined field of your study, or that integrate different approaches, lines of
investigation, or theories that no one had previously connected. Bernd Heinrich used Adam
Smith’s The Wealth of Nations in developing a theory of bumblebee foraging and energy
chapTeR 3 CoNCEpTuAL FRAMEWoRk 41
alance that emphasized individual initiative, competition, and a spontaneous division of
labor, rather than genetic determination or centralized control (Heinrich, 1979,