Theoretical Framework

 Theories are formulated to explain, predict, and understand phenomena and, in many
cases, to challenge and extend existing knowledge within the limits of critical bounding
assumptions. 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 that explains why the research problem under study exists.
Abend, Gabriel. "The Meaning of Theory." Sociological Theory 26 (June 2008): 173–199; Swanson, Richard
A. Theory Building in Applied Disciplines. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2013.
 It is a group of related ideas that provides guidance to a research project or business
endeavor.
 The theoretical framework is a structure that supports the theory that explains why the
research problem you are studying exists.
 The theoretical framework demonstrates your understanding of the concepts related to the
research paper and the broader topic.
 Kinds of Theories

 Pictorial: An image or picture that helps to grasp the reality of a sentence.

 Descriptive: Descriptive theories aim at describing a certain object under study, where describe is
understood in the broad sense and includes explain, predict, etc. Thus, the term encompasses theories that
attempt to describe a certain phenomenon, process, or state of affairs in the past, present, or future.
 Associational: Association is a connection between two social phenomena that varies according to variations
in the others and it also says what phenomena appears or goes together.
 Causal: A collection of statements that focuses on some phenomena that are caused by other phenomena.
 Implicational: A collection of statements that indicates that some phenomena are implied by other
phenomena.
 Operational: A set of conditions that make things happen or cause parts of reality to reappear.
 Importance of Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework is one of the main parts of the research manuscript.  It should be
presented in the first section of all dissertations.
 It is the structure that holds or supports a theory by introducing and describing it as to what research
problem it exists.
 It demonstrates an understanding of theories and concepts relevant to the topic of the research.  And it
provides the broader areas of knowledge under consideration.
 The explicit statement of the theoretical assumptions enables its reader to evaluate it critically.
 It connects the researcher to the existing knowledge through guidance by relevant theory, also, by providing
the basis of the hypotheses and the choices of the research methods.
 It helps researchers to generalize the various aspects of an observed phenomenon from simply describing it
and also identifies their limits.
 Importance of Theoretical Framework
 It specifies the key variables that influence a phenomenon of interest and highlights the necessity to
examine them for what circumstances they might differ.
 It limits the scope of the relevant data by focusing on a specific variable, and also, defines the view the
researcher should take in analyzing and interpreting the data to be collected.
 By validating and challenging theoretical assumptions, it facilitates the understanding of concepts and
variables as per the given definitions and builds new knowledge.
 It helps to address the questions of ‘how’ and ‘why’ by articulating the theoretical assumptions of a research.

The theoretical framework is vital to all researches to clarify the implicit theory in a manner that is more clearly
defined. It may also provide researchers to consider their limitations and alternative theories that challenge
their perspective.  It is what all academic supervisors check in the first place, and they better understand the
research problem with the right theoretical framework.