ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES JOURNAL: CONNECTING EDUCATION, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH
16Grant & Osanloo
DOI: 10.5929/2014.4.2.9
Similarly, most professional practice dissertations and research articles follow the typical format of Statement of the
Problem, Literature Review, Methods or Research Design, Presentation of the Data, and Discussion. Yet the contents
of each section or chapter will vary from student to student, and must be consistent with the theoretical framework
selected for the dissertation as a whole.
The oor plan of the dissertation blueprint contains the theoretical principles, constructs, concepts, and tenants
of a theory. Specic conceptual elements of a theory (i.e. the interior of a home) must align with the researcher’s
theoretical framework. Thus, you would not expect to walk into a bungalow style home and nd massive stucco walls
with rounded edges, which are characteristic of an adobe style house. In reference to the dissertation blueprint, if you
select transformational leadership as your theoretical framework, each chapter should connect to theorists who have
written about leadership and concepts drawn from this framework. It would not be appropriate to discuss variables
that do not relate to principles of transformational leadership (e.g. gender, age, or ethnicity). This would be akin to
placing stucco, rounded walls in your Craftsman style home. Principles and constructs (the interior blueprint) that
do not derive from your theoretical worldview of the study (the exterior blueprint) would be inconsistent and out of
place.
Before committing to a research design, you must rst consider the guiding principles for your inquiry so that readers
will understand how you have situated the problem of study in relation to a theoretical context. The theory selected for
your study oers a conceptual basis for understanding, analyzing, and designing ways to investigate a problem. Thus,
you need to know how you will dene and approach your research problem and provide a rationale for how and why
you are conducting your study in order for the reader to get a sense for where you stand on the problem itself. This
belief is supported by Maxwell, who wrote, “The function of this theory is to inform the rest of your design—to help
you to assess and rene your goals, develop realistic and relevant research questions, select appropriate methods,
and identify potential validity threats to your conclusions. It also helps you justify your research” (2004, pp. 33-34).
Embedded within the discussion of a theoretical framework is an explanation of a conceptual framework. While these
two ideas are similar in nature, they do dier in their approach, style, and utilization within a dissertation. This is an
important distinction for doctoral students to understand and grasp.
The Difference Between a Theoretical and Conceptual Framework
Theoretical frameworks are sometimes referred to as a conceptual framework; however, these terms are neither
interchangeable nor synonymous. They can be vague and lead to confusion for students and dissertation committee
members alike. As such, it is important and necessary to dierentiate these terms.
We distinguish the two terms by clarifying that a theoretical framework is derived from an existing theory (or theories)
in the literature that has already been tested and validated by others and is considered a generally acceptable theory
in the scholarly literature. As Merriam (2001) proposed, it is the researcher’s lens with which to view the world. It is the
responsibility of the doctoral student to make a unique application of the selected theory (or theories) so as to apply
theoretical constructs to his or her dissertation study.
Traditionally, theoretical frameworks are developed a priori, or before data collection in quantitative designs.
However, a theoretical framework may also involve a theory that is developed in the course of the dissertation
study. Qualitative research designs may begin with a structured, or perhaps less structured theoretical framework to
keep the researcher from forcing preconceptions on the ndings. In the latter case, the theoretical framework often
emerges in the data analysis phase. Our dissertation committee work has focused almost exclusively on working
with students who “borrow” blueprints from someone else’s theory and use those plans to build their own home. For
example, one of our doctoral candidates used Burns (1978) transformational leadership theory to investigate how
school leaders implemented a change process in a K-12 environment. Principles and concepts of transformational
leadership were threaded throughout all chapters of the dissertation.
We believe this approach towards the utilization of theoretical frameworks can be used with qualitative, quantitative,
and mixed method designs. However, we recognize that doctoral candidates are capable of crafting their own
blueprint for a new theory to be developed a posteriori as a result of their research endeavors.
On the other hand, a conceptual framework, in our view, is the researcher’s understanding of how the research