What is a conceptual framework?

In the most basic sense, both theoretical and conceptual frameworks are “lenses” through which you could look at a particular researchable problem. For example, if you were interested in what lived experiences led to a specific set of nurses to be successful, you could choose many different lenses to guide that exploration. You could be interested in the mentoring they received, so you might pick “mentorship” as your lens. Alternatively, you might be interested in how their experiences related to the intersection of their gender, ethnicity, and generational identities, so you could pick “intersectionality” as your lens. Likewise, you might be interested in their leadership behaviors, so you could choose a lens that relates to “leadership.” Notice how in all these cases, we went from the whole world of possibilities about what you COULD explore about these successful nurses into a specific avenue of exploration. That’s what theoretical and conceptual frameworks do: They are one of many mechanisms in your dissertation that provides greater focus in your study. Still, choosing “mentorship,” “intersectionality,” or “leadership” is not the same thing as selecting a theoretical or conceptual framework. It’s the first step.

Are theoretical and conceptual frameworks the same thing?

It really depends on who you ask. In the strictest definition, which I don’t recommend you adopt, one could say that a theoretical framework is chosen, whereas a conceptual framework is created. In this very strict definition, a theoretical framework is a specific, existing theory or model that you select as the lens through which you will look at your study’s specific researchable problem. Your theoretical framework has a specific name and is attributable to a specific author or set of authors. In this, still, very strict definition, a conceptual framework is a theory or model of your own creation – built because you did not feel that there was an existing theory or model out there that, alone, could help explore the specific researchable problem named by your study. To build such a model, you would take “concepts” from various theories and models out there in the literature. You then would put them together in your own “Frankenstein Monster” of models. However, before I start getting hate-mail, I want to say that this definition is way too strict – as it does not account for how different doctoral programs (and even different dissertation chairs/advisors) treat these terms. Some programs will require you to use a theoretical framework for quantitative studies and a conceptual framework for qualitative studies. Some programs will only allow you to use what they call a conceptual framework. Some programs treat theoretical and conceptual frameworks as the same thing! Others have even created their own terms (which I won’t mention here) to describe these frameworks. When I work with doctoral candidates directly in The Dissertation Mentor® One-To-One Mentorship, we always look deeply at how their doctoral programs treat these terms – as dissertations from one’s own doctoral program provide great clues for how to find or build one’s own theoretical or conceptual framework.