Conceptual framework

Examples

Isaiah Berlin used the metaphor of a "fox" and a "hedgehog" to make conceptual distinctions in how important philosophers and authors view the world. Berlin describes hedgehogs as those who use a single idea or organizing principle to view the world (such as Dante Alighieri, Blaise Pascal, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Plato, Henrik Ibsen and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel). Foxes, on the other hand, incorporate a type of pluralism and view the world through multiple, sometimes conflicting, lenses (examples include Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, James Joyce, William Shakespeare, Aristotle, Herodotus, Molière, and Honoré de Balzac).

Economists use the conceptual framework of supply and demand to distinguish between the behavior and incentive systems of firms and consumers. Like many other conceptual frameworks, supply and demand can be presented through visual or graphical representations (see demand curve). Both political science and economics use principal agent theory as a conceptual framework. The politics-administration dichotomy is a long-standing conceptual framework used in public administration.

All three of these cases are examples of a macro-level conceptual framework.

Overview

The use of the term conceptual framework crosses both scale (large and small theories) and contexts (social science, marketing, applied science, art etc.). The explicit definition of what a conceptual framework is and its application can therefore vary.

Conceptual frameworks are beneficial as organizing devices in empirical research. One set of scholars has applied the notion of a conceptual framework to deductive, empirical research at the micro- or individual study level. They employ American football plays as a useful metaphor to clarify the meaning of conceptual framework (used in the context of a deductive empirical study).

Likewise, conceptual frameworks are abstract representations, connected to the research project's goal that direct the collection and analysis of data (on the plane of observation – the ground). Critically, a football play is a "plan of action" tied to a particular, timely, purpose, usually summarized as long or short yardage. Shields and Rangarajan (2013) argue that it is this tie to "purpose" that makes American football plays such a good metaphor. They define a conceptual framework as "the way ideas are organized to achieve a research project's purpose". Like football plays, conceptual frameworks are connected to a research purpose or aim. Explanation is the most common type of research purpose employed in empirical research. The formal hypothesis of a scientific investigation is the framework associated with explanation.

Explanatory research usually focuses on "why" or "what caused" a phenomenon. Formal hypotheses posit possible explanations (answers to the why question) that are tested by collecting data and assessing the evidence (usually quantitative using statistical tests). For example, Kai Huang wanted to determine what factors contributed to residential fires in U.S. cities. Three factors were posited to influence residential fires. These factors (environment, population, and building characteristics) became the hypotheses or conceptual framework he used to achieve his purpose – explain factors that influenced home fires in U.S. cities.

Types

Several types of conceptual frameworks have been identified, and line up with a research purpose in the following ways:

• Working hypothesis – exploration or exploratory research
• Pillar questions – exploration or exploratory research
• Descriptive categories – description or descriptive research
• Practical ideal type – gauging
• Models of operations research – decision making
• Formal hypothesis – explanation and prediction

Note that Shields and Rangarajan (2013) do not claim that the above is the only framework-purpose pairing. Nor do they claim the system is applicable to inductive forms of empirical research. Rather, the conceptual framework-research purpose pairings they propose are useful and provide new scholars a point of departure to develop their own research design.

Frameworks have also been used to explain conflict theory and the balance necessary to reach what amounts to a resolution. Within these conflict frameworks, visible and invisible variables function under concepts of relevance. Boundaries form and within these boundaries, tensions regarding laws and chaos (or freedom) are mitigated. These frameworks often function like cells, with sub-frameworks, stasis, evolution and revolution. Anomalies may exist without adequate "lenses" or "filters" to see them and may become visible only when the tools exist to define them.

References

References

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2. [[David Colander. Colander, David]]. 2013. ''Microeconomics,'' 9th edition, [[New York City. New York]]: [[McGraw-Hill Education. McGraw Hill]] and Frank, Robert and [[Ben Bernanke]]. 2013. ''Principles of Microeconomics,'' 5th edition. New York: McGraw Hill.
3. Overeem, P.. (2012). "The Politics Administration Dichotomy: Toward a Constitutional Perspective". [[CRC Press]].
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6. Rodman, Hyman. (1980). "Are Conceptual Frameworks Necessary for Theory Building? The Case of Family Sociology". [[The Sociological Quarterly]].
7. Moorstein, Mark. Frameworks, Conflict in Balance.
8. (1993). "Control Combinations in Marketing: Conceptual Framework and Empirical Evidence". [[Journal of Marketing]].
9. (2006). "Towards a Conceptual Framework for Restoration Ecology". Restoration Ecology.
10. Eco, Umberto. (1978). "A Theory of Semiotics". [[Indiana University Press]].
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12. Baum, K.. (2003). "Handbook of Conflict Management". [[Marcel Dekker]].
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14. Shields, Patricia. (1998). "Pragmatism as a Philosophy of Science: A Tool for Public Administration". Research in Public Administration.
15. Shields, Patricia. (2014). "Tools for Excellent Papers: 2014 ASPA Student Summit". [[Texas State University]].
16. Babbie, Earl. (2007). "The Practice of Social Research". [[Thompson Media Group.
17. (2011). "Empirical Political Analysis: Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods". [[Longman]].
18. Huang, Kai. (Spring 2009). "Population and Building Factors that impact residential fire rates in Large U.S. Cities". Department of Political Science, Texas State University-San Marcos.
19. (2017). "Foundations of Public Administration". Melvin and Leigh.
20. Casula, M., Rangarajan, N. & Shields, P. The potential of working hypotheses for deductive exploratory research. ''Qual Quant'' (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-020-01072-9
21. Shields, P. M., Casula, M., & Rangarajan, N. (2025). The Case for Gauging as a Research Purpose in Public Administration: Connecting Purpose, Frameworks, Design, and Norms in Applied Research. Administration & Society, 57(2), 281-309. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00953997241303932)
22. (June 2004). "Frameworks, Conflict in Balance". [[iUniverse]].
23. [[Thomas Kuhn]]. (1996) ''[[The Structure of Scientific Revolutions]]''