In the comments of one of my quantitative
research videos I was asked: “how do you
support your study relationship based on a
theoretical or conceptual framework?”
That is a great question!
There has been a large push from academic
institutions and journals in recent years
for the explicit use of these frameworks in
research studies.
Theoretical or conceptual frameworks are used
to support research in many ways.
More than one framework may even be useful
in your research.
How they guide the development of a research
study depends on your question and research
design.
Sometimes you need to know your theory before
you begin your study and other times it makes
more sense to select it after data collection.
I always tell my students that the research
question should drive all of the decisions
in a study.
Keep in mind, however, that sometimes your
question actually comes from the theoretical
framework.
If your research is about testing, confirming,
refuting, expanding on, refining or adding
to an existing theory then you need to be
sure you know what it is before the study
begins and I would explain that theory in
the literature review section of your paper.
When you get to the results section of that
paper it would likely make sense to organise
your results in the same way the theory is
organised.
In the discussion section you can then examine
how your results and other literature either
support or refute the theory.
Sometimes you will not set out to discuss
a particular theory.
A theoretical or conceptual framework will
still be useful to support your question or
organise your findings.
When using a theory to support your question
the theory needs to relate to the reason why
you are doing the study.
In Killam and Heerschap (2012) we used a theory
about force field analysis to justify examining
student perceptions of challenges to their
learning in the clinical setting.
Basically, the theory talks about how change
occurs when positive forces outweigh negative
ones.
Therefore, if educators want students to be
safe we need to remove barriers to students
practicing safely.
In order to remove these barriers we need
to know what they are.
And there you have how the theory supported
the reason for asking the question.
Quite honestly we added this theory in after
the study was completed because the journal
required that we have one.
Our selected methodology, however, supported
conducting the study without a theoretical
frame up-front.
We developed our own model to explain the
findings.
The theory did work well with discussion section
that had already been written for the paper.
I have done a few qualitative studies where
I wanted to examine a topic broadly and have
subsequently found a theory that helped me
organise and explain the findings.
For example, in Killam and Carter (2010) the
Ecological model was used to organise the
findings of a literature review about challenges
that student nurses face while on clinical
placement in rural settings.
We did not select the Ecological Model as
a lens until after the review was completed
and we were in the process of analysing the
data.
You can look at this article for free by clicking
on the link below this video.
Notice that the Ecological Model is introduced
in the literature review, used in the findings
section to organise the collected data and
again in the discussion.
Originally we had used all the headings from
the model in the discussion section but due
to space limitations we had to condense it.
When writing it up we did link the selection
of the framework to the question.
You will find that if you select the right
framework the question and findings will fit
nicely with it and the entire paper will flow
nicely, making a high quality product.
If your research is designed to generate a
new theory it would make sense that you don’t
know what it is before you begin.
If so, you will want to explain the concepts
you are examining in the literature review.
In your findings you would then build the
case for your theory based on your study data.
Then in the discussion you would talk about
how pre-existing literature also supports
your theory.
Another use for theory is to explain the culture
of the group being studied or the worldview
of the researcher.
In qualitative studies it is useful to know
these things when assessing the quality and
transferability of the study.
Sometimes studies will present a conceptual
framework, which may include discussion of
multiple views of a particular concept like
in Killam et al. (2012).
The entire paper still flows because it is
about one topic but there is no clear pre-existing
theory supporting the entire paper.
What other ways have you seen theoretical
or conceptual frameworks used to support study
relationships?
Do you think journals should require a theoretical
framework in publications?
Why or why not?
Please share your views below.
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Thank you!
