In this article, I want to teach you how to write a good theoretical framework for your research and project. Over the years, this question keeps coming up, such that students and researchers do not fully and clearly understand what a theoretical framework means and how to go about it. This article seeks to provide a thorough guide on how to do it accurately.
What is Theoretical Framework?
A theoretical Framework can be defined as a systematical and foundational review of various theories by other authors, which serves as a roadmap and blueprint that guides a researcher in effectively developing his argument. The goal of a theoretical framework is to explain the models and theories that several authors developed. They provide backbone for your research
Hence, the major aim of a theoretical framework is to enable a research discuss relevant theories so as to achieve the objectives of the study. The theoretical framework is a very vital component of the literature review. The literature review section of a research work enables a research to review several and relevant literature that will aid him in achieving the stated aim and objectives. Theories are very important part of research and as such reviewing some of them becomes very important. It is important to know that there are several theories around almost every research area. Hence, I will show you how to find them.
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How to find related theories to your work
After understanding what a theoretical framework means, it is important to know how to find relevant theories that will guide what you are doing. Getting relevant theories is not as difficult as many people think it is. There are only two simple steps I will recommend as a help.
- #1 Get relevant literature: While going through related literature for your literature review, pay attention to some of the theories that were used by those authors. The theories other authors used may also fit into your work. Hence, you can go ahead to make use of them. But ensure you do not copy and paste word for word in order not to be guilty of plagiarism. When you have gotten several theories, go ahead and paraphrase.
- #2 Conduct a random search for theories in your topic of research: For example, suppose we are working on a research topic, “Effect of Politicians’ Leadership Styles on the Wellbeing of Their Subjects”. The researcher must first understand the different leadership styles that could be possessed by people. He can further use any preferred search engine or AI tool to query the various leadership theories. With this, the researcher could get up to ten different leadership theories on leadership. Hence he can process to review those theories.
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Points to note
- #1 Your theory must be in line with your objectives. This is why you must state your objectives before coming to the section of theoretical framework. Using he topic above as an example, we have some leadership theories such as, Trait Theory, Behavioural Theory, Contingency Theory, Transformational Theory, Servant Leadership Theory, Situational Leadership Theory, Path-Goal Theory, Leader-Member Theory, Charismatic Leadership Theory, Adaptive Leadership Theory etc. It is not necessary to discuss all these theories in the theoretical framework. Suppose the object of the study focuses on 3 leadership styles, the researcher should then pay attention to those theories that suites the leadership styles specified in the objectives.
- #2 State at least three theories: Some journals and institutions have an expected number of theories needed for the theoretical framework. But in situations where no number was specified, ensure you provide at least three theories.
- #3 Take note of outdated theories: Sometimes, theories can be outdated. This happens when a theory overtime has been countered or disproved by another theory. Hence, you must ensure not to work on outdated theories.
- #4 Most times, when the theory was propounded does not matter: While writing your empirical review, some journals and institutions proposed articles not older that 10years as the case maybe. This is not the same for theories. As far as the theory has not been disproved, you can make use of it without minding when it was propounded. For example, Boyles and Charles laws remain very vital laws in Chemistry, not minding the fact each of them was propounded over 2 decades ago.
How to write a good Theoretical Framework
This is the crux of this article. Remember that this article is aimed at teaching you how to write a good theoretical framework for your research work. Hence, the process of writing a good theoretical framework has been summarized in the worksheet below.
WORKSHEET FOR THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK PROPOSED BY INFODUCATION
| S/NO | NAME OF THEORY | NAME OF PROPONENT | YEAR PROPOSED | STATE THE THEORY | PARAPHRASE THE THEORY | RELEVANCE TO YOUR WORK |
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | ||||||
| 3 |
- #1 Name of theory: The first step is to know the name of the theory you want to review. For example, suppose the theory is “trait theory”, you have successfully answered the question of naming the theory
- #2 Name of proponent: If you want to review the trait theory, then you must know who propounded it. It does not make sense to review a theory you do not know who proposed it.
- #3 Year Propounded: The researcher must also find out the year the theory, law or model was propounded. In addition to the name of the proponent, find out the year also.
- #4 State the theory: Here, state the theory as it was stated by the proponent. In a situation where there is a change the vocabulary used as a result of outdated words, you can state the theory using the recent update.
- #5 Paraphrase the theory: As an anti-plagiarism measure, paraphrase the theory in your own word, but ensure it still retains its original meaning. This will help you to transcribe another person’s theory in the way you understand it.
- #6 Relevance to your work: The final step in the worksheet proposed here is to clearly state how the theory is related to your work. Bear in mind that in choosing the theory to use, you must have clearly stated and understood your objectives. This will help you to do the right thing in the right way
Bottom line
In choosing the theories and models to use, ensure to use the worksheet above as a guideline. Fill the various fields as provided and try to get about 8 theories. The “relevance to your work” column will then help you know which theory to adopt and which one to discard. Hence, in transferring the table to your work, lift the information you provided in the following columns; Name of theory, Name of proponent, Year Propounded, Paraphrase the theory and Relevance to your work.
You should not state the theory word-for-word so that when your work is been accessed with any plagiarism checker, the plagiarism level will be low. Also, in the last column (relevance to work), you may only provide little information of how the theory relates to your work, but in the main work, ensure you explain its relevance in details.
If you choose to use this worksheet above as a guide, remember that theoretical framework is not written in tabular form. As such, extract the information you provided from the table and make use of it in the literature review section. I hope this article provides clear directives on how to write a good theoretical framework?
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