Doctoral Writing Center
What is a Conceptual Framework?
We know based on the word ‘conceptual’ that this framework will deal with concepts (or simply put, ideas). This type of framework will provide your readers with an idea of what you expect to find through your research by focusing on the variables you will study and how they connect.
Steps to Creating the Conceptual Framework:
- Read through prevalent literature on your topic to determine what is already known
- Based on what you have found, identify what you expect to be the finding of your study
- Indicate what your variables are
- Explain how they could connect to one another
Example of a Conceptual Framework (Follow the Steps)
For this example, please note:
Research topic: Due to the influx of technology, people are spending more and more time indoors. Being indoors prevents individuals from breathing fresh air, being in nature, and being exposed to the sun. A lack of nature can negatively impact one’s mood.
Step One: Read through prevalent literature on your topic to determine what is already known
Reading through the literature will allow you to determine what reasonable connections you can make between variables or concepts. It is essential that you do not make connections out of thin air but have a rationale behind the type of relationship you expect the variables to have.
Literature has shown the connection between time outside and lowered levels of cortisol, the stress hormone (Pearson, 2020; McKinley et al., 2020). When an individual is stressed, the body is in a state of flight or fight. Stress hormones, such as cortisol, help the body to limit certain functions that are not essential to an emergency response. When the body has high levels of cortisol, this can result in fatigue, mood changes, anger response, and irritability (Smith, 2019).
Being outdoors provides individuals with exposure to the sun, which increases the supply of vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential for the body to function properly, and a deficiency of this vitamin can cause fatigue and depression (Hung, 2020). Rodriguez and Sherman (2018) found that natural environments, even limited in scope, directly influence anger response time. In the study, there was a 56% decrease in anger response for those who lived in an apartment complex that had trees compared to those who did not.
Step Two: Based on what you have found, identify what you expect to be the finding of your study
I would assume that if time outside lowers cortisol levels and feelings of stress and anger, then time outside would improve one’s mood.
Step Three: Indicate what your variables are
First identify the independent and dependent variables. After this initial indication, you can then expand the scope of the framework.
Independent variable: Variable you would identify as the ‘cause’
Dependent variable: Variable that is the ‘effect’
To determine my variables, I would ask, what is the object of my study? Or, what am I studying? In this case, I am studying the number of hours outside and how that impacts a person’s mood.
The number of hours outside is my independent variable as this is something I would manipulate throughout the study. I would have a person go outside for the duration of one hour, two hours, three hours, and so on. in order to assess the difference in impact on mood. Notice that I do not manipulate the mood, which is why, that is the dependent variable.
Step Four: Explain how they could connect to one another
It is important to note that many conceptual frameworks are represented using a visual graphic with a short textual explanation to help the reader grasp the ideas it represents.
When expanding the scope of the framework and how the variables will connect to one another, additional variables can be considered. For the example given, with a cause-and-effect relationship, additional considerations could be:
Moderator variable. This type of variable can impact the effect that the independent variable has on the dependent variable. In this case, something that could have impacted how effective the number of hours outside were on a person’s mood is serotonin levels. Each person has a different level of serotonin in their body, which is something biological that they cannot control. Thus, if a person comes into the study with extremely low levels of serotonin, it will take them longer to feel a positive shift in their mood.
Mediator variable. This type of variable helps us to understand the connection between the independent and dependent variable (and generally requires an explanation to show the readers how). In this case, UV rays could be my mediator variable because it shows how the two are connected. Consider the fact that, the longer a participant is outside, the more UV rays they would be getting. The more UV rays they are getting, the more that will impact their mood.
Control variable. This type of variable is what you need to keep constant so that you are not measuring something that is not related to your study.
Resources
To design a visual graphic: diagrams.net
Conceptual framework: What do you think is going on?