You want to learn how to write a good conceptual framework? Here In research, it is important to identify various components and sections that makes up a comprehensive and accurate research. Basically, depending on the format been used by your institution or the journal you want to publish on, there must be a section called literature review. For a project work, this section comes in the chapter two of your work. The literature review is mostly made up of four constituent parts which are; conceptual framework, theoretical framework, empirical review and summary of related literature. It is in this section/chapter you identify the research gaps which form the bedrock for the entire research to be conducted.
In this article, the focus is on conceptual framework and how to write a good one at that. This is part of the building block for your study which must be properly and correctly carried out in your academic work. A good understanding of how to write a good conceptual framework will place your work on the positive pedestal.
What is a conceptual framework?
A conceptual framework is part of the literature review that illustrates what is expected of a research. Although the outcome of a research may not be known at the beginning, but it is good to have an expected and anticipated outcome. This will help give a clearer direction to your study. Hence, a conceptual framework help achieve that aim.
Furthermore, the conceptual framework defines the relevant and necessary variables in your research and clearly state how they are related. Every single variable in your study must be linked to one or more variables. This implies that there is no standalone variable in any research at all. With this, the conceptual framework will help you identify your relevant variables and the connections between them. The variables could be simple or multiple as the case may be. The conceptual framework can either be in written form or in graphical forms. In written form, it involves clearly explaining the concepts of all the variables in detail to provide a guideline for the work. While in graphical form, it involves the use of diagrams to clearly portray the variable and establish the links between them.
Steps in designing your conceptual framework
As simple as it maybe or as difficult as it may be on the other hand, it is important to know that in developing the conceptual framework there are simple steps to be followed. They include;
Develop your topic: The first step in developing a good and clear conceptual framework is to develop a topic. Generally speaking, the first point in carrying out a research is to develop the topic. This will tell you what exactly you are doing and how to go about it.
State your research objectives: Having developed your topic, it is important to clearly state your research objectives. This will make it easier for you to know the various variables that are involved in your study. You may wish to have between 2-4 research objectives which will break the topic into smaller units.
Identify your research variables: Having developed your topic, the next thing to do is to identify the various variables needed in the study. With this, you will understand the relevant elements and components that makes up the conceptual framework. Having identified the relevant variables in the study, you must also be able to establish links between each of these variables.
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Do a literature review based on the variables: Having identified the relevant variables needed in your study, the next thing is to conduct a detailed literature review for each of the stated variables identified. This will help you have a clearer understanding of these variables and how to use them in your study. It will also help you find out what other researchers have been able to achieve with those variables.
Make a chart or diagram based on the variables: The next thing to do is to make a chart based on the variables and be able to establish the relationship between them. Remember that as earlier stated, the conceptual framework can either be written or appear in picture. Hence, this step is for the case where there is need for a pictorial representation of the conceptual framework. This diagram with give a first-hand information and detail on the kind of variables used for your study and the relationship between them.
Models used in developing a conceptual framework
While I look at teaching you how to write a good conceptual framework, it is important to state that there are different models used to develop the conceptual framework, but for this study, we will look at only two in detail.
IV-DV Model
IV-DV means Independent variable and dependent variable. This model is used to test or determine a cause-and-effect relationship by identifying the dependent and independent variables. It is worthy of note here that we can have more than one independent variable in a study and hence that should not be confused. An example of the IV-DV model can be explained using he topic, โTeachers instructional strategies and how it affect studentsโ academic performanceโ. Using the IV-DV model, this topic can be represented below;
From the diagram above, this is a clear representation of the IV-DV Model for a conceptual framework. Here, we see that the independent variable is the teachers instructional strategies while the dependent variable is the Academic performance. This means that the academic performance of students depends on the teachers instructional strategies. But remember that as stated earlier, we can have more than one independent variables. Hence, the independent variable โ Teachers Instructional Strategies, can be broken into the various instructional strategies which involves, Brainstorming, jigsaw, Concept mapping etc. Hence, each of these becomes a variable and you must be able to establish links between them and the dependent variable.
Input-Process-Output (IPO) Model
The IPO model is a functional graph or pictorial representation that identifies the input, output and the necessary processing activities that must be done in order to transform input to output. This model is mostly configured to include any storage that could be involved in the process. The input represents the flow of materials, data, information and other resources into the process from the outside world. The processing stage involves all tasks that is required to transform the input into meaningful output. The output represents the materials flowing out of the entire process. A pictorial example can be seen below;
From the diagram above, we see that the input is the content. The content represents everything the teacher is supposed to teach. The process involves the instructional strategies the teacher adopts while the output is the expected result, which is the studentsโ academic performance.
Conclusion
A good conceptual framework will help you understand the flow to adopt in your study. Hence, you must as a researcher, pay rapt attention to the conceptual framework and how to develop it correctly. If a researcher does not get it correctly while developing the conceptual framework, he/she will most likely not achieve the objectives of the study. Hence follow this guide and you will definitely learn how to write a good conceptual framework and in turn achieve a successful study.
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