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How to Use a Conceptual Framework for Better Research

A conceptual framework in research is not just a tool but a vital roadmap that guides the entire research process. It integrates various theories, assumptions, and beliefs to provide a structured approach to research. By defining a conceptual framework, researchers can focus their inquiries and clarify their hypotheses, leading to more effective and meaningful research outcomes.

What is a Conceptual Framework?

A conceptual framework is essentially an analytical tool that combines concepts and sets them within an appropriate theoretical structure. It serves as a lens through which researchers view the complexities of the real world. The importance of a conceptual framework lies in its ability to serve as a guide, helping researchers to not only visualize but also systematically approach their study.

Key Components and to be Analyzed During Research

• Theories: These are the underlying principles that guide the hypotheses and assumptions of the research.
• Assumptions: These are the accepted truths that are not tested within the scope of the research but are essential for framing the study.
• Beliefs: These often reflect the subjective viewpoints that may influence the interpretation of data.
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Together, these components help to define the conceptual framework that directs the research towards its ultimate goal. This structured approach not only improves clarity but also enhances the validity and reliability of the research outcomes. By using a conceptual framework, researchers can avoid common pitfalls and focus on essential variables and relationships.

For practical examples and to see how different frameworks can be applied in various research scenarios, you can Explore Conceptual Framework Examples .

Different Types of Conceptual Frameworks Used in Research

Understanding the various types of conceptual frameworks is crucial for researchers aiming to align their studies with the most effective structure. Conceptual frameworks in research vary primarily between theoretical and operational frameworks, each serving distinct purposes and suiting different research methodologies.

Theoretical vs Operational Frameworks

Theoretical frameworks are built upon existing theories and literature, providing a broad and abstract understanding of the research topic. They help in forming the basis of the study by linking the research to already established scholarly works. On the other hand, operational frameworks are more practical, focusing on how the study’s theories will be tested through specific procedures and variables.

• Theoretical frameworks are ideal for exploratory studies and can help in understanding complex phenomena.
• Operational frameworks suit studies requiring precise measurement and data analysis.

Choosing the Right Framework

Selecting the appropriate conceptual framework is pivotal for the success of a research project. It involves matching the research questions with the framework that best addresses the methodological needs of the study. For instance, a theoretical framework might be chosen for studies that aim to generate new theories, while an operational framework would be better suited for testing specific hypotheses.

Benefits of choosing the right framework include enhanced clarity, better alignment with research goals, and improved validity of research outcomes. Tools like Table Chart Maker can be instrumental in visually comparing the strengths and weaknesses of different frameworks, aiding in this crucial decision-making process.

Real-World Examples of Conceptual Frameworks in Research

Understanding the practical application of conceptual frameworks in research can significantly enhance the clarity and effectiveness of your studies. Here, we explore several real-world case studies that demonstrate the pivotal role of conceptual frameworks in achieving robust research conclusions.

• Healthcare Research: In a study examining the impact of lifestyle choices on chronic diseases, researchers used a conceptual framework to link dietary habits, exercise, and genetic predispositions. This framework helped in identifying key variables and their interrelations, leading to more targeted interventions.
• Educational Development: Educational theorists often employ conceptual frameworks to explore the dynamics between teaching methods and student learning outcomes. One notable study mapped out the influences of digital tools on learning engagement, providing insights that shaped educational policies.
• Environmental Policy: Conceptual frameworks have been crucial in environmental research, particularly in studies on climate change adaptation. By framing the relationships between human activity, ecological changes, and policy responses, researchers have been able to propose more effective sustainability strategies.

Adapting conceptual frameworks based on evolving research data is also critical. As new information becomes available, it’s essential to revisit and adjust the framework to maintain its relevance and accuracy, ensuring that the research remains aligned with real-world conditions.

For those looking to visualize and better comprehend their research frameworks, Graphic Organizers for Conceptual Frameworks can be an invaluable tool. These organizers help in structuring and presenting research findings clearly, enhancing both the process and the presentation of your research.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your Own Conceptual Framework

Creating a conceptual framework is a critical step in structuring your research to ensure clarity and focus. This guide will walk you through the process of building a robust framework, from identifying key concepts to refining your approach as your research evolves.

Building Blocks of a Conceptual Framework

• Identify and Define Main Concepts and Variables: Start by clearly identifying the main concepts, variables, and their relationships that will form the basis of your research. This could include defining key terms and establishing the scope of your study.
• Develop a Hypothesis or Primary Research Question: Formulate a central hypothesis or question that guides the direction of your research. This will serve as the foundation upon which your conceptual framework is built.
• Link Theories and Concepts Logically: Connect your identified concepts and variables with existing theories to create a coherent structure. This logical linking helps in forming a strong theoretical base for your research.

Visualizing and Refining Your Framework

Using visual tools can significantly enhance the clarity and effectiveness of your conceptual framework. Decision Tree Templates for Conceptual Frameworks can be particularly useful in mapping out the relationships between variables and hypotheses.

Map Your Framework: Utilize tools like Creately’s visual canvas to diagram your framework. This visual representation helps in identifying gaps or overlaps in your framework and provides a clear overview of your research structure.

Analyze and Refine: As your research progresses, continuously evaluate and refine your framework. Adjustments may be necessary as new data comes to light or as initial assumptions are challenged.

By following these steps, you can ensure that your conceptual framework is not only well-defined but also adaptable to the changing dynamics of your research.

Practical Tips for Utilizing Conceptual Frameworks in Research

Effectively utilizing a conceptual framework in research not only streamlines the process but also enhances the clarity and coherence of your findings. Here are some practical tips to maximize the use of conceptual frameworks in your research endeavors.

• Setting Clear Research Goals: Begin by defining precise objectives that are aligned with your research questions. This clarity will guide your entire research process, ensuring that every step you take is purposeful and directly contributes to your overall study aims. \
• Maintaining Focus and Coherence: Throughout the research, consistently refer back to your conceptual framework to maintain focus. This will help in keeping your research aligned with the initial goals and prevent deviations that could dilute the effectiveness of your findings.
• Data Analysis and Interpretation: Use your conceptual framework as a lens through which to view and interpret data. This approach ensures that the data analysis is not only systematic but also meaningful in the context of your research objectives. For more insights, explore Research Data Analysis Methods .
• Presenting Research Findings: When it comes time to present your findings, structure your presentation around the conceptual framework . This will help your audience understand the logical flow of your research and how each part contributes to the whole.
• Avoiding Common Pitfalls: Be vigilant about common errors such as overcomplicating the framework or misaligning the research methods with the framework’s structure. Keeping it simple and aligned ensures that the framework effectively supports your research.

By adhering to these tips and utilizing tools like 7 Essential Visual Tools for Social Work Assessment , researchers can ensure that their conceptual frameworks are not only robust but also practically applicable in their studies.

How Creately Enhances the Creation and Use of Conceptual Frameworks

Creating a robust conceptual framework is pivotal for effective research, and Creately’s suite of visual tools offers unparalleled support in this endeavor. By leveraging Creately’s features, researchers can visualize, organize, and analyze their research frameworks more efficiently.

• Visual Mapping of Research Plans: Creately’s infinite visual canvas allows researchers to map out their entire research plan visually. This helps in understanding the complex relationships between different research variables and theories, enhancing the clarity and effectiveness of the research process.
• Brainstorming with Mind Maps: Using Mind Mapping Software , researchers can generate and organize ideas dynamically. Creately’s intelligent formatting helps in brainstorming sessions, making it easier to explore multiple topics or delve deeply into specific concepts.
• Centralized Data Management: Creately enables the importation of data from multiple sources, which can be integrated into the visual research framework. This centralization aids in maintaining a cohesive and comprehensive overview of all research elements, ensuring that no critical information is overlooked.
• Communication and Collaboration: The platform supports real-time collaboration, allowing teams to work together seamlessly, regardless of their physical location. This feature is crucial for research teams spread across different geographies, facilitating effective communication and iterative feedback throughout the research process.

Moreover, the ability t Explore Conceptual Framework Examples directly within Creately inspires researchers by providing practical templates and examples that can be customized to suit specific research needs. This not only saves time but also enhances the quality of the conceptual framework developed.

In conclusion, Creately’s tools for creating and managing conceptual frameworks are indispensable for researchers aiming to achieve clear, structured, and impactful research outcomes.

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

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Chiraag George is a communication specialist here at Creately. He is a marketing junkie that is fascinated by how brands occupy consumer mind space. A lover of all things tech, he writes a lot about the intersection of technology, branding and culture at large.

Mastering Research Frameworks: 8 Step-by-Step Guide To A Success Academic Writing!

Introduction.

Research is a fundamental aspect of any academic or scientific endeavor. It involves the systematic investigation of a particular topic or problem to generate new knowledge or validate existing theories. However, conducting research can be a complex and challenging process, requiring careful planning and organization. This is where research frameworks come into play.

In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the concept of research frameworks and how they can help researchers in their work. We will discuss the components of a research framework, the different types of frameworks, and the methodology behind developing and implementing a research framework. Additionally, we will provide examples of research frameworks as samples to guide researchers in designing their own projects. For researchers looking to collaborate and enhance their research framework strategies, platforms like Researchmate.net offer valuable resources and networking opportunities.

What is a Research Framework?

A research framework refers to the overall structure, approach, and theoretical underpinnings that guide a research study. It is a systematic and organized plan that outlines the key elements of a research project, including the research questions, objectives, methodology, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques.

A research framework provides researchers with a roadmap to follow throughout the research process, ensuring that the study is conducted in a logical and coherent manner. It helps researchers to organize their thoughts, identify gaps in existing knowledge, and develop a clear research plan. By establishing a research framework, researchers can ensure that their study is rigorous, valid, and reliable, and that it contributes to the existing body of knowledge in their field. Overall, a research framework serves as a foundation for the research study, guiding the researcher in every step of the research process.

Components of a Research Framework

A research framework consists of several key components that work together to guide the research process. It is essentially a structured outline that serves as a guide for researchers to organize their thoughts, define research objectives, and plan the research process comprehensively. While there are various research framework templates available, they typically include the following components:

Problem Statement

The problem statement defines the research problem or question that the study aims to address. It provides a clear and concise statement of the issue that needs to be investigated. This often emerges from identifying a research gap in the existing literature, highlighting areas that lack sufficient study or have not been explored at all.

The research objectives outline the specific goals and outcomes that the study aims to achieve. These objectives help to focus the research and provide a clear direction for the study. The objectives should be measurable and aligned with the research question to ensure that the study is targeted and relevant.

Literature Review

The literature review is a critical component of a research framework. It involves reviewing existing research and literature related to the research topic. This helps to identify gaps in the current knowledge and provides a foundation for the study.

Theoretical or Conceptual Framework

The phrases ‘ conceptual framework ‘ and ‘ theoretical framework ‘ are often used to describe the overall structure that defines and outlines a research project. These frameworks are composed of theories, concepts, and models that serve as the foundation and guide for the research process.

Methodology

The research methodology outlines the methods and techniques that will be used to collect and analyze data. It includes details on the research design, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques.

Data Collection

Data collection method is a component of research methodology which involves collecting data from various sources, such as surveys, interviews , observations, or existing datasets. The data collected should be relevant to the research objectives and provide insights into the research problem.

Data Analysis

Data analysis involves organizing, interpreting, and analyzing the collected data. This can include statistical analysis, qualitative analysis, or a combination of both, depending on the research objectives and data collected.

Findings and Conclusion

The findings and conclusion section presents the results of the data analysis and discusses the implications of the findings. It summarizes the key findings, draws conclusions, and provides recommendations for future research or practical applications. It highlights the contribution of the study to the existing body of knowledge and suggests areas for further investigation.

These components work together to provide a comprehensive framework for conducting research. Each component plays a crucial role in guiding the research process and ensuring that the study is rigorous and valid.

Types of Research Frameworks

There are two types of research frameworks: theoretical and conceptual.

A theoretical framework is a single formal theory that is used as the basis for a study. It provides a set of concepts and principles that guide the research process. On the other hand, a conceptual framework is a broader framework that includes multiple concepts and theories. It provides a unified framework for understanding and analyzing a particular research problem. The two types of frameworks relate differently to the research question and design. The theoretical framework often inspires the research question based on the existing theory, while the conceptual framework helps in organizing and structuring the research process.

Both types of frameworks have their advantages and limitations. A theoretical framework provides a solid foundation for research and allows for the testing of specific hypotheses. However, it may be limited in its applicability to a specific research problem. On the other hand, a conceptual framework allows for a more holistic and comprehensive understanding of the research problem. It provides a framework for exploring multiple perspectives and theories. However, it may lack the specificity and precision of a theoretical framework.

In practice, researchers often use a combination of theoretical and conceptual frameworks to guide their research. They may start with a theoretical framework to establish a foundation and then use a conceptual framework to explore and analyze the research problem from different angles. The choice of research framework depends on the nature of the research problem, the research question, and the goals of the study. Researchers should carefully consider the advantages and limitations of each type of framework and select the most appropriate one for their specific research context.

Research Framework Methodology

Methodology is an essential component of a research framework as it provides a structured approach to conducting research projects. The methodology section of a research framework includes the research design, sampling design, data collection techniques, analysis, and interpretation of the data. These elements are crucial in ensuring the validity and reliability of the research finding as follows:

• The research design refers to the overall plan or strategy that researchers adopt to answer their research questions. It includes decisions about the type of research, the research approach, and the research paradigm. The research design provides a roadmap for the entire research process.
• Sampling design is another important aspect of the methodology. It involves selecting a representative sample from the target population. The sample should be chosen in such a way that it accurately represents the characteristics of the population and allows for generalization of the findings.
• Data collection techniques are the methods used to gather data for the research. These can include surveys, interviews, observations, experiments, or the analysis of existing data. The choice of data collection techniques depends on the research questions and the nature of the data being collected. Once the data is collected, it needs to be analyzed and interpreted. This involves organizing and summarizing the data, identifying patterns and trends, and drawing conclusions based on the findings.
• The analysis and interpretation of data are crucial in generating meaningful insights and answering the research questions.

Research Framework Examples

Example 1: Tourism Research Framework

One example of a research framework is a tourism research framework. This framework includes various components such as tourism systems and development models, the political economy and political ecology of tourism, and community involvement in tourism. By using this framework, researchers can analyze and understand the complex dynamics of tourism and its impact on communities and the environment.

Example 2: Educational Research Framework

Another example of a research framework is an educational research framework. This framework focuses on studying various aspects of education, such as teaching methods, curriculum development, and student learning outcomes. It may include components like educational theories, pedagogical approaches, and assessment methods. Researchers can use this framework to guide their studies and gain insights into improving educational practices and policies.

Example 3: Health Research Framework

A health research framework is another common example. This framework is used to investigate different aspects of health, such as disease prevention, healthcare delivery, and patient outcomes. It may include components like epidemiological models, healthcare systems analysis, and health behavior theories. Researchers can utilize this framework to design studies that contribute to the understanding and improvement of healthcare practices and policies.

Example 4: Business Research Framework

In the field of business, a research framework can be developed to study various aspects of business operations, management strategies, and market dynamics. This framework may include components like organizational theories, market analysis models, and strategic planning frameworks. Researchers can apply this framework to investigate business-related phenomena and provide valuable insights for decision-making and industry development.

Example 5: Social Science Research Framework

A social science research framework is designed to study human behavior, social structures, and societal issues. It may include components like sociological theories, psychological models, and qualitative research methods. Researchers in the social sciences can use this framework to explore and analyze various social phenomena, contributing to the understanding and improvement of society as a whole.

In conclusion, a research framework provides a structured approach to organizing and analyzing research data, allowing researchers to make informed decisions and draw meaningful conclusions. Throughout this guide, we have delved into the nature of research frameworks, including their components, types, methodologies, and practical examples. These frameworks are essential tools for conducting effective and efficient research, helping researchers streamline processes, enhance the quality of findings, and contribute significantly to their fields.

However, it is important to recognize that research frameworks are not a one-size-fits-all solution; they may need to be tailored to suit the specific objectives, scope, and context of individual research projects. While these frameworks provide essential structure, they should not replace critical thinking and creativity. Researchers are encouraged to remain open to new ideas and perspectives, adapting frameworks to meet their unique needs and navigate the complexities of the research process, thereby advancing knowledge within their disciplines.

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• What Is a Conceptual Framework? | Tips & Examples

What Is a Conceptual Framework? | Tips & Examples

Published on August 2, 2022 by Bas Swaen and Tegan George. Revised on March 18, 2024.

A conceptual framework illustrates the expected relationship between your variables. It defines the relevant objectives for your research process and maps out how they come together to draw coherent conclusions.

Keep reading for a step-by-step guide to help you construct your own conceptual framework.

Table of contents

Developing a conceptual framework in research, step 1: choose your research question, step 2: select your independent and dependent variables, step 3: visualize your cause-and-effect relationship, step 4: identify other influencing variables, frequently asked questions about conceptual models.

A conceptual framework is a representation of the relationship you expect to see between your variables, or the characteristics or properties that you want to study.

Conceptual frameworks can be written or visual and are generally developed based on a literature review of existing studies about your topic.

Your research question guides your work by determining exactly what you want to find out, giving your research process a clear focus.

However, before you start collecting your data, consider constructing a conceptual framework. This will help you map out which variables you will measure and how you expect them to relate to one another.

In order to move forward with your research question and test a cause-and-effect relationship, you must first identify at least two key variables: your independent and dependent variables .

• The expected cause, “hours of study,” is the independent variable (the predictor, or explanatory variable)
• The expected effect, “exam score,” is the dependent variable (the response, or outcome variable).

Note that causal relationships often involve several independent variables that affect the dependent variable. For the purpose of this example, we’ll work with just one independent variable (“hours of study”).

Now that you’ve figured out your research question and variables, the first step in designing your conceptual framework is visualizing your expected cause-and-effect relationship.

We demonstrate this using basic design components of boxes and arrows. Here, each variable appears in a box. To indicate a causal relationship, each arrow should start from the independent variable (the cause) and point to the dependent variable (the effect).

It’s crucial to identify other variables that can influence the relationship between your independent and dependent variables early in your research process.

Some common variables to include are moderating, mediating, and control variables.

Moderating variables

Moderating variable (or moderators) alter the effect that an independent variable has on a dependent variable. In other words, moderators change the “effect” component of the cause-and-effect relationship.

Let’s add the moderator “IQ.” Here, a student’s IQ level can change the effect that the variable “hours of study” has on the exam score. The higher the IQ, the fewer hours of study are needed to do well on the exam.

Let’s take a look at how this might work. The graph below shows how the number of hours spent studying affects exam score. As expected, the more hours you study, the better your results. Here, a student who studies for 20 hours will get a perfect score.

But the graph looks different when we add our “IQ” moderator of 120. A student with this IQ will achieve a perfect score after just 15 hours of study.

Below, the value of the “IQ” moderator has been increased to 150. A student with this IQ will only need to invest five hours of study in order to get a perfect score.

Here, we see that a moderating variable does indeed change the cause-and-effect relationship between two variables.

Mediating variables

Now we’ll expand the framework by adding a mediating variable . Mediating variables link the independent and dependent variables, allowing the relationship between them to be better explained.

Here’s how the conceptual framework might look if a mediator variable were involved:

In this case, the mediator helps explain why studying more hours leads to a higher exam score. The more hours a student studies, the more practice problems they will complete; the more practice problems completed, the higher the student’s exam score will be.

Moderator vs. mediator

It’s important not to confuse moderating and mediating variables. To remember the difference, you can think of them in relation to the independent variable:

• A moderating variable is not affected by the independent variable, even though it affects the dependent variable. For example, no matter how many hours you study (the independent variable), your IQ will not get higher.
• A mediating variable is affected by the independent variable. In turn, it also affects the dependent variable. Therefore, it links the two variables and helps explain the relationship between them.

Control variables

Lastly,  control variables must also be taken into account. These are variables that are held constant so that they don’t interfere with the results. Even though you aren’t interested in measuring them for your study, it’s crucial to be aware of as many of them as you can be.

A mediator variable explains the process through which two variables are related, while a moderator variable affects the strength and direction of that relationship.

A confounding variable is closely related to both the independent and dependent variables in a study. An independent variable represents the supposed cause , while the dependent variable is the supposed effect . A confounding variable is a third variable that influences both the independent and dependent variables.

Failing to account for confounding variables can cause you to wrongly estimate the relationship between your independent and dependent variables.

Yes, but including more than one of either type requires multiple research questions .

For example, if you are interested in the effect of a diet on health, you can use multiple measures of health: blood sugar, blood pressure, weight, pulse, and many more. Each of these is its own dependent variable with its own research question.

You could also choose to look at the effect of exercise levels as well as diet, or even the additional effect of the two combined. Each of these is a separate independent variable .

To ensure the internal validity of an experiment , you should only change one independent variable at a time.

A control variable is any variable that’s held constant in a research study. It’s not a variable of interest in the study, but it’s controlled because it could influence the outcomes.

A confounding variable , also called a confounder or confounding factor, is a third variable in a study examining a potential cause-and-effect relationship.

A confounding variable is related to both the supposed cause and the supposed effect of the study. It can be difficult to separate the true effect of the independent variable from the effect of the confounding variable.

In your research design , it’s important to identify potential confounding variables and plan how you will reduce their impact.

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A well-designed study doesn’t just happen. Researchers work hard to ensure the studies they conduct will be scientifically valid and will advance understanding in their field.

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• The importance of a conceptual framework

The main purpose of a conceptual framework is to improve the quality of a research study. A conceptual framework achieves this by identifying important information about the topic and providing a clear roadmap for researchers to study it.

Through the process of developing this information, researchers will be able to improve the quality of their studies in a few key ways.

Clarify research goals and objectives

A conceptual framework helps researchers create a clear research goal. Research projects often become vague and lose their focus, which makes them less useful. However, a well-designed conceptual framework helps researchers maintain focus. It reinforces the project’s scope, ensuring it stays on track and produces meaningful results.

Provide a theoretical basis for the study

Forming a hypothesis requires knowledge of the key variables and their relationship to each other. Researchers need to identify these variables early on to create a conceptual framework. This ensures researchers have developed a strong understanding of the topic before finalizing the study design. It also helps them select the most appropriate research and analysis methods.

Guide the research design

As they develop their conceptual framework, researchers often uncover information that can help them further refine their work.

Here are some examples:

Confounding variables they hadn’t previously considered

Sources of bias they will have to take into account when designing the project

Whether or not the information they were going to study has already been covered—this allows them to pivot to a more meaningful goal that brings new and relevant information to their field

• Steps to develop a conceptual framework

There are four major steps researchers will follow to develop a conceptual framework. Each step will be described in detail in the sections that follow. You’ll also find examples of how each might be applied in a range of fields.

Step 1: Choose the research question

The first step in creating a conceptual framework is choosing a research question . The goal of this step is to create a question that’s specific and focused.

By developing a clear question, researchers can more easily identify the variables they will need to account for and keep their research focused. Without it, the next steps will be more difficult and less effective.

Here are some examples of good research questions in a few common fields:

Natural sciences: How does exposure to ultraviolet radiation affect the growth rate of a particular type of algae?

Health sciences: What is the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy for treating depression in adolescents?

Business: What factors contribute to the success of small businesses in a particular industry?

Education: How does implementing technology in the classroom impact student learning outcomes?

Step 2: Select the independent and dependent variables

Once the research question has been chosen, it’s time to identify the dependent and independent variables .

The independent variable is the variable researchers think will affect the dependent variable . Without this information, researchers cannot develop a meaningful hypothesis or design a way to test it.

The dependent and independent variables for our example questions above are:

Natural sciences

Independent variable: exposure to ultraviolet radiation

Dependent variable: the growth rate of a particular type of algae

Health sciences

Independent variable: cognitive-behavioral therapy

Dependent variable: depression in adolescents

Independent variables: factors contributing to the business’s success

Dependent variable: sales, return on investment (ROI), or another concrete metric

Independent variable: implementation of technology in the classroom

Dependent variable: student learning outcomes, such as test scores, GPAs, or exam results

Step 3: Visualize the cause-and-effect relationship

This step is where researchers actually develop their hypothesis. They will predict how the independent variable will impact the dependent variable based on their knowledge of the field and their intuition.

With a hypothesis formed, researchers can more accurately determine what data to collect and how to analyze it. They will then visualize their hypothesis by creating a diagram. This visualization will serve as a framework to help guide their research.

The diagrams for our examples might be used as follows:

Natural sciences : how exposure to radiation affects the biological processes in the algae that contribute to its growth rate

Health sciences : how different aspects of cognitive behavioral therapy can affect how patients experience symptoms of depression

Business : how factors such as market demand, managerial expertise, and financial resources influence a business’s success

Education : how different types of technology interact with different aspects of the learning process and alter student learning outcomes

Step 4: Identify other influencing variables

The independent and dependent variables are only part of the equation. Moderating, mediating, and control variables are also important parts of a well-designed study. These variables can impact the relationship between the two main variables and must be accounted for.

A moderating variable is one that can change how the independent variable affects the dependent variable. A mediating variable explains the relationship between the two. Control variables are kept the same to eliminate their impact on the results. Examples of each are given below:

Moderating variable: water temperature (might impact how algae respond to radiation exposure)

Mediating variable: chlorophyll production (might explain how radiation exposure affects algae growth rate)

Control variable: nutrient levels in the water

Moderating variable: the severity of depression symptoms at baseline might impact how effective the therapy is for different adolescents

Mediating variable: social support might explain how cognitive-behavioral therapy leads to improvements in depression

Control variable: other forms of treatment received before or during the study

Moderating variable: the size of the business (might impact how different factors contribute to market share, sales, ROI, and other key success metrics)

Mediating variable: customer satisfaction (might explain how different factors impact business success)

Control variable: industry competition

Moderating variable: student age (might impact how effective technology is for different students)

Mediating variable: teacher training (might explain how technology leads to improvements in learning outcomes)

Control variable: student learning style

• Conceptual versus theoretical frameworks

Although they sound similar, conceptual and theoretical frameworks have different goals and are used in different contexts. Understanding which to use will help researchers craft better studies.

Conceptual frameworks describe a broad overview of the subject and outline key concepts, variables, and the relationships between them. They provide structure to studies that are more exploratory in nature, where the relationships between the variables are still being established. They are particularly helpful in studies that are complex or interdisciplinary because they help researchers better organize the factors involved in the study.

Theoretical frameworks, on the other hand, are used when the research question is more clearly defined and there’s an existing body of work to draw upon. They define the relationships between the variables and help researchers predict outcomes. They are particularly helpful when researchers want to refine the existing body of knowledge rather than establish it.

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What is a Theoretical Framework? How to Write It (with Examples) 

Theoretical framework 1,2 is the structure that supports and describes a theory. A theory is a set of interrelated concepts and definitions that present a systematic view of phenomena by describing the relationship among the variables for explaining these phenomena. A theory is developed after a long research process and explains the existence of a research problem in a study. A theoretical framework guides the research process like a roadmap for the research study and helps researchers clearly interpret their findings by providing a structure for organizing data and developing conclusions.   

A theoretical framework in research is an important part of a manuscript and should be presented in the first section. It shows an understanding of the theories and concepts relevant to the research and helps limit the scope of the research.  

Table of Contents

What is a theoretical framework ?  

A theoretical framework in research can be defined as a set of concepts, theories, ideas, and assumptions that help you understand a specific phenomenon or problem. It can be considered a blueprint that is borrowed by researchers to develop their own research inquiry. A theoretical framework in research helps researchers design and conduct their research and analyze and interpret their findings. It explains the relationship between variables, identifies gaps in existing knowledge, and guides the development of research questions, hypotheses, and methodologies to address that gap.  

Now that you know the answer to ‘ What is a theoretical framework? ’, check the following table that lists the different types of theoretical frameworks in research: 3

Developing a theoretical framework in research can help in the following situations: 4

• When conducting research on complex phenomena because a theoretical framework helps organize the research questions, hypotheses, and findings  
• When the research problem requires a deeper understanding of the underlying concepts  
• When conducting research that seeks to address a specific gap in knowledge  
• When conducting research that involves the analysis of existing theories  

Summarizing existing literature for theoretical frameworks is easy. Get our Research Ideation pack  

Importance of a theoretical framework  

The purpose of theoretical framework s is to support you in the following ways during the research process: 2  

• Provide a structure for the complete research process  
• Assist researchers in incorporating formal theories into their study as a guide  
• Provide a broad guideline to maintain the research focus  
• Guide the selection of research methods, data collection, and data analysis  
• Help understand the relationships between different concepts and develop hypotheses and research questions  
• Address gaps in existing literature  
• Analyze the data collected and draw meaningful conclusions and make the findings more generalizable  

Theoretical vs. Conceptual framework  

While a theoretical framework covers the theoretical aspect of your study, that is, the various theories that can guide your research, a conceptual framework defines the variables for your study and presents how they relate to each other. The conceptual framework is developed before collecting the data. However, both frameworks help in understanding the research problem and guide the development, collection, and analysis of the research.  

The following table lists some differences between conceptual and theoretical frameworks . 5

How to write a theoretical framework  

The following general steps can help those wondering how to write a theoretical framework: 2

• Identify and define the key concepts clearly and organize them into a suitable structure.  
• Use appropriate terminology and define all key terms to ensure consistency.  
• Identify the relationships between concepts and provide a logical and coherent structure.  
• Develop hypotheses that can be tested through data collection and analysis.  
• Keep it concise and focused with clear and specific aims.  

Write a theoretical framework 2x faster. Get our Manuscript Writing pack  

Examples of a theoretical framework  

Here are two examples of a theoretical framework. 6,7

Example 1 .   

An insurance company is facing a challenge cross-selling its products. The sales department indicates that most customers have just one policy, although the company offers over 10 unique policies. The company would want its customers to purchase more than one policy since most customers are purchasing policies from other companies.  

Objective : To sell more insurance products to existing customers.  

Problem : Many customers are purchasing additional policies from other companies.  

Research question : How can customer product awareness be improved to increase cross-selling of insurance products?  

Sub-questions: What is the relationship between product awareness and sales? Which factors determine product awareness?  

Since “product awareness” is the main focus in this study, the theoretical framework should analyze this concept and study previous literature on this subject and propose theories that discuss the relationship between product awareness and its improvement in sales of other products.  

Example 2 .

A company is facing a continued decline in its sales and profitability. The main reason for the decline in the profitability is poor services, which have resulted in a high level of dissatisfaction among customers and consequently a decline in customer loyalty. The management is planning to concentrate on clients’ satisfaction and customer loyalty.  

Objective: To provide better service to customers and increase customer loyalty and satisfaction.  

Problem: Continued decrease in sales and profitability.  

Research question: How can customer satisfaction help in increasing sales and profitability?  

Sub-questions: What is the relationship between customer loyalty and sales? Which factors influence the level of satisfaction gained by customers?  

Since customer satisfaction, loyalty, profitability, and sales are the important topics in this example, the theoretical framework should focus on these concepts.  

Benefits of a theoretical framework  

There are several benefits of a theoretical framework in research: 2  

• Provides a structured approach allowing researchers to organize their thoughts in a coherent way.  
• Helps to identify gaps in knowledge highlighting areas where further research is needed.  
• Increases research efficiency by providing a clear direction for research and focusing efforts on relevant data.  
• Improves the quality of research by providing a rigorous and systematic approach to research, which can increase the likelihood of producing valid and reliable results.  
• Provides a basis for comparison by providing a common language and conceptual framework for researchers to compare their findings with other research in the field, facilitating the exchange of ideas and the development of new knowledge.  

Frequently Asked Questions 

Q1. How do I develop a theoretical framework ? 7

A1. The following steps can be used for developing a theoretical framework :  

• Identify the research problem and research questions by clearly defining the problem that the research aims to address and identifying the specific questions that the research aims to answer.
• Review the existing literature to identify the key concepts that have been studied previously. These concepts should be clearly defined and organized into a structure.
• Develop propositions that describe the relationships between the concepts. These propositions should be based on the existing literature and should be testable.
• Develop hypotheses that can be tested through data collection and analysis.
• Test the theoretical framework through data collection and analysis to determine whether the framework is valid and reliable.

Q2. How do I know if I have developed a good theoretical framework or not? 8

A2. The following checklist could help you answer this question:  

• Is my theoretical framework clearly seen as emerging from my literature review?  
• Is it the result of my analysis of the main theories previously studied in my same research field?  
• Does it represent or is it relevant to the most current state of theoretical knowledge on my topic?  
• Does the theoretical framework in research present a logical, coherent, and analytical structure that will support my data analysis?  
• Do the different parts of the theory help analyze the relationships among the variables in my research?  
• Does the theoretical framework target how I will answer my research questions or test the hypotheses?  
• Have I documented every source I have used in developing this theoretical framework ?  
• Is my theoretical framework a model, a table, a figure, or a description?  
• Have I explained why this is the appropriate theoretical framework for my data analysis?  

Q3. Can I use multiple theoretical frameworks in a single study?  

A3. Using multiple theoretical frameworks in a single study is acceptable as long as each theory is clearly defined and related to the study. Each theory should also be discussed individually. This approach may, however, be tedious and effort intensive. Therefore, multiple theoretical frameworks should be used only if absolutely necessary for the study.  

Q4. Is it necessary to include a theoretical framework in every research study?  

A4. The theoretical framework connects researchers to existing knowledge. So, including a theoretical framework would help researchers get a clear idea about the research process and help structure their study effectively by clearly defining an objective, a research problem, and a research question.  

Q5. Can a theoretical framework be developed for qualitative research?  

A5. Yes, a theoretical framework can be developed for qualitative research. However, qualitative research methods may or may not involve a theory developed beforehand. In these studies, a theoretical framework can guide the study and help develop a theory during the data analysis phase. This resulting framework uses inductive reasoning. The outcome of this inductive approach can be referred to as an emergent theoretical framework . This method helps researchers develop a theory inductively, which explains a phenomenon without a guiding framework at the outset.  

Q6. What is the main difference between a literature review and a theoretical framework ?  

A6. A literature review explores already existing studies about a specific topic in order to highlight a gap, which becomes the focus of the current research study. A theoretical framework can be considered the next step in the process, in which the researcher plans a specific conceptual and analytical approach to address the identified gap in the research.  

Theoretical frameworks are thus important components of the research process and researchers should therefore devote ample amount of time to develop a solid theoretical framework so that it can effectively guide their research in a suitable direction. We hope this article has provided a good insight into the concept of theoretical frameworks in research and their benefits.  

References  

• Organizing academic research papers: Theoretical framework. Sacred Heart University library. Accessed August 4, 2023. https://library.sacredheart.edu/c.php?g=29803&p=185919#:~:text=The%20theoretical%20framework%20is%20the,research%20problem%20under%20study%20exists .  
• Salomao A. Understanding what is theoretical framework. Mind the Graph website. Accessed August 5, 2023. https://mindthegraph.com/blog/what-is-theoretical-framework/  
• Theoretical framework—Types, examples, and writing guide. Research Method website. Accessed August 6, 2023. https://researchmethod.net/theoretical-framework/  
• Grant C., Osanloo A. Understanding, selecting, and integrating a theoretical framework in dissertation research: Creating the blueprint for your “house.” Administrative Issues Journal : Connecting Education, Practice, and Research; 4(2):12-26. 2014. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1058505.pdf  
• Difference between conceptual framework and theoretical framework. MIM Learnovate website. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://mimlearnovate.com/difference-between-conceptual-framework-and-theoretical-framework/  
• Example of a theoretical framework—Thesis & dissertation. BacherlorPrint website. Accessed August 6, 2023. https://www.bachelorprint.com/dissertation/example-of-a-theoretical-framework/  
• Sample theoretical framework in dissertation and thesis—Overview and example. Students assignment help website. Accessed August 6, 2023. https://www.studentsassignmenthelp.co.uk/blogs/sample-dissertation-theoretical-framework/#Example_of_the_theoretical_framework  
• Kivunja C. Distinguishing between theory, theoretical framework, and conceptual framework: A systematic review of lessons from the field. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1198682.pdf  

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5 Strategy Frameworks & Tools You Can Use Right Now

• 10 Dec 2020

As a manager, business owner, or employee, you’re always seeking ways to contribute to your organization’s growth. One way to do so is by helping formulate or execute an effective business strategy.

Your organization’s strategy should be tailored to fit your business’s goals and objectives . It also requires continually measuring your business performance and reassessing as new challenges and opportunities arise.

While crafting and executing a strategy takes time, there are frameworks and tools you can use to assess your business’s position in a competitive landscape and its approach to factors like pricing and product-market fit .

Access your free e-book today.

What Is a Strategy Framework?

Strategic frameworks are structured approaches or lenses used to conceptualize, develop, and implement strategic plans. These frameworks serve as guides to help organizations define and reach their vision and goals. Using frameworks and tools at any stage of the strategic process can offer a competitive advantage.

Here are five strategy frameworks and tools you can use right now to contribute to your organization’s growth.

Strategy Frameworks and Tools You Should Know

1. jobs to be done framework.

The Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework, developed by Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen, is a way to validate a consumer’s need for a product.

The basis of Christensen’s theory is that, when people purchase products, they “hire” them to do a “job.”

By asking yourself what job your company’s offering can do for consumers, you can hone brand messaging, differentiate your product from competitors’, and improve it to more effectively complete the job to be done.

One example of this framework in action is Kind Snacks’ line of breakfast bars . While Kind Snacks sells many types of granola bars, cereals, and other healthy options, the breakfast bars contain at least one full serving of whole grains, and some flavors contain extra protein and probiotics. These specific bars fill its customers’ need for a healthy, filling breakfast option that can be taken on the go.

The JTBD framework can be used during any stage of product development—to create a new product based on a customer job that isn’t being done yet, or to reassess the jobs your existing products fulfill. How has the customer need shifted since the conception of your offering, and how can this knowledge shape your business strategy?

A strong understanding and alignment on the customer need your product fills can be a foundation for following through on strategic plans.

2. Value Stick Framework

The value stick framework is a visual representation of a product’s value based on customers’ willingness to pay for it. This framework is helpful when formulating a product’s pricing strategy , and it can also be an important part of an organization’s broader strategic plan.

The value stick has four components:

• Willingness to pay : The highest price a customer is willing to pay for your product or service.
• Price: The amount of money you charge for a product or service.
• Cost: The amount of money it takes to produce a product or service.
• Willingness to sell: The lowest price a firm’s suppliers are willing to accept in exchange for the raw materials needed to create products.

Each of these components fall somewhere along the stick, and their locations determine the value of the product to the customer, supplier, and business.

Picturing each of these factors as sliders on a stick can allow you to test out different scenarios and aid in strategic decision-making. If you lower the production cost, will the customer’s willingness to pay decrease? If you raise the production cost and price, will the customer’s willingness to pay increase? If so, is it worth it?

Understanding the relationship between the supplier, business, and customer, and how each entity gains value from your product, is an important exercise during strategy formulation.

Related: 2 Ways to Increase Profit Margin Using Value-Based Pricing

3. Job Design Optimization Tool

The Job Design Optimization Tool, or JDOT, was created by HBS Professor Robert Simons and is a free, online tool that anyone can use.

In the online course Strategy Execution , Simons explains that jobs are optimized for high performance when they’re designed in service of the company’s strategy. The JDOT enables you to assess the degree to which each role at your organization is optimized for strategic success.

Each job is evaluated based on four factors, or “spans,” which are presented on a sliding bar: control, accountability, influence, and support. By adjusting the bars, you can determine the amount of each span that a specific role in your organization holds.

If the bars you’ve adjusted form an “X” in the tool, this indicates that the job is “balanced”—its supply of resources is equal to its demand for resources.” The JDOT then provides recommendations to improve the role, depending on which spans are out of balance. For instance, if you’re looking to increase the span of influence, the JDOT suggests implementing cross-unit task forces and providing stretch goals.

“If you get the settings right, you can design a job in which a talented individual can successfully execute your company’s strategy,” Simons writes in the Harvard Business Review . “But if you get the settings wrong, it will be difficult for any employee to be effective.”

Keep your organization’s strategy in mind when using the JDOT to assess its roles. If any role is revealed to be unbalanced, consider raising the tool’s suggestions to your team so that everyone has the resources necessary to support the company’s strategy.

Related: 5 Keys to Successful Strategy Execution

4. Disruptive Innovation Framework

Disruptive innovation, another concept coined by Christensen, refers to the process by which a smaller company—usually with fewer resources—moves upmarket and challenges larger, established businesses. The other type of innovation included in the framework is sustaining innovation , in which a company creates better-performing products to sell for higher profits to its best customers.

There are two types of disruptive innovation : low-end disruption and new-market disruption.

Low-end disruption occurs when an organization uses a low-cost business model to enter at the bottom of a market and claim an existing segment. New-market disruption, on the other hand, occurs when an organization enters at the bottom of an existing market and creates and claims a new segment.

Think about your organization’s place in the market. What segments does your brand own? Who are your competitors, and what differentiates them from your business? Are there any opportunities for your organization to either claim an existing low-end market segment or create a new one? If your organization is a big player in the market, how can you prepare for potential disruption?

Considering questions like these can raise valuable insights, opportunities, and concerns that influence your organization’s strategy.

Learn more about sustaining and disruptive innovation in the video below, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more explainer content!

5. Balanced Scorecard

The balanced scorecard —developed in 1992 by HBS Professor Robert Kaplan and David Norton—is a tool that tracks and measures non-financial variables.

“The balanced scorecard combines the traditional financial perspective with additional perspectives that focus on customers, internal business processes, and learning and development,” Simons says in Strategy Execution . “These additional perspectives help businesses measure all the activities essential to creating value.”

The four perspectives include:

• Financial: Do your plans and processes lead to desired levels of economic value creation?
• Customer: Does your target audience perceive your product, services, and brand in the desired way?
• Internal business process: Do your organizational processes create value for customers?
• Learning and growth: Does your organization support and utilize human capital and infrastructure resources to meet goals?

To ensure you get the most out of your balanced scorecard, it’s crucial to use a strategy map as well. A strategy map is a visual representation of the relationships that directly impact your business strategy.

“A strategy map gives everyone in your business a road map to understand the relationship between goals and measures and how they build on each other to create value,” Simons says in Strategy Execution .

Creating a Strategic Foundation

The process of setting goals and formulating and executing a strategy to reach them is time-intensive and requires daily reassessment. Leveraging powerful tools and frameworks to shift your perspective, offer insight, and ensure alignment can make all the difference between an unsuccessful strategy and one that provides positive organizational growth.

Are you interested in elevating your strategic formulation, execution, or decision-making skills? Explore our online strategy courses and download our free flowchart to find the right HBS Online Strategy course for you.

This post was updated on December 8, 2023. It was originally published on December 10, 2020.

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Home » Research Design – Types, Methods and Examples

Research Design – Types, Methods and Examples

Table of Contents

Research Design

Definition:

Research design refers to the overall strategy or plan for conducting a research study. It outlines the methods and procedures that will be used to collect and analyze data, as well as the goals and objectives of the study. Research design is important because it guides the entire research process and ensures that the study is conducted in a systematic and rigorous manner.

Types of Research Design

Types of Research Design are as follows:

Descriptive Research Design

This type of research design is used to describe a phenomenon or situation. It involves collecting data through surveys, questionnaires, interviews, and observations. The aim of descriptive research is to provide an accurate and detailed portrayal of a particular group, event, or situation. It can be useful in identifying patterns, trends, and relationships in the data.

Correlational Research Design

Correlational research design is used to determine if there is a relationship between two or more variables. This type of research design involves collecting data from participants and analyzing the relationship between the variables using statistical methods. The aim of correlational research is to identify the strength and direction of the relationship between the variables.

Experimental Research Design

Experimental research design is used to investigate cause-and-effect relationships between variables. This type of research design involves manipulating one variable and measuring the effect on another variable. It usually involves randomly assigning participants to groups and manipulating an independent variable to determine its effect on a dependent variable. The aim of experimental research is to establish causality.

Quasi-experimental Research Design

Quasi-experimental research design is similar to experimental research design, but it lacks one or more of the features of a true experiment. For example, there may not be random assignment to groups or a control group. This type of research design is used when it is not feasible or ethical to conduct a true experiment.

Case Study Research Design

Case study research design is used to investigate a single case or a small number of cases in depth. It involves collecting data through various methods, such as interviews, observations, and document analysis. The aim of case study research is to provide an in-depth understanding of a particular case or situation.

Longitudinal Research Design

Longitudinal research design is used to study changes in a particular phenomenon over time. It involves collecting data at multiple time points and analyzing the changes that occur. The aim of longitudinal research is to provide insights into the development, growth, or decline of a particular phenomenon over time.

Structure of Research Design

The format of a research design typically includes the following sections:

• Introduction : This section provides an overview of the research problem, the research questions, and the importance of the study. It also includes a brief literature review that summarizes previous research on the topic and identifies gaps in the existing knowledge.
• Research Questions or Hypotheses: This section identifies the specific research questions or hypotheses that the study will address. These questions should be clear, specific, and testable.
• Research Methods : This section describes the methods that will be used to collect and analyze data. It includes details about the study design, the sampling strategy, the data collection instruments, and the data analysis techniques.
• Data Collection: This section describes how the data will be collected, including the sample size, data collection procedures, and any ethical considerations.
• Data Analysis: This section describes how the data will be analyzed, including the statistical techniques that will be used to test the research questions or hypotheses.
• Results : This section presents the findings of the study, including descriptive statistics and statistical tests.
• Discussion and Conclusion : This section summarizes the key findings of the study, interprets the results, and discusses the implications of the findings. It also includes recommendations for future research.
• References : This section lists the sources cited in the research design.

Example of Research Design

An Example of Research Design could be:

Research question: Does the use of social media affect the academic performance of high school students?

Research design:

• Research approach : The research approach will be quantitative as it involves collecting numerical data to test the hypothesis.
• Research design : The research design will be a quasi-experimental design, with a pretest-posttest control group design.
• Sample : The sample will be 200 high school students from two schools, with 100 students in the experimental group and 100 students in the control group.
• Data collection : The data will be collected through surveys administered to the students at the beginning and end of the academic year. The surveys will include questions about their social media usage and academic performance.
• Data analysis : The data collected will be analyzed using statistical software. The mean scores of the experimental and control groups will be compared to determine whether there is a significant difference in academic performance between the two groups.
• Limitations : The limitations of the study will be acknowledged, including the fact that social media usage can vary greatly among individuals, and the study only focuses on two schools, which may not be representative of the entire population.
• Ethical considerations: Ethical considerations will be taken into account, such as obtaining informed consent from the participants and ensuring their anonymity and confidentiality.

How to Write Research Design

Writing a research design involves planning and outlining the methodology and approach that will be used to answer a research question or hypothesis. Here are some steps to help you write a research design:

• Define the research question or hypothesis : Before beginning your research design, you should clearly define your research question or hypothesis. This will guide your research design and help you select appropriate methods.
• Select a research design: There are many different research designs to choose from, including experimental, survey, case study, and qualitative designs. Choose a design that best fits your research question and objectives.
• Develop a sampling plan : If your research involves collecting data from a sample, you will need to develop a sampling plan. This should outline how you will select participants and how many participants you will include.
• Define variables: Clearly define the variables you will be measuring or manipulating in your study. This will help ensure that your results are meaningful and relevant to your research question.
• Choose data collection methods : Decide on the data collection methods you will use to gather information. This may include surveys, interviews, observations, experiments, or secondary data sources.
• Create a data analysis plan: Develop a plan for analyzing your data, including the statistical or qualitative techniques you will use.
• Consider ethical concerns : Finally, be sure to consider any ethical concerns related to your research, such as participant confidentiality or potential harm.

When to Write Research Design

Research design should be written before conducting any research study. It is an important planning phase that outlines the research methodology, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques that will be used to investigate a research question or problem. The research design helps to ensure that the research is conducted in a systematic and logical manner, and that the data collected is relevant and reliable.

Ideally, the research design should be developed as early as possible in the research process, before any data is collected. This allows the researcher to carefully consider the research question, identify the most appropriate research methodology, and plan the data collection and analysis procedures in advance. By doing so, the research can be conducted in a more efficient and effective manner, and the results are more likely to be valid and reliable.

Purpose of Research Design

The purpose of research design is to plan and structure a research study in a way that enables the researcher to achieve the desired research goals with accuracy, validity, and reliability. Research design is the blueprint or the framework for conducting a study that outlines the methods, procedures, techniques, and tools for data collection and analysis.

Some of the key purposes of research design include:

• Providing a clear and concise plan of action for the research study.
• Ensuring that the research is conducted ethically and with rigor.
• Maximizing the accuracy and reliability of the research findings.
• Minimizing the possibility of errors, biases, or confounding variables.
• Ensuring that the research is feasible, practical, and cost-effective.
• Determining the appropriate research methodology to answer the research question(s).
• Identifying the sample size, sampling method, and data collection techniques.
• Determining the data analysis method and statistical tests to be used.
• Facilitating the replication of the study by other researchers.
• Enhancing the validity and generalizability of the research findings.

Applications of Research Design

There are numerous applications of research design in various fields, some of which are:

• Social sciences: In fields such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology, research design is used to investigate human behavior and social phenomena. Researchers use various research designs, such as experimental, quasi-experimental, and correlational designs, to study different aspects of social behavior.
• Education : Research design is essential in the field of education to investigate the effectiveness of different teaching methods and learning strategies. Researchers use various designs such as experimental, quasi-experimental, and case study designs to understand how students learn and how to improve teaching practices.
• Health sciences : In the health sciences, research design is used to investigate the causes, prevention, and treatment of diseases. Researchers use various designs, such as randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, and case-control studies, to study different aspects of health and healthcare.
• Business : Research design is used in the field of business to investigate consumer behavior, marketing strategies, and the impact of different business practices. Researchers use various designs, such as survey research, experimental research, and case studies, to study different aspects of the business world.
• Engineering : In the field of engineering, research design is used to investigate the development and implementation of new technologies. Researchers use various designs, such as experimental research and case studies, to study the effectiveness of new technologies and to identify areas for improvement.

Advantages of Research Design

Here are some advantages of research design:

• Systematic and organized approach : A well-designed research plan ensures that the research is conducted in a systematic and organized manner, which makes it easier to manage and analyze the data.
• Clear objectives: The research design helps to clarify the objectives of the study, which makes it easier to identify the variables that need to be measured, and the methods that need to be used to collect and analyze data.
• Minimizes bias: A well-designed research plan minimizes the chances of bias, by ensuring that the data is collected and analyzed objectively, and that the results are not influenced by the researcher’s personal biases or preferences.
• Efficient use of resources: A well-designed research plan helps to ensure that the resources (time, money, and personnel) are used efficiently and effectively, by focusing on the most important variables and methods.
• Replicability: A well-designed research plan makes it easier for other researchers to replicate the study, which enhances the credibility and reliability of the findings.
• Validity: A well-designed research plan helps to ensure that the findings are valid, by ensuring that the methods used to collect and analyze data are appropriate for the research question.
• Generalizability : A well-designed research plan helps to ensure that the findings can be generalized to other populations, settings, or situations, which increases the external validity of the study.

Research Design Vs Research Methodology

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Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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• 20 Apr 2012
• Working Paper Summaries

Why Every Company Needs a CSR Strategy and How to Build It

Despite certain criticisms, more and more companies in the world practice some form of corporate social responsibility. This paper offers a pragmatic alternative framework for CSR with a view towards developing its practice in an evolutionary way. The authors' extensive experience working with CSR practitioners convinces them that exhorting companies to hone their CSR practice under a shared value framework does not reflect the reality for a majority of businesses. CSR executives oversee a variety of social initiatives that may or may not directly contribute to a company's business goals. The role of an executive is to achieve the difficult task of reconciling the various programs, quantifying their benefits, or at least sketching a logical connection to the business, and securing the support of his or her business line counterparts. This role, when performed well, would lead to the development of a CSR strategy for the company. Key concepts include: Ideally, well-managed CSR creates social and environmental value, while supporting a company's business objectives and reducing operating costs, and enhancing relationships with key stakeholders and customers. There is no one-size-fits-all CSR model. Individual companies typically engage in a variety of programs motivated by a wide range of perspectives and corporate protagonists. In current practice, the management of philanthropic initiatives happens in what the authors label as Theatre 1; supply chain and cause marketing initiatives happen in Theatre 2; and transformative ecosystem initiatives occur in Theatre 3. These different initiatives are typically managed at different management levels, and some are staff functions and others line functions, resulting in a messy state of affairs. Gaining a unified vision is a central challenge of coordinating CSR efforts in all three theatres. In addition to empowering CSR executives to practice strategic initiatives, strong leadership and support for CSR initiatives at the top levels of executive management is critical. The strategic role of a Corporate Responsibility Officer needs to be established as an independent full-time position having access to the CEO and having input to the development of the company's business strategy. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 22 Mar 2010
• Research & Ideas

One Strategy: Aligning Planning and Execution

Strategy as it is written up in the corporate playbook often becomes lost or muddled when the team takes the field to execute. In their new book, Professor Marco Iansiti and Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky discuss a "One Strategy" approach to aligning plan and action. Key concepts include: The book combines practical experience at Microsoft with conceptual frameworks on how to develop strategies that are aligned with execution in a rapidly changing competitive environment. "Strategic integrity" occurs when the strategy executes with the full, aligned backing of the organization for maximum impact. The chief impediment to strategy execution is inertia. The One Strategy approach is less about formal reviews and more about one-on-one conversation. Blogs can be a powerful asset in managing an organization. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 24 Nov 2009

From Strategy to Business Models and to Tactics

Drivers such as globalization, deregulation, or technological change, just to mention a few, are profoundly changing the competitive game. Scholars and practitioners agree that the fastest-growing firms in this new environment appear to have taken advantage of these structural changes to compete "differently" and innovate in their business models. However, there is not yet agreement on what are the distinctive features of superior business models. This dispute may have arisen, in part, because of a lack of a clear distinction between the notions of strategy, business model, and tactics. HBS professor Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Joan Enric Ricart present an integrative framework to distinguish and relate the concepts of business model, strategy, and tactics. Key concepts include: An integrative framework that cleanly separates the realm of business model, strategy, and tactics will help guide the search for novel, interesting, and profitable new ways to compete. "Business model" refers to the logic of the firm, the way it operates, and how it creates value for its stakeholders. "Strategy" refers to the choice of business model through which the firm will compete in the marketplace. "Tactics" refers to the residual choices open to a firm by virtue of the business model that it employs. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 18 Jul 2005

Identify Emerging Market Opportunities

Yes, you understand your company needs to compete in emerging markets. But which country is the best fit for you? A Harvard Business Review excerpt by Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu, and Jayant Sinha. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 02 Feb 2004

Mapping Your Corporate Strategy

From the originators of the Balanced Scorecard system, Strategy Maps is a new book that explores how companies can best their competition. A Q&A with Robert S. Kaplan. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 30 Sep 2002

Your Crisis Response Plan: The Ten Effective Elements

Shooter on site. Epidemic. Major power outage. Is your organization prepared to deal with crisis? HBS professor Michael Watkins explains what you need to know, and offers a checklist to evaluate your preparedness. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 29 Jul 2002

Time Pressure and Creativity: Why Time is Not on Your Side

Even as time pressures increase in corporate life, the need for creative thinking has never been greater, says Harvard Business School professor Teresa Amabile. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Business Frameworks – 6 Types to Elevate Business Performance

Business frameworks.

Business frameworks are models, tools, and processes used to analyse and solve complex business problems. These frameworks provide a systematic approach to decision-making, allowing organisations to assess their current situation, identify areas for improvement, and develop strategic plans for growth and success. They are often developed by industry experts and thought leaders, and are used by business leaders, consultants, and academics to guide decision-making and drive organisational change.

If you are looking for a business transformation management framework for medium to large organisations, learn and get certified in BTM2 .

The History of Business Frameworks

The use of business frameworks has been around for centuries. In ancient times, rulers and military leaders used frameworks to make strategic decisions and achieve their goals. In more modern times, business frameworks have been developed to help organisations analyse their operations, identify areas for improvement, and make strategic decisions.

One of the earliest and most well-known business frameworks is Porter's Five Forces developed by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter in the 1970s. This framework analyses the competitive forces in an industry to help businesses understand their competitive position and develop a strategy for success.

Many other business frameworks have been developed, including SWOT analysis, the Balanced Scorecard, the McKinsey 7S Framework, the Business Model Canvas, and others. Businesses across all industries and of all sizes utilise these frameworks to attain their objectives and remain competitive in an ever-changing business environment.

Why Business Frameworks are Important

Business frameworks are important because they provide a structured approach to problem-solving and decision-making. They help businesses to analyse complex situations, identify key issues, and develop strategies for addressing them. Frameworks also provide a common language and set of tools that enable businesses to communicate and collaborate effectively, both internally and with external partners. By following a proven methodology, businesses can reduce the risk of failure and increase the likelihood of success. Additionally, frameworks allow businesses to adapt to changing circumstances and take advantage of new opportunities, ensuring their continued relevance and competitiveness in the marketplace.

Business frameworks have been integral in both the development of strategy and the execution of it, because they help inform key decisions and offer scenarios and insight on what options to adopt.

In simple terms, a business framework is a system of rules that are used to govern a process or decisions. They help ensure that the output of decisions or processes is consistent, of a high standard, and aligned with an organisation's principles, values, and goals.

There is an abundance of business frameworks available and top professionals in their field become highly proficient in using those that are relevant to their particular line of work.

What are Frameworks in Business?

Frameworks in business are tools or models that help organisations structure, organise, and approach complex business challenges. They provide a systematic way of analysing a problem, developing a solution, and implementing it in a repeatable and scalable manner. Frameworks can be used for a wide range of business functions, including strategy, innovation, marketing, project management, and more. They can be developed internally or externally, and may draw from various disciplines, such as economics, psychology, sociology, or engineering. The goal of a framework is to provide a common language and shared understanding to facilitate decision-making, communication, and action within an organisation.

What are the Elements of a Business Framework?

The elements of a business framework will vary depending on the specific framework being used, but some common elements include:

• Goals and objectives: The framework should identify the goals and objectives that the business is trying to achieve.
• Key performance indicators (KPIs): KPIs are the measurable metrics used to determine whether the business is meeting its goals and objectives.
• Processes and procedures: The framework should outline the processes and procedures that the business will use to achieve its goals and objectives.
• Roles and responsibilities: The framework should clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each individual involved in the process.
• Resources and capabilities: The framework should identify the resources and capabilities required to achieve the business's goals and objectives.
• Risks and mitigation strategies: The framework should identify potential risks and include strategies to mitigate those risks.
• Performance metrics and monitoring: The framework should include performance metrics and a monitoring plan to track progress and adjust as needed.
• Continuous improvement: The framework should be designed for continuous improvement and include mechanisms for ongoing evaluation and adjustment.

Why Some Organisations Don't Use Business Frameworks

Business frameworks can be difficult to use and implement because they often require a significant amount of time, effort, and resources to fully understand and apply. Additionally, each business framework has its own specific set of rules, processes, and terminology, which can make it challenging to choose the right one for a specific business need.

Furthermore, a lack of buy-in or support from key stakeholders within the organisation can also hinder the effective use and implementation of business frameworks. Finally, even the most well-designed business frameworks may not be effective if they are not tailored to the specific needs and context of the organisation.

Some organisations may not use frameworks simply because they are resistant to transformation and change or may be content with their current processes and methods.

Business Framework Adoption

Although individuals may have their preferred frameworks, there is no ultimate business framework. In some cases, you may need to leverage multiple frameworks to complete a project. Frameworks can expedite the process of gathering and analysing information. However, experience and sound judgement cannot be substituted by frameworks. Business frameworks can save time, but expertise in business and the ability to collaborate effectively with colleagues is what can make a difference in an organisation.

The best leaders and managers recognise the significance of well-documented frameworks that are comprehensible to everyone, and don't rely on ambiguous or unclear frameworks. Nowadays, larger organisations tend to have these well-documented frameworks, which are widely adopted and taught throughout the enterprise. As business frameworks have become more important to the way organisations work, they are now frequently mentioned in job advertisements, as well as in the CVs and resumes that applicants submit.

Introducing Half a Dozen Business Frameworks

In this article, I have chosen to highlight six of the many business frameworks that are available. However, there are a wide variety of frameworks that businesses can choose from to achieve their goals. If you work with a different framework, feel free to share it in the comments section below.

Strategy Frameworks

Strategy frameworks are models or tools used to help organisations develop and implement their strategic plans. They provide a structured approach to analysing a company's internal and external environment, identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and developing a clear and effective strategy to achieve the organisation's goals. Strategy frameworks are commonly used in areas such as business management, marketing, finance, and operations.

Strategy business frameworks help structure business thinking and guide businesses as they grow and accomplish their missions. They demonstrate how a business or department plans to use projects and other initiatives to uphold the overall vision of executive stakeholders. They can also be used to analyse business issues and develop strategies that are appropriate for a particular organisation.

Strategy Framework Example:

Porter’s Five Forces Framework

Porter's five forces framework enables organisations to comprehend the degree of competition, market attractiveness, and profitability in a given industry. The framework is based on the notion that there are five forces that determine the competitive intensity and market attractiveness. The five forces are used to identify where power lies in a business situation, helping to understand an organisation's competitive position and evaluate the strength of potential positions the organisation may consider moving into.

The framework consists of five forces, which are:

Competitive rivalry

Threat of substitute products

Bargaining power of buyers

Threat of new entrants

Bargaining power of suppliers

Innovation Frameworks

Innovation business frameworks are tools or models that provide a systematic approach to identifying, developing, and implementing innovative ideas. These frameworks help organisations to structure their innovation efforts and to focus on specific areas where they can achieve the greatest impact. Innovation frameworks can be used to identify customer needs, generate new ideas, test and validate concepts, and create a roadmap for implementation.

Businesses that do not have a well-defined innovation framework, whether it is for sustaining innovation, disruptive innovation, incremental innovation, or radical innovation, may not realise the potential of their ideas, and may miss out on valuable opportunities. In the absence of a clear innovation framework, organisations may simply be gathering ideas without recognising their true worth.

Innovation Framework Example:

Doblin’s Ten Types of Innovation

One way to design new innovations and evaluate the current pace of changes in products and services is through the Ten Types framework developed by Doblin.

These ten types of frameworks can be used in different combinations and are classified into the three categories shown below:

Category Frameworks

1) Profit Model

3) Structure

Offering Frameworks

5) Product performance

6) Product system

Experience Frameworks

10) Customer Engagement

Business Transformation Management Frameworks

One approach to managing business transformation is to use a framework that takes a holistic and process-driven approach to achieving new business outcomes. These frameworks help transformation managers and leaders to navigate the complex undertaking of managing transformations, whether they involve major overhauls or minor performance improvements.

Business Transformation Management Framework Example:

The Business Transformation Management Methodology (BTM2)

BTM² was the world's first holistic business transformation management methodology. It offers a clear framework with distinct stages, results, and corresponding techniques. This generic framework is applicable to different business transformation situations and not limited to a single industry, function, or technology.

Across the four business transformation phases of Envision, Engage, Transform, and Optimise, BTM² provides guidance on managing nine disciplines of transformation management.

Meta Management

Strategy Management

Value Management

Risk Management

Project and Programme Management

Business Process Management

IT Transformation Management

Organisational Change Management

Competence and Training Management

Digital Transformation Frameworks

A digital transformation framework is a guide for managers and leaders to adopt new business models, operating models and customer models with digital technologies to prepare their business for future. By using technology and data, innovative individuals are creating completely new ways to generate value for the business, customers, employees, and partners. Some companies are simply digitising existing processes, while others are transforming their business models and becoming leaders in the digital economy.

Digital Transformation Framework Example:

Digital Capability Framework

The Digital Capability Framework was created to assist organisations in implementing digitally enabled business transformation and fostering innovation. This framework facilitates the analysis of the current state of a company and identifies new business cases that can be enabled by technology trends.

The Digital Capability Framework enables managers and leaders to take a structured business-oriented approach to digital transformation, which results in a more collaborative relationship between the IT and Business teams.

This business framework consists of four building blocks which are:

Digital Capabilities

Digital Capability Maturity Models

Digital Use Cases

A Digital Transformation Roadmap

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Customer Centricity Frameworks

Companies use customer centricity frameworks to constantly anticipate and understand customer needs, and ensure they are met through their business processes. While it is not uncommon for companies to declare their customer focus, those that truly prioritise customer satisfaction are few and far between.

Over the past decade, customer expectations and behaviours have undergone a significant shift. Companies are now expected to meet customers' needs and expectations at every interaction to earn customer loyalty. The degree to which “customer-centricity” is ingrained in every employee in your organisation determines your ability to meet these expectations.

Customer Centricity Framework Example:

The Three-Wheel Framework of Customer-Centricity

The Three-Wheel Framework of Customer-Centricity consists of three inter-connected wheels that each represents one important phase in customer-centricity. All three wheels need to move together in a synchronous manner in order to create a customer-centric focus in the organisation.

The business framework consists of these three key components:

Know Your Customer

Build Key Insights

Take Key Actions

Project Management Frameworks

Project management frameworks refer to the processes, guidelines, and principles that are used to manage a project from its initiation to its completion. These business frameworks are designed to help project managers and their teams complete projects on time, within budget, and with the desired outcomes. They provide a structure for managing resources, identifying risks and issues, communicating progress and milestones, and ensuring that everyone is working towards the same goals. Project management frameworks vary depending on the project, organisation, and industry.

Project Management Framework Example:

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)

The term PMBOK stands for Project Management Body of Knowledge, which encompasses a set of recommendations, techniques, processes, and terminologies that are extensively employed throughout the project management domain. The adoption of PMBOK assists companies in implementing uniform practices across different departments, customising procedures to cater to specific requirements, and enhancing the likelihood of project success.

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) recommends the use of 47 project management processes, which are classified into five Process Groups:

Initiating Process Group

Planning Process Group

Executing Process Group

Monitoring and Controlling Process Group

Closing Process Group

Each of the 47 processes is specified by Inputs, Tools & Techniques, and Outputs, and are grouped into the following ten knowledge areas.

Project Integration Management

Project Scope Management

Project Time Management

Project Cost Management

Project Quality Management

Project Human Resources Management

Project Communications Management

Project Risk Management

Project Procurement Management

Project Stakeholder Management

Numerous resources such as articles, videos, and podcasts offer innovative and practical business frameworks, varying from high-level to detailed with rich information. Selecting a business framework depends on the organisation's objectives and often the preferences of key decision-makers. Employing frameworks can be beneficial for businesses to achieve their goals and is often considered an expectation for top-paid professionals in their fields.

The decision about which business frameworks are used in an organisation depends on the business objectives and the personal preferences of senior managers and executives. Although, frameworks can be highly advantageous for businesses in achieving their goals and are frequently used by top-paid professionals in their respective fields.

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• CBE Life Sci Educ
• v.21(3); Fall 2022

Literature Reviews, Theoretical Frameworks, and Conceptual Frameworks: An Introduction for New Biology Education Researchers

Julie a. luft.

† Department of Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science Education, Mary Frances Early College of Education, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-7124

Sophia Jeong

‡ Department of Teaching & Learning, College of Education & Human Ecology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210

Robert Idsardi

§ Department of Biology, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA 99004

Grant Gardner

∥ Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132

Associated Data

To frame their work, biology education researchers need to consider the role of literature reviews, theoretical frameworks, and conceptual frameworks as critical elements of the research and writing process. However, these elements can be confusing for scholars new to education research. This Research Methods article is designed to provide an overview of each of these elements and delineate the purpose of each in the educational research process. We describe what biology education researchers should consider as they conduct literature reviews, identify theoretical frameworks, and construct conceptual frameworks. Clarifying these different components of educational research studies can be helpful to new biology education researchers and the biology education research community at large in situating their work in the broader scholarly literature.

INTRODUCTION

Discipline-based education research (DBER) involves the purposeful and situated study of teaching and learning in specific disciplinary areas ( Singer et al. , 2012 ). Studies in DBER are guided by research questions that reflect disciplines’ priorities and worldviews. Researchers can use quantitative data, qualitative data, or both to answer these research questions through a variety of methodological traditions. Across all methodologies, there are different methods associated with planning and conducting educational research studies that include the use of surveys, interviews, observations, artifacts, or instruments. Ensuring the coherence of these elements to the discipline’s perspective also involves situating the work in the broader scholarly literature. The tools for doing this include literature reviews, theoretical frameworks, and conceptual frameworks. However, the purpose and function of each of these elements is often confusing to new education researchers. The goal of this article is to introduce new biology education researchers to these three important elements important in DBER scholarship and the broader educational literature.

The first element we discuss is a review of research (literature reviews), which highlights the need for a specific research question, study problem, or topic of investigation. Literature reviews situate the relevance of the study within a topic and a field. The process may seem familiar to science researchers entering DBER fields, but new researchers may still struggle in conducting the review. Booth et al. (2016b) highlight some of the challenges novice education researchers face when conducting a review of literature. They point out that novice researchers struggle in deciding how to focus the review, determining the scope of articles needed in the review, and knowing how to be critical of the articles in the review. Overcoming these challenges (and others) can help novice researchers construct a sound literature review that can inform the design of the study and help ensure the work makes a contribution to the field.

The second and third highlighted elements are theoretical and conceptual frameworks. These guide biology education research (BER) studies, and may be less familiar to science researchers. These elements are important in shaping the construction of new knowledge. Theoretical frameworks offer a way to explain and interpret the studied phenomenon, while conceptual frameworks clarify assumptions about the studied phenomenon. Despite the importance of these constructs in educational research, biology educational researchers have noted the limited use of theoretical or conceptual frameworks in published work ( DeHaan, 2011 ; Dirks, 2011 ; Lo et al. , 2019 ). In reviewing articles published in CBE—Life Sciences Education ( LSE ) between 2015 and 2019, we found that fewer than 25% of the research articles had a theoretical or conceptual framework (see the Supplemental Information), and at times there was an inconsistent use of theoretical and conceptual frameworks. Clearly, these frameworks are challenging for published biology education researchers, which suggests the importance of providing some initial guidance to new biology education researchers.

Fortunately, educational researchers have increased their explicit use of these frameworks over time, and this is influencing educational research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. For instance, a quick search for theoretical or conceptual frameworks in the abstracts of articles in Educational Research Complete (a common database for educational research) in STEM fields demonstrates a dramatic change over the last 20 years: from only 778 articles published between 2000 and 2010 to 5703 articles published between 2010 and 2020, a more than sevenfold increase. Greater recognition of the importance of these frameworks is contributing to DBER authors being more explicit about such frameworks in their studies.

Collectively, literature reviews, theoretical frameworks, and conceptual frameworks work to guide methodological decisions and the elucidation of important findings. Each offers a different perspective on the problem of study and is an essential element in all forms of educational research. As new researchers seek to learn about these elements, they will find different resources, a variety of perspectives, and many suggestions about the construction and use of these elements. The wide range of available information can overwhelm the new researcher who just wants to learn the distinction between these elements or how to craft them adequately.

Our goal in writing this paper is not to offer specific advice about how to write these sections in scholarly work. Instead, we wanted to introduce these elements to those who are new to BER and who are interested in better distinguishing one from the other. In this paper, we share the purpose of each element in BER scholarship, along with important points on its construction. We also provide references for additional resources that may be beneficial to better understanding each element. Table 1 summarizes the key distinctions among these elements.

Comparison of literature reviews, theoretical frameworks, and conceptual reviews

This article is written for the new biology education researcher who is just learning about these different elements or for scientists looking to become more involved in BER. It is a result of our own work as science education and biology education researchers, whether as graduate students and postdoctoral scholars or newly hired and established faculty members. This is the article we wish had been available as we started to learn about these elements or discussed them with new educational researchers in biology.

LITERATURE REVIEWS

Purpose of a literature review.

A literature review is foundational to any research study in education or science. In education, a well-conceptualized and well-executed review provides a summary of the research that has already been done on a specific topic and identifies questions that remain to be answered, thus illustrating the current research project’s potential contribution to the field and the reasoning behind the methodological approach selected for the study ( Maxwell, 2012 ). BER is an evolving disciplinary area that is redefining areas of conceptual emphasis as well as orientations toward teaching and learning (e.g., Labov et al. , 2010 ; American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2011 ; Nehm, 2019 ). As a result, building comprehensive, critical, purposeful, and concise literature reviews can be a challenge for new biology education researchers.

Building Literature Reviews

There are different ways to approach and construct a literature review. Booth et al. (2016a) provide an overview that includes, for example, scoping reviews, which are focused only on notable studies and use a basic method of analysis, and integrative reviews, which are the result of exhaustive literature searches across different genres. Underlying each of these different review processes are attention to the s earch process, a ppraisa l of articles, s ynthesis of the literature, and a nalysis: SALSA ( Booth et al. , 2016a ). This useful acronym can help the researcher focus on the process while building a specific type of review.

However, new educational researchers often have questions about literature reviews that are foundational to SALSA or other approaches. Common questions concern determining which literature pertains to the topic of study or the role of the literature review in the design of the study. This section addresses such questions broadly while providing general guidance for writing a narrative literature review that evaluates the most pertinent studies.

The literature review process should begin before the research is conducted. As Boote and Beile (2005 , p. 3) suggested, researchers should be “scholars before researchers.” They point out that having a good working knowledge of the proposed topic helps illuminate avenues of study. Some subject areas have a deep body of work to read and reflect upon, providing a strong foundation for developing the research question(s). For instance, the teaching and learning of evolution is an area of long-standing interest in the BER community, generating many studies (e.g., Perry et al. , 2008 ; Barnes and Brownell, 2016 ) and reviews of research (e.g., Sickel and Friedrichsen, 2013 ; Ziadie and Andrews, 2018 ). Emerging areas of BER include the affective domain, issues of transfer, and metacognition ( Singer et al. , 2012 ). Many studies in these areas are transdisciplinary and not always specific to biology education (e.g., Rodrigo-Peiris et al. , 2018 ; Kolpikova et al. , 2019 ). These newer areas may require reading outside BER; fortunately, summaries of some of these topics can be found in the Current Insights section of the LSE website.

In focusing on a specific problem within a broader research strand, a new researcher will likely need to examine research outside BER. Depending upon the area of study, the expanded reading list might involve a mix of BER, DBER, and educational research studies. Determining the scope of the reading is not always straightforward. A simple way to focus one’s reading is to create a “summary phrase” or “research nugget,” which is a very brief descriptive statement about the study. It should focus on the essence of the study, for example, “first-year nonmajor students’ understanding of evolution,” “metacognitive prompts to enhance learning during biochemistry,” or “instructors’ inquiry-based instructional practices after professional development programming.” This type of phrase should help a new researcher identify two or more areas to review that pertain to the study. Focusing on recent research in the last 5 years is a good first step. Additional studies can be identified by reading relevant works referenced in those articles. It is also important to read seminal studies that are more than 5 years old. Reading a range of studies should give the researcher the necessary command of the subject in order to suggest a research question.

Given that the research question(s) arise from the literature review, the review should also substantiate the selected methodological approach. The review and research question(s) guide the researcher in determining how to collect and analyze data. Often the methodological approach used in a study is selected to contribute knowledge that expands upon what has been published previously about the topic (see Institute of Education Sciences and National Science Foundation, 2013 ). An emerging topic of study may need an exploratory approach that allows for a description of the phenomenon and development of a potential theory. This could, but not necessarily, require a methodological approach that uses interviews, observations, surveys, or other instruments. An extensively studied topic may call for the additional understanding of specific factors or variables; this type of study would be well suited to a verification or a causal research design. These could entail a methodological approach that uses valid and reliable instruments, observations, or interviews to determine an effect in the studied event. In either of these examples, the researcher(s) may use a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods methodological approach.

Even with a good research question, there is still more reading to be done. The complexity and focus of the research question dictates the depth and breadth of the literature to be examined. Questions that connect multiple topics can require broad literature reviews. For instance, a study that explores the impact of a biology faculty learning community on the inquiry instruction of faculty could have the following review areas: learning communities among biology faculty, inquiry instruction among biology faculty, and inquiry instruction among biology faculty as a result of professional learning. Biology education researchers need to consider whether their literature review requires studies from different disciplines within or outside DBER. For the example given, it would be fruitful to look at research focused on learning communities with faculty in STEM fields or in general education fields that result in instructional change. It is important not to be too narrow or too broad when reading. When the conclusions of articles start to sound similar or no new insights are gained, the researcher likely has a good foundation for a literature review. This level of reading should allow the researcher to demonstrate a mastery in understanding the researched topic, explain the suitability of the proposed research approach, and point to the need for the refined research question(s).

The literature review should include the researcher’s evaluation and critique of the selected studies. A researcher may have a large collection of studies, but not all of the studies will follow standards important in the reporting of empirical work in the social sciences. The American Educational Research Association ( Duran et al. , 2006 ), for example, offers a general discussion about standards for such work: an adequate review of research informing the study, the existence of sound and appropriate data collection and analysis methods, and appropriate conclusions that do not overstep or underexplore the analyzed data. The Institute of Education Sciences and National Science Foundation (2013) also offer Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development that can be used to evaluate collected studies.

Because not all journals adhere to such standards, it is important that a researcher review each study to determine the quality of published research, per the guidelines suggested earlier. In some instances, the research may be fatally flawed. Examples of such flaws include data that do not pertain to the question, a lack of discussion about the data collection, poorly constructed instruments, or an inadequate analysis. These types of errors result in studies that are incomplete, error-laden, or inaccurate and should be excluded from the review. Most studies have limitations, and the author(s) often make them explicit. For instance, there may be an instructor effect, recognized bias in the analysis, or issues with the sample population. Limitations are usually addressed by the research team in some way to ensure a sound and acceptable research process. Occasionally, the limitations associated with the study can be significant and not addressed adequately, which leaves a consequential decision in the hands of the researcher. Providing critiques of studies in the literature review process gives the reader confidence that the researcher has carefully examined relevant work in preparation for the study and, ultimately, the manuscript.

A solid literature review clearly anchors the proposed study in the field and connects the research question(s), the methodological approach, and the discussion. Reviewing extant research leads to research questions that will contribute to what is known in the field. By summarizing what is known, the literature review points to what needs to be known, which in turn guides decisions about methodology. Finally, notable findings of the new study are discussed in reference to those described in the literature review.

Within published BER studies, literature reviews can be placed in different locations in an article. When included in the introductory section of the study, the first few paragraphs of the manuscript set the stage, with the literature review following the opening paragraphs. Cooper et al. (2019) illustrate this approach in their study of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). An introduction discussing the potential of CURES is followed by an analysis of the existing literature relevant to the design of CUREs that allows for novel student discoveries. Within this review, the authors point out contradictory findings among research on novel student discoveries. This clarifies the need for their study, which is described and highlighted through specific research aims.

A literature reviews can also make up a separate section in a paper. For example, the introduction to Todd et al. (2019) illustrates the need for their research topic by highlighting the potential of learning progressions (LPs) and suggesting that LPs may help mitigate learning loss in genetics. At the end of the introduction, the authors state their specific research questions. The review of literature following this opening section comprises two subsections. One focuses on learning loss in general and examines a variety of studies and meta-analyses from the disciplines of medical education, mathematics, and reading. The second section focuses specifically on LPs in genetics and highlights student learning in the midst of LPs. These separate reviews provide insights into the stated research question.

Suggestions and Advice

A well-conceptualized, comprehensive, and critical literature review reveals the understanding of the topic that the researcher brings to the study. Literature reviews should not be so big that there is no clear area of focus; nor should they be so narrow that no real research question arises. The task for a researcher is to craft an efficient literature review that offers a critical analysis of published work, articulates the need for the study, guides the methodological approach to the topic of study, and provides an adequate foundation for the discussion of the findings.

In our own writing of literature reviews, there are often many drafts. An early draft may seem well suited to the study because the need for and approach to the study are well described. However, as the results of the study are analyzed and findings begin to emerge, the existing literature review may be inadequate and need revision. The need for an expanded discussion about the research area can result in the inclusion of new studies that support the explanation of a potential finding. The literature review may also prove to be too broad. Refocusing on a specific area allows for more contemplation of a finding.

It should be noted that there are different types of literature reviews, and many books and articles have been written about the different ways to embark on these types of reviews. Among these different resources, the following may be helpful in considering how to refine the review process for scholarly journals:

• Booth, A., Sutton, A., & Papaioannou, D. (2016a). Systemic approaches to a successful literature review (2nd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage. This book addresses different types of literature reviews and offers important suggestions pertaining to defining the scope of the literature review and assessing extant studies.
• Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., Williams, J. M., Bizup, J., & Fitzgerald, W. T. (2016b). The craft of research (4th ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. This book can help the novice consider how to make the case for an area of study. While this book is not specifically about literature reviews, it offers suggestions about making the case for your study.
• Galvan, J. L., & Galvan, M. C. (2017). Writing literature reviews: A guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences (7th ed.). Routledge. This book offers guidance on writing different types of literature reviews. For the novice researcher, there are useful suggestions for creating coherent literature reviews.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS

Purpose of theoretical frameworks.

As new education researchers may be less familiar with theoretical frameworks than with literature reviews, this discussion begins with an analogy. Envision a biologist, chemist, and physicist examining together the dramatic effect of a fog tsunami over the ocean. A biologist gazing at this phenomenon may be concerned with the effect of fog on various species. A chemist may be interested in the chemical composition of the fog as water vapor condenses around bits of salt. A physicist may be focused on the refraction of light to make fog appear to be “sitting” above the ocean. While observing the same “objective event,” the scientists are operating under different theoretical frameworks that provide a particular perspective or “lens” for the interpretation of the phenomenon. Each of these scientists brings specialized knowledge, experiences, and values to this phenomenon, and these influence the interpretation of the phenomenon. The scientists’ theoretical frameworks influence how they design and carry out their studies and interpret their data.

Within an educational study, a theoretical framework helps to explain a phenomenon through a particular lens and challenges and extends existing knowledge within the limitations of that lens. Theoretical frameworks are explicitly stated by an educational researcher in the paper’s framework, theory, or relevant literature section. The framework shapes the types of questions asked, guides the method by which data are collected and analyzed, and informs the discussion of the results of the study. It also reveals the researcher’s subjectivities, for example, values, social experience, and viewpoint ( Allen, 2017 ). It is essential that a novice researcher learn to explicitly state a theoretical framework, because all research questions are being asked from the researcher’s implicit or explicit assumptions of a phenomenon of interest ( Schwandt, 2000 ).

Selecting Theoretical Frameworks

Theoretical frameworks are one of the most contemplated elements in our work in educational research. In this section, we share three important considerations for new scholars selecting a theoretical framework.

The first step in identifying a theoretical framework involves reflecting on the phenomenon within the study and the assumptions aligned with the phenomenon. The phenomenon involves the studied event. There are many possibilities, for example, student learning, instructional approach, or group organization. A researcher holds assumptions about how the phenomenon will be effected, influenced, changed, or portrayed. It is ultimately the researcher’s assumption(s) about the phenomenon that aligns with a theoretical framework. An example can help illustrate how a researcher’s reflection on the phenomenon and acknowledgment of assumptions can result in the identification of a theoretical framework.

In our example, a biology education researcher may be interested in exploring how students’ learning of difficult biological concepts can be supported by the interactions of group members. The phenomenon of interest is the interactions among the peers, and the researcher assumes that more knowledgeable students are important in supporting the learning of the group. As a result, the researcher may draw on Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory of learning and development that is focused on the phenomenon of student learning in a social setting. This theory posits the critical nature of interactions among students and between students and teachers in the process of building knowledge. A researcher drawing upon this framework holds the assumption that learning is a dynamic social process involving questions and explanations among students in the classroom and that more knowledgeable peers play an important part in the process of building conceptual knowledge.

It is important to state at this point that there are many different theoretical frameworks. Some frameworks focus on learning and knowing, while other theoretical frameworks focus on equity, empowerment, or discourse. Some frameworks are well articulated, and others are still being refined. For a new researcher, it can be challenging to find a theoretical framework. Two of the best ways to look for theoretical frameworks is through published works that highlight different frameworks.

When a theoretical framework is selected, it should clearly connect to all parts of the study. The framework should augment the study by adding a perspective that provides greater insights into the phenomenon. It should clearly align with the studies described in the literature review. For instance, a framework focused on learning would correspond to research that reported different learning outcomes for similar studies. The methods for data collection and analysis should also correspond to the framework. For instance, a study about instructional interventions could use a theoretical framework concerned with learning and could collect data about the effect of the intervention on what is learned. When the data are analyzed, the theoretical framework should provide added meaning to the findings, and the findings should align with the theoretical framework.

A study by Jensen and Lawson (2011) provides an example of how a theoretical framework connects different parts of the study. They compared undergraduate biology students in heterogeneous and homogeneous groups over the course of a semester. Jensen and Lawson (2011) assumed that learning involved collaboration and more knowledgeable peers, which made Vygotsky’s (1978) theory a good fit for their study. They predicted that students in heterogeneous groups would experience greater improvement in their reasoning abilities and science achievements with much of the learning guided by the more knowledgeable peers.

In the enactment of the study, they collected data about the instruction in traditional and inquiry-oriented classes, while the students worked in homogeneous or heterogeneous groups. To determine the effect of working in groups, the authors also measured students’ reasoning abilities and achievement. Each data-collection and analysis decision connected to understanding the influence of collaborative work.

Their findings highlighted aspects of Vygotsky’s (1978) theory of learning. One finding, for instance, posited that inquiry instruction, as a whole, resulted in reasoning and achievement gains. This links to Vygotsky (1978) , because inquiry instruction involves interactions among group members. A more nuanced finding was that group composition had a conditional effect. Heterogeneous groups performed better with more traditional and didactic instruction, regardless of the reasoning ability of the group members. Homogeneous groups worked better during interaction-rich activities for students with low reasoning ability. The authors attributed the variation to the different types of helping behaviors of students. High-performing students provided the answers, while students with low reasoning ability had to work collectively through the material. In terms of Vygotsky (1978) , this finding provided new insights into the learning context in which productive interactions can occur for students.

Another consideration in the selection and use of a theoretical framework pertains to its orientation to the study. This can result in the theoretical framework prioritizing individuals, institutions, and/or policies ( Anfara and Mertz, 2014 ). Frameworks that connect to individuals, for instance, could contribute to understanding their actions, learning, or knowledge. Institutional frameworks, on the other hand, offer insights into how institutions, organizations, or groups can influence individuals or materials. Policy theories provide ways to understand how national or local policies can dictate an emphasis on outcomes or instructional design. These different types of frameworks highlight different aspects in an educational setting, which influences the design of the study and the collection of data. In addition, these different frameworks offer a way to make sense of the data. Aligning the data collection and analysis with the framework ensures that a study is coherent and can contribute to the field.

New understandings emerge when different theoretical frameworks are used. For instance, Ebert-May et al. (2015) prioritized the individual level within conceptual change theory (see Posner et al. , 1982 ). In this theory, an individual’s knowledge changes when it no longer fits the phenomenon. Ebert-May et al. (2015) designed a professional development program challenging biology postdoctoral scholars’ existing conceptions of teaching. The authors reported that the biology postdoctoral scholars’ teaching practices became more student-centered as they were challenged to explain their instructional decision making. According to the theory, the biology postdoctoral scholars’ dissatisfaction in their descriptions of teaching and learning initiated change in their knowledge and instruction. These results reveal how conceptual change theory can explain the learning of participants and guide the design of professional development programming.

The communities of practice (CoP) theoretical framework ( Lave, 1988 ; Wenger, 1998 ) prioritizes the institutional level , suggesting that learning occurs when individuals learn from and contribute to the communities in which they reside. Grounded in the assumption of community learning, the literature on CoP suggests that, as individuals interact regularly with the other members of their group, they learn about the rules, roles, and goals of the community ( Allee, 2000 ). A study conducted by Gehrke and Kezar (2017) used the CoP framework to understand organizational change by examining the involvement of individual faculty engaged in a cross-institutional CoP focused on changing the instructional practice of faculty at each institution. In the CoP, faculty members were involved in enhancing instructional materials within their department, which aligned with an overarching goal of instituting instruction that embraced active learning. Not surprisingly, Gehrke and Kezar (2017) revealed that faculty who perceived the community culture as important in their work cultivated institutional change. Furthermore, they found that institutional change was sustained when key leaders served as mentors and provided support for faculty, and as faculty themselves developed into leaders. This study reveals the complexity of individual roles in a COP in order to support institutional instructional change.

It is important to explicitly state the theoretical framework used in a study, but elucidating a theoretical framework can be challenging for a new educational researcher. The literature review can help to identify an applicable theoretical framework. Focal areas of the review or central terms often connect to assumptions and assertions associated with the framework that pertain to the phenomenon of interest. Another way to identify a theoretical framework is self-reflection by the researcher on personal beliefs and understandings about the nature of knowledge the researcher brings to the study ( Lysaght, 2011 ). In stating one’s beliefs and understandings related to the study (e.g., students construct their knowledge, instructional materials support learning), an orientation becomes evident that will suggest a particular theoretical framework. Theoretical frameworks are not arbitrary , but purposefully selected.

With experience, a researcher may find expanded roles for theoretical frameworks. Researchers may revise an existing framework that has limited explanatory power, or they may decide there is a need to develop a new theoretical framework. These frameworks can emerge from a current study or the need to explain a phenomenon in a new way. Researchers may also find that multiple theoretical frameworks are necessary to frame and explore a problem, as different frameworks can provide different insights into a problem.

Finally, it is important to recognize that choosing “x” theoretical framework does not necessarily mean a researcher chooses “y” methodology and so on, nor is there a clear-cut, linear process in selecting a theoretical framework for one’s study. In part, the nonlinear process of identifying a theoretical framework is what makes understanding and using theoretical frameworks challenging. For the novice scholar, contemplating and understanding theoretical frameworks is essential. Fortunately, there are articles and books that can help:

• Creswell, J. W. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage. This book provides an overview of theoretical frameworks in general educational research.
• Ding, L. (2019). Theoretical perspectives of quantitative physics education research. Physical Review Physics Education Research , 15 (2), 020101-1–020101-13. This paper illustrates how a DBER field can use theoretical frameworks.
• Nehm, R. (2019). Biology education research: Building integrative frameworks for teaching and learning about living systems. Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research , 1 , ar15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43031-019-0017-6 . This paper articulates the need for studies in BER to explicitly state theoretical frameworks and provides examples of potential studies.
• Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research & evaluation methods: Integrating theory and practice . Sage. This book also provides an overview of theoretical frameworks, but for both research and evaluation.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS

Purpose of a conceptual framework.

A conceptual framework is a description of the way a researcher understands the factors and/or variables that are involved in the study and their relationships to one another. The purpose of a conceptual framework is to articulate the concepts under study using relevant literature ( Rocco and Plakhotnik, 2009 ) and to clarify the presumed relationships among those concepts ( Rocco and Plakhotnik, 2009 ; Anfara and Mertz, 2014 ). Conceptual frameworks are different from theoretical frameworks in both their breadth and grounding in established findings. Whereas a theoretical framework articulates the lens through which a researcher views the work, the conceptual framework is often more mechanistic and malleable.

Conceptual frameworks are broader, encompassing both established theories (i.e., theoretical frameworks) and the researchers’ own emergent ideas. Emergent ideas, for example, may be rooted in informal and/or unpublished observations from experience. These emergent ideas would not be considered a “theory” if they are not yet tested, supported by systematically collected evidence, and peer reviewed. However, they do still play an important role in the way researchers approach their studies. The conceptual framework allows authors to clearly describe their emergent ideas so that connections among ideas in the study and the significance of the study are apparent to readers.

Constructing Conceptual Frameworks

Including a conceptual framework in a research study is important, but researchers often opt to include either a conceptual or a theoretical framework. Either may be adequate, but both provide greater insight into the research approach. For instance, a research team plans to test a novel component of an existing theory. In their study, they describe the existing theoretical framework that informs their work and then present their own conceptual framework. Within this conceptual framework, specific topics portray emergent ideas that are related to the theory. Describing both frameworks allows readers to better understand the researchers’ assumptions, orientations, and understanding of concepts being investigated. For example, Connolly et al. (2018) included a conceptual framework that described how they applied a theoretical framework of social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to their study on teaching programs for doctoral students. In their conceptual framework, the authors described SCCT, explained how it applied to the investigation, and drew upon results from previous studies to justify the proposed connections between the theory and their emergent ideas.

In some cases, authors may be able to sufficiently describe their conceptualization of the phenomenon under study in an introduction alone, without a separate conceptual framework section. However, incomplete descriptions of how the researchers conceptualize the components of the study may limit the significance of the study by making the research less intelligible to readers. This is especially problematic when studying topics in which researchers use the same terms for different constructs or different terms for similar and overlapping constructs (e.g., inquiry, teacher beliefs, pedagogical content knowledge, or active learning). Authors must describe their conceptualization of a construct if the research is to be understandable and useful.

There are some key areas to consider regarding the inclusion of a conceptual framework in a study. To begin with, it is important to recognize that conceptual frameworks are constructed by the researchers conducting the study ( Rocco and Plakhotnik, 2009 ; Maxwell, 2012 ). This is different from theoretical frameworks that are often taken from established literature. Researchers should bring together ideas from the literature, but they may be influenced by their own experiences as a student and/or instructor, the shared experiences of others, or thought experiments as they construct a description, model, or representation of their understanding of the phenomenon under study. This is an exercise in intellectual organization and clarity that often considers what is learned, known, and experienced. The conceptual framework makes these constructs explicitly visible to readers, who may have different understandings of the phenomenon based on their prior knowledge and experience. There is no single method to go about this intellectual work.

Reeves et al. (2016) is an example of an article that proposed a conceptual framework about graduate teaching assistant professional development evaluation and research. The authors used existing literature to create a novel framework that filled a gap in current research and practice related to the training of graduate teaching assistants. This conceptual framework can guide the systematic collection of data by other researchers because the framework describes the relationships among various factors that influence teaching and learning. The Reeves et al. (2016) conceptual framework may be modified as additional data are collected and analyzed by other researchers. This is not uncommon, as conceptual frameworks can serve as catalysts for concerted research efforts that systematically explore a phenomenon (e.g., Reynolds et al. , 2012 ; Brownell and Kloser, 2015 ).

Sabel et al. (2017) used a conceptual framework in their exploration of how scaffolds, an external factor, interact with internal factors to support student learning. Their conceptual framework integrated principles from two theoretical frameworks, self-regulated learning and metacognition, to illustrate how the research team conceptualized students’ use of scaffolds in their learning ( Figure 1 ). Sabel et al. (2017) created this model using their interpretations of these two frameworks in the context of their teaching.

Conceptual framework from Sabel et al. (2017) .

A conceptual framework should describe the relationship among components of the investigation ( Anfara and Mertz, 2014 ). These relationships should guide the researcher’s methods of approaching the study ( Miles et al. , 2014 ) and inform both the data to be collected and how those data should be analyzed. Explicitly describing the connections among the ideas allows the researcher to justify the importance of the study and the rigor of the research design. Just as importantly, these frameworks help readers understand why certain components of a system were not explored in the study. This is a challenge in education research, which is rooted in complex environments with many variables that are difficult to control.

For example, Sabel et al. (2017) stated: “Scaffolds, such as enhanced answer keys and reflection questions, can help students and instructors bridge the external and internal factors and support learning” (p. 3). They connected the scaffolds in the study to the three dimensions of metacognition and the eventual transformation of existing ideas into new or revised ideas. Their framework provides a rationale for focusing on how students use two different scaffolds, and not on other factors that may influence a student’s success (self-efficacy, use of active learning, exam format, etc.).

In constructing conceptual frameworks, researchers should address needed areas of study and/or contradictions discovered in literature reviews. By attending to these areas, researchers can strengthen their arguments for the importance of a study. For instance, conceptual frameworks can address how the current study will fill gaps in the research, resolve contradictions in existing literature, or suggest a new area of study. While a literature review describes what is known and not known about the phenomenon, the conceptual framework leverages these gaps in describing the current study ( Maxwell, 2012 ). In the example of Sabel et al. (2017) , the authors indicated there was a gap in the literature regarding how scaffolds engage students in metacognition to promote learning in large classes. Their study helps fill that gap by describing how scaffolds can support students in the three dimensions of metacognition: intelligibility, plausibility, and wide applicability. In another example, Lane (2016) integrated research from science identity, the ethic of care, the sense of belonging, and an expertise model of student success to form a conceptual framework that addressed the critiques of other frameworks. In a more recent example, Sbeglia et al. (2021) illustrated how a conceptual framework influences the methodological choices and inferences in studies by educational researchers.

Sometimes researchers draw upon the conceptual frameworks of other researchers. When a researcher’s conceptual framework closely aligns with an existing framework, the discussion may be brief. For example, Ghee et al. (2016) referred to portions of SCCT as their conceptual framework to explain the significance of their work on students’ self-efficacy and career interests. Because the authors’ conceptualization of this phenomenon aligned with a previously described framework, they briefly mentioned the conceptual framework and provided additional citations that provided more detail for the readers.

Within both the BER and the broader DBER communities, conceptual frameworks have been used to describe different constructs. For example, some researchers have used the term “conceptual framework” to describe students’ conceptual understandings of a biological phenomenon. This is distinct from a researcher’s conceptual framework of the educational phenomenon under investigation, which may also need to be explicitly described in the article. Other studies have presented a research logic model or flowchart of the research design as a conceptual framework. These constructions can be quite valuable in helping readers understand the data-collection and analysis process. However, a model depicting the study design does not serve the same role as a conceptual framework. Researchers need to avoid conflating these constructs by differentiating the researchers’ conceptual framework that guides the study from the research design, when applicable.

Explicitly describing conceptual frameworks is essential in depicting the focus of the study. We have found that being explicit in a conceptual framework means using accepted terminology, referencing prior work, and clearly noting connections between terms. This description can also highlight gaps in the literature or suggest potential contributions to the field of study. A well-elucidated conceptual framework can suggest additional studies that may be warranted. This can also spur other researchers to consider how they would approach the examination of a phenomenon and could result in a revised conceptual framework.

It can be challenging to create conceptual frameworks, but they are important. Below are two resources that could be helpful in constructing and presenting conceptual frameworks in educational research:

• Maxwell, J. A. (2012). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage. Chapter 3 in this book describes how to construct conceptual frameworks.
• Ravitch, S. M., & Riggan, M. (2016). Reason & rigor: How conceptual frameworks guide research . Los Angeles, CA: Sage. This book explains how conceptual frameworks guide the research questions, data collection, data analyses, and interpretation of results.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Literature reviews, theoretical frameworks, and conceptual frameworks are all important in DBER and BER. Robust literature reviews reinforce the importance of a study. Theoretical frameworks connect the study to the base of knowledge in educational theory and specify the researcher’s assumptions. Conceptual frameworks allow researchers to explicitly describe their conceptualization of the relationships among the components of the phenomenon under study. Table 1 provides a general overview of these components in order to assist biology education researchers in thinking about these elements.

It is important to emphasize that these different elements are intertwined. When these elements are aligned and complement one another, the study is coherent, and the study findings contribute to knowledge in the field. When literature reviews, theoretical frameworks, and conceptual frameworks are disconnected from one another, the study suffers. The point of the study is lost, suggested findings are unsupported, or important conclusions are invisible to the researcher. In addition, this misalignment may be costly in terms of time and money.

Conducting a literature review, selecting a theoretical framework, and building a conceptual framework are some of the most difficult elements of a research study. It takes time to understand the relevant research, identify a theoretical framework that provides important insights into the study, and formulate a conceptual framework that organizes the finding. In the research process, there is often a constant back and forth among these elements as the study evolves. With an ongoing refinement of the review of literature, clarification of the theoretical framework, and articulation of a conceptual framework, a sound study can emerge that makes a contribution to the field. This is the goal of BER and education research.

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Research Framework

Ai generator.

A framework is an essential idea that humans have been using to build something effectively. This structure is widespread in various fields. In web development, for example, web developers use a framework called Model-View-Controller(MVC) to develop a web application.  MVC framework  is one of the most common software design patterns that web developers use to build user-interfaces. This type of structure allows them to create a more organized and understandable set of codes, making it an essential tool in developing an object-oriented program using programming languages, such as Javascript. Aside from web development, you can use frameworks in executing research methodologies, such as quantitative and qualitative research .

What is the Research Framework?

A research framework is a precise representation of the structure of a research project plan . Through this structure, you can determine the critical areas of the study. It also allows you to come up with relevant research questions and research objectives. To develop a research framework, you have to team up with the individuals within your organization or community. These people may include local authorities, contractors, voluntary groups, and other affecting individuals.

What are the Contributions that Research Framework Can Offer?

Developing a framework for your study is crucial to obtain the following benefits.

1. Timely Knowledge

Whether you are conducting marketing research or nursing research, you will need to gather the relevant information that surrounds your study for a better understanding of your research. You can collect this type of information by scanning related reports and writings from a public library, publications, and other sources.

2. Knowledge Gaps

After receiving the relevant information, you will be able to determine the holes of the data between the existing information and your current study. To close the gap, use this knowledge difference to come up with questions, which you will be focusing on for the rest of your project.

3. Research Strategy

If you can develop an action research framework, market research framework, or any other research framework, it will be easier for you to plan on how to carry out your project.

10+ Research Framework Examples

To give you a better understanding of research frameworks, we collated a list of samples that you can easily download in PDF formats.

1. Disaster Management Research Framework Example

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2. Research Framework Plan Example

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3. Research Framework Policy Example

4. Research Framework Methodology Example

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5. Feminist Research Framework Example

6. Basic Research Framework Example

7. research methodology and analysis framework example.

Size: 197 KB

8. Research Evaluation Framework Example

Size: 215 KB

9. Framework for Assessing Research Example

Size: 76 KB

10. Research Training Framework Example

Size: 159 KB

11. Research Strategic Framework Example

How to Apply Research Framework?

In applying the framework to research projects such as experimental investigations for the first time, following a guide can be essential to prevent your research from going astray. Read the following instructions to ensure that you are doing your research correctly.

1. Take Note of the Observation

When researching with a set framework, the first thing that you must do is to observe the research surroundings. There are many ways to do your observation. You can take note of the indicators that will reveal the hidden matters during your study. In the process, you may notice unusual activities that may need further examination. You can also uncover a connection between one or two matters, which the existing information didn’t cover.

2. Develop Research Questions

By following the previous step, you should be able to take note of remarkable observations. Through these remarks, you will formulate the research questions. In doing so, make sure that the items that you have come up with will interest you and your audience. Aside from that, it would help if you were the first individual who will answer the questions. However, you also have to ensure that these questions are answerable given the time and the resources that you have.

3. Determine the Study Objectives

Once you have gathered the research questions, you can easily create the objectives of your project. Develop answerable, predictive, and clear assertions.

4. Assign the Most Appropriate Design

By choosing a research method, you can determine how to gather the necessary data, which is crucial to come up with a conclusion of your research. Case study, open-label, parallel design, cross-sectional, and case-control are a few of the vast array of the research designs that you can choose from to apply in your project.

5. Describe the Data Collection Process

Explain all the procedures for gathering the necessary information for your study. This essay should cover the process involved in collecting and storing the data. Specify the individuals or organizations that can retrieve the data and the steps that you are going to take in ensuring the subject and the data confidentiality.

6. Analyze the Data

Once you have all the necessary information, analyze it using statistical methods to come up with the best solution, and conclusion for your research project. Lastly, present the results to the target audience.

Before conducting a research project, it is essential to learn the use of research frameworks. Just like software development frameworks, this type of tool will ensure that you are executing the research process of your project systematically. We created this article to ensure that you are not going to conduct your research project aimlessly.

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16 Product Management Frameworks for Your Team to Use in 2024

Product development is a lot like building a house: you need a solid blueprint. And that’s why it’s necessary to adopt the right product management frameworks (the blueprint!) to guide product teams at every stage. The result? Top-notch products.

So, which product management frameworks should your team use? In this article, we’ve outlined an extensive list to help inform your product strategy. Let’s get right to it.

• Product management frameworks help guide product teams by establishing standardized, repeatable processes to create successful products. Commonly used product management frameworks include:
• Product-led growth uses your product to drive activation, conversion, and retention.
• A minimum viable product involves creating a basic version of your product to validate the idea and improve on it.
• RICE framework assigns a score to each new initiative based on its reach, impact, confidence, and effort.
• Design Sprint methodology is a six-step process to test new products and feature ideas .
• AARRR helps product managers group and track relevant metrics at each stage of a user’s journey.
• JTBD (jobs-to-be-done) is based on the principle that people use a product to complete a specific job.
• Working backward is one of the best product management frameworks used by Amazon. It starts with identifying the product’s desired goal and outcome and develops a product strategy from there.
• The Kano model helps prioritize features based on user satisfaction and the effort required.
• A Product team competencies framework involves identifying key skills for successful product outcomes.
• The CIRCLES method is a problem-solving approach that helps product managers understand design-oriented questions better.
• The Hook model helps develop habit-forming products through a cycle of triggers, actions, rewards, and investments.
• The MoSCoW model involves ranking features as Must Have, Should Have, Could Have, and Will Not Have.
• The OKRs method includes setting ambitious product management goals and measurable key results.
• Weighted scoring requires team members to rank initiatives based on pre-defined criteria for efficient prioritization.
• Story mapping helps visualize the user journey to create a product strategy roadmap.
• Opportunity scoring helps identify features that need enhancements to drive satisfaction.
• Userpilot enables product-led growth by helping you understand users’ needs and implement features that satisfy them. Book a demo now to see it in action.

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1. Product-led growth

With product-led growth (PLG), you put the product at the center of all your product management strategies. PLG focuses on using engaging in-app experiences to drive user activation, free-to-paid conversions, and account expansion .

Several established SaaS companies, from Slack and Zoom to Dropbox, have implemented the PLG framework .

It involves making your product so valuable to users that it sells itself. This improves the overall customer satisfaction levels and results in shorter sales cycles .

If you want to implement PLG strategies, you can use a product growth platform like Userpilot to:

• Increase free trial-to-paid conversions – Launch in-app welcome surveys to collect data about free trialers. Use that data to delight them with a personalized onboarding experience and convert them into paid users.

• Analyze user behavior – Use in-depth product analytics to monitor in-app user behavior , identify patterns, and spot areas of friction.

• Collect customer feedback – Trigger in-app surveys at the right moments within a user’s journey to get a clear picture of user satisfaction and sentiment. It can help you identify areas of improvement and new feature ideas.

2. Minimum viable product

This product management framework involves creating a barebones version of your product. In other words, you build a version with just enough features to make the product usable.

Then, you share this MVP with target users, create minimum viable onboarding for it, collect their feedback, and make necessary improvements.

Launching an MVP is a cost-effective way of validating your idea and achieving product-market fit. You can take things a step further to create a minimum delightful product (MDP), i.e., a version with just enough features to delight users.

You can choose from different types of MVPs . For instance, you can use low-fidelity MVPs like landing page MVP and email MVP.

Similarly, a high-fidelity MVP could be a single-feature MVP or concierge MVP.

3. RICE framework

RICE is a feature prioritization matrix that helps product managers make data-driven decisions when building a product roadmap.

For instance, you can use the model to decide what feature requests to prioritize when building an MVP.

RICE is an acronym for:

• Reach – The number of people who will be reached by an initiative in a given period.
• Impact – The impact of an initiative on users, usually measured on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being the lowest impact).
• Confidence – A measure of how likely the initiative will have the desired reach or impact, usually measured in percentage.
• Effort – The amount of time and resources it’ll take to implement the initiative, usually measured in months.

You can calculate the RICE score using the following formula:

(Reach x Impact x Confidence) / Effort

The higher the RICE score of a new initiative, the more it’ll benefit your company.

4. Design sprint methodology

It’s a six-step process to test new product/feature ideas and solve complex problems quickly. Different product team members should participate, such as analysts, developers, UI designers , and testing engineers.

This product management framework usually involves the following stages:

• Understand.

The Design Sprint methodology comes in particularly handy when building agile release plans .

Also called the Pirate Metrics framework, AARRR helps product managers group and track relevant metrics across different stages of the buyer’s journey. This systematic approach allows for targeted strategies and improvements at each stage, leading to better overall product performance and user satisfaction.

The AARRR framework includes the following stages:

• Acquisition.
• Activation.

For product-led SaaS companies, it makes sense to use a modified version of the Pirate Metrics framework called AAARRR (acquisition, activation, adoption, retention, revenue, and referral).

6. Jobs-to-be-Done

The jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) framework helps product teams gain in-depth insights into user needs and pain points. It’s based on the assumption that people use a product to complete a specific job or accomplish a goal.

For instance, if you’re building a graphic designing app, common JTBDs can include:

• Creating marketing materials for social media.
• Designing custom illustrations for brand-building.

Product managers can collect customer data through in-app surveys and one-on-one interviews to get a better idea of JTBD.

This product management framework helps tailor your product offering to meet user needs and identify new opportunities for innovation. Product and marketing teams can use JTBD templates by Miro, Figma, or Mural to implement the framework.

7. Working backward

Working backward is the product management framework Amazon uses to develop new features and products. Here’s how it works—when a product manager has a new idea, they articulate what the media and users will say about it.

It helps identify the outcome you want users to achieve with your product and allows you to set the right goals and align all product-related decisions accordingly.

With this product management process , you put the end-user at the heart of the development process, resulting in an improved customer experience.

8. Kano model

It’s a product management framework that helps prioritize features based on the principle that different features impact users differently and, thus, helps product teams narrow their focus when building new features .

The Kano model involves grouping features into the following categories:

• Basic or must-have features that users expect and need.
• Performance features that help increase user satisfaction.
• Excitement or nice-to-have features that delight users .
• Indifferent features that are irrelevant to users.
• Reverse features that can drive users away or dissatisfy them.

9. Product team competencies framework

The product team competencies framework involves outlining the key skills your product managers and team would need during the complex process of product development. It typically identifies skills related to strategic thinking, product vision, and customer insights.

The framework is particularly valuable when you’re building a new product team or assessing whether your existing team is capable of managing a new project. It’s equally useful for helping team members identify professional development opportunities and enhance their skills .

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10. circles method.

It’s a problem-solving framework that helps product managers gain a better understanding of design-related questions.

It involves the following steps:

• Comprehending the situation – Define product goals and constraints.
• Identifying the customer – Outline detailed user personas .
• Reporting customer needs – Use product thinking to get a deep understanding of what each persona wants.
• Cutting through prioritization – Identify features that matter the most and least.
• Listing solutions – Brainstorm problem-solving frameworks to fulfill user needs.
• Evaluating trade-offs – Analyze the benefits and drawbacks of proposed solutions.
• Summarizing your recommendation – An overview of the product design recommendation.

11. Hook model

The Hook model helps product teams devise ways to create strong user habits and drive repeat usage.

It involves four stages for building addictive products :

• Trigger – Internal triggers, such as a user’s emotions and memories, and external triggers, such as paid ads and in-app notifications.
• Action – The bare minimum level of interaction required for a user to experience the reward.
• Variable reward – A goal or task that a user wants to accomplish when interacting with the product.
• Investment – The effort and time a user has to spend to perform actions in the product.

12. MoSCoW model

This is a widely used product prioritization framework teams use to prioritize initiatives in the product development process by dividing them into four groups:

• Should-Have.
• Could-Have.
• Will-Not Have.

This framework is used to define and implement product goals and track progress. The OKRs (objectives and key results) method involves choosing a qualitative, ambitious, and easy-to-understand goal. Next, use the SMART goal-setting framework to define three to five key results that help monitor progress toward the objective. You can have OKRs for product marketing , development, and more.

Here’s an example of customer success OKRs :

• Objective – Improve user retention.
• Key results – Increase retention rates by 5% in the next quarter. Reduce the churn rate from 15% to 10% in the next six months.

14. Weighted scoring

The weighted scoring model is a prioritization framework that helps product managers rank different initiatives or features by assigning scores based on pre-defined criteria. It requires team members to assign a score to each initiative based on pre-defined criteria.

The method facilitates idea screening , efficient resource allocation, and risk assessment.

15. Story mapping

User story mapping helps visualize the user journey and turn your product vision into a roadmap. It’s an excellent tool for fostering collaboration and aligning product design with user needs and wants.

16. Opportunity scoring

Opportunity scoring is a feature-driven development framework that helps identify and ideate features that users value but need further enhancements to drive satisfaction. You can pair it up with an opportunity solution tree to visualize the solutions better.

Implementing this product strategy requires you to ask customers the following questions:

• How satisfied are you with <given feature> on a scale of 1 to 10?
• How important is <given feature> on a scale of 1 to 10?

Next, use the data to create a graph where the X axis represents Importance and the Y axis represents Satisfaction.

The right product management frameworks can help align product goals with business objectives and user needs. From product-led growth and OKRs to weighted scoring and JTBDs, we hope this article will help you prioritize the right initiatives and identify untapped opportunities to improve user satisfaction.

If you want to implement a product-led growth framework, we can help. Schedule a demo to understand how.

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A seven-step framework for applying to your dream mba program.

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Archana Rao is the Chief of Staff to the CEO & VP of Corporate Strategy at Innova Solutions . Founder and Creator of Life-Work Doodles.

"To MBA or to not MBA?" has been a million-dollar question for many business professionals early in their careers. The jury is still out on whether it is worth the cost of tuition. The reasons to pursue an MBA span the spectrum from looking for career acceleration to starting your own company and everything in between.

In my opinion, a world-class MBA, especially from a top-ranked B-school, can put you on an unparalleled life and career trajectory. Education is an investment that sets you up for long-term professional success, a distinguished peer network and personal growth that comes with the pursuit of goal-setting and achievement.

Ten years ago, I was accepted to one of the top 10 MBA programs globally. A global MBA education has put my life and career on an unimaginable journey of incredible learning, growth and experiences.

Over the years, it's been a personal mission of mine to share my experience with those who embark on this journey. I have mentored and coached hundreds of individuals to get accepted into their top-choice MBA universities. My observations about those who crack into their dream programs reveal seven common attributes and traits.

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As you prepare to pursue an education from top MBA institutions globally, building these attributes into your professional and personal life can help bring you closer to your dream program.

1. Understand and acknowledge why it is your dream program.

Is it the brand? Is it the powerful network? Is it the location? Is it the curriculum? Your "why" drives you. The more you understand your motivations, the more you stay motivated. The school is not the end; it is simply a means to an end. Recognize and realize this early on.

2. Start your prep and research early.

Choosing your dream program needs nurturing and time. Do your due diligence online. Talk to current students, recent alums, admissions, professors and second-/third-/fourth-degree connections at your dream school. Ask them questions you didn't find answers to online. Due diligence clarifies your thoughts and helps eliminate choices that are not right for now.

3. Distinguish yourself in any and every way possible.

Lean into your interests and play to your strengths. Some ways to do this are to maintain top academic grades if you're still in school, crack standardized tests, aim for prestigious awards and acclaimed recognition, publish research papers, build thought leadership and become a subject matter expert.

4. Identify potential post-MBA careers and build relevant work experience.

Be it internships, full-time jobs, startup stints, entrepreneurial ventures, family business stints or shadowing professionals, understand what careers you may want to go into after the MBA and what they entail. An education is a means to a career. Going into the degree with a goal will enable you to make the most of it.

5. Find and hone passions outside of academics and work.

Top MBA schools seek a holistic candidate with life outside a nine-to-five. Focus on creating impact and outcomes and uplifting people and communities around you. Running a marathon for a cause, advising a nonprofit, volunteering at an underresourced school—showcase your leadership and well-rounded personality.

6. Be consistent with all of the above.

Build excellence in your profile over a sustained period of time. Impact and outcomes need time. Follow your interests, and they will keep you motivated and inspired. Take breaks as needed, but always come back to it.

7. Enjoy the application process and avoid taking yourself too seriously.

MBA admissions is a process of self-discovery. In a way, it is not so much getting admitted to your dream MBA school but the process of setting goals, measuring them, working toward them consistently and finally achieving them that's truly satisfying.

After all, your dream MBA program is only a small part of the journey to live a full, real life. And an MBA by no means is the only way to achieve this, but it sure can be great for professionals who want to build a holistic management skill set.

As part of my personal passion to mentor others, I have seen hundreds of individuals take on the daunting admissions process. Having personally been through the process, I can safely say the journey to the destination is equally rewarding.

Trust the process, put in the work and the path to your dream program will become clearer. I leave you with this quote from Benjamin Franklin for inspiration: "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest."

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Why Dropping the E in DEI Is a Mistake

• Enrica N. Ruggs
• Oscar Holmes IV

The Society for Human Resource Management’s decision to remove “equity” from its DEI framework sets a dangerous precedent that flies in the face of decades of research.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has decided to remove “equity” from its inclusion, equity, and diversity (IE&D) framework, now promoting “inclusion and diversity” (I&D) instead. This decision sets a dangerous precedent that flies in the face of decades of research about DEI in the workplace. It undermines efforts to create equitable workplaces and ignores the vital role of equity in fostering fairness and addressing systemic barriers faced by marginalized groups. Instead of scaling back their focus on equity, companies should: 1) Commit to achievable equity goals; 2) Implement and track evidence-based DEI policies and practices; and 3) Establish accountability and transparency.

Recently, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), a leading voice of HR professionals, announced that it was abandoning the acronym “IE&D” — inclusion, equity, and diversity — in favor of “I&D.”

• Enrica N. Ruggs , PhD is an associate professor of management in the C. T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. She is a workplace diversity scholar who conducts research on reducing discrimination and bias in organizations and improving workplace experiences for individuals with marginalized identities.
• Oscar Holmes IV , PhD, SHRM-SCP is an associate professor of management at Rutgers University-Camden and the creator and host of the podcast Diversity Matters . In his research he examines how leaders can maximize productivity and well-being by fostering more inclusive workplaces.

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A Diversification Framework for China

Although diversification is already underway, it proves difficult even in economies that have better security alignment with the US and the same attributes that made China attractive.

Western policymakers and business leaders are rethinking over-reliance on China as a global manufacturing and sourcing hub. The first question is whether diversification from China is even possible, given the economies of scale and scope China’s huge size has permitted. We find that, properly defined, diversification is already taking place to a limited but important degree. Shocks from the US-China “trade war,” COVID, Russia’s war on Ukraine, and other events have made the risks of hyper-globalized value chains clear, altering the valuation of those risks in business and policy planning. And tensions with China continue to rise as a function of technological change, even as political authorities seek stabilization. Yet China’s market size, four-decade manufacturing investment boom, and geopolitical clout also present major hurdles to diversification. Even when other economies enjoy the same attributes that made China attractive and have better security alignment with the United States, diversification can be difficult.

In this report, we assess the potential for diversification of manufacturing and sourcing from China to other economies, whether that potential is being realized, and the reasons why or why not. We come to several working conclusions on these questions:

• In the aggregate, diversification from China is underway, as evidenced by China’s decreasing share of US imports and foreign direct investment (FDI) over the past seven years.
• Diversification has so far centered on just a few countries (Mexico and Vietnam in particular), presenting a risk of capacity constraints and rising costs, hence slowing diversification.
• Diversification is concentrated in a few sectors, too (textiles, electronics, and autos), and in the assembly segment rather than upstream supply chains. In short, firms on the move are still relying on their China-based manufacturing or sourcing for inputs, and broader migration will only happen in stages over a longer period.
• US trade diversification and investment diversification often don’t match: the change in the composition of US imports is often not driven by US FDI but by non-US firms, not least of which—ironically—are Chinese and Taiwanese.
• Beyond Mexico and Vietnam, like-minded nations can be diversification winners despite higher-cost structures: Canada, Taiwan, Germany, and South Korea are picking up trade and FDI shares. Yet many other security-aligned nations are not: Japan, Australia, and the Philippines are notably absent from the list of hotspots.
• The gap between diversification potential and outcomes has many causes, but two factors stand out: availability of workforces with basic-to-advanced skills and the role of high-quality, cross-border economic agreements. These assets are essential both to China’s success over the past two decades and to understanding where activity is shifting today. For instance, the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is key to why Mexico is picking up so much diversification, while China’s agreements within members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are central to the rise of its neighbors, particularly Vietnam, as US trading partners.
• In the potential/realized diversification gaps we identify, there are opportunities to drive diversification to core US partners, broaden the scope of supply chain movement (beyond assembly), and align trade and FDI patterns. These opportunities require active commercial diplomacy and engagement.
• Reducing over-reliance on China is not impossible, as it was considered until recently. However, the economic costs and risks are real and not all worth incurring. Analysis helps to clarify where it can be viable, even at this early stage, and where policy and government action can help to clear the path.

Read the full report

To understand how the United States can facilitate diversification while keeping costs in check, we ask what made China a dominant economic partner in the first place and what attractions have slipped recently. We look for countries that offer some of China’s conditions and examine whether they are in fact attracting diversification interest. We then conclude with a few lessons learned on how to close the gaps.

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The Mixed Blessing of Dancing with Star Employees: A Social-Comparison-Based Analysis of the Effects of Star Employees on Non-Stars

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• Published: 07 August 2024

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• Xiao Jincen 1 ,
• Wang Yingjian 1 ,
• Cheng Bao 2 &
• Wei Jing 1  

Although star employees have been well documented as having a series of positive impacts in organizations, there is emerging evidence that they also negatively influence non-stars. Research using an integrative framework to explore the advantages and disadvantages of star employees is limited.Drawing on upward social comparison theory and the pain-driven dual envy framework, this research develops a model to examine when and how star employees differentially affect non-stars. Through a 2 × 2 between-subjects scenario-based experiment (Study 1) and a multi-wave field survey (Study 2), it finds that when non-stars possess a high level of expected future similarity to star employees, they tend to develop a feeling of benign envy that motivates them to exhibit role-modeling behavior. Contrariwise, when non-stars have a low level of expected future similarity, they are likely to feel malicious envy and then tend to engage in negative gossip about star employees. This research not only contributes to the star employee literature, but also provides practitioners with useful insights into human resource management practices.

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Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this research are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

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This work was supported by the MOE (Ministry of Education in China) Project of Humanities and Social Sciences (grant numbers 22YJC630166; 21YJC630015); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 72102189); the Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province of China (grant number 2024NSFSC1043); Guanghua Talent Project of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.

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Star Employee Manipulation

Star employee presence condition.

Ming Li, a member of Sunrise Company, has performed better than his other colleagues at work. In addition, almost all the employees of the company, including colleagues who have worked with Ming Li, know Ming Li. Moreover, most of the company’s clients have heard about Ming Li and prefer him as a business partner. Ming Li has established good relationships with most of his colleagues and clients.

Star Employee Absence Condition

Ming Li, a member of Sunrise Company, has average work performance. In addition, while colleagues who have worked with Ming Li know about him, most people in other departments have never heard of him. Moreover, while some of the company’s clients may have heard of Ming Li, few customers seek him as a business partner. Ming Li has only established good relationships with a small group of colleagues and clients.

Non-star Expected Future Similarity Manipulation

High expected future similarity condition.

After seeing Ming Li’s performance, Wang Chen has the confidence to complete his tasks well. In addition, Wang Chen believes that he will become well known and establish good relationships with other colleagues in the company and many customers in the future through his efforts. In general, there are differences between Wang Chen and Ming Li, but Wang Chen has the confidence to rival Ming Li’s achievements in all respects in the future.

Low Expected Future Similarity Condition

After seeing Ming Li’s performance, Wang Chen feels that he can only complete the performance task with all his efforts. In addition, Wang Chen deems that becoming well known is difficult. Moreover, it is difficult for Wang Chen to establish good relationships with colleagues in other companies and customers in the future through his efforts. In general, there is a difference between Wang Chen and Ming Li, and Wang Chen believes that achieving Ming Li’s goals in all respects is impossible in the future.

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Xiao, J., Wang, Y., Cheng, B. et al. The Mixed Blessing of Dancing with Star Employees: A Social-Comparison-Based Analysis of the Effects of Star Employees on Non-Stars. J Bus Psychol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-024-09976-1

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Accepted : 26 July 2024

Published : 07 August 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-024-09976-1

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MUFG Releases New Sustainable Finance Framework

Tokyo-based banking group Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) announced the release of its new Sustainable Finance Framework, setting out eligible categories of environmental and social projects funded through the bank, financed through the issuance of Green, Social, and Sustainability bonds and loans.

The new framework follows the release by MUFG earlier this year of its Medium-term Business Plan (MTBP) for the next three year period, which established the bank’s efforts to drive social and environmental progress as one of its 3 key pillars. Alongside the MTBP, MUFG also announced that it was nearly tripling its 2030 sustainable finance goal to 100 trillion yen (USD$703 billion) from its prior 35 trillion yen target, including 50 trillion targeting environmental issues, based on an anticipated increase in demand. In its 2024 Climate Report, MUFG revealed that it had reached 28 trillion in towards its goal as of the end of 2023.

According to MUFG, the bank supports projects promoting a sustainable environment and society through the issuance of green, social, and sustainability bonds and loans, with proceeds lent to subsidiary MUFG Bank, and in turn allocated to financing sustainable projects.

The framework defines two “green” categories of eligible projects for funding, including green buildings – requiring classification such as Platinum or Gold LEED, or similar – and renewable energy, as well as six “social” categories, including access to essential healthcare services, access to essential education services, employment generation in reconstruction of areas affected by natural disasters in Japan, and affordable housing.

The framework also outlines sustainable finance exclusion criteria, which encompass fossil fuel-based assets, fossil fuel-based transportation and infrastructure, defense and security, palm oil, wood pulp, nuclear power generation, and coal-fired power generation, in addition to all mining and tobacco sectors.

In its statement announcing the release of the new Sustainable Finance Framework, MUFG said:

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