This is in response to Layla Zhang’s post :
My thoughts are similar to Layla’s in that prior to reading the Plan-Clark and Creswell textbook, I was vaguely familiar with the elements of what made a high quality research report. I mostly made that decision intuitively, or based on what whether I was able to find the information that I was looking for in a study. The required reading that we have done so far, in this course, has given me the tools that can help me analyse the quality of a research study better.
Addressing her question -“How would you organize the literature to form the theory or conceptual framework when conducting the study?” . Plano-Clark and Creswell (2015) explain how a literature review can be organized into a literature map , page 137 . If one arranges the literature into different themes and places them on a map, then keeping in mind the hypothesis / hypotheses , one can formulate a conceptual framework for their study. I also think that if one uses the “thematic review ” for literature (Plano-Clark & Creswell, 2015, p. 140), that could also give some direction towards creating a framework for a study. How the literature is organized in a research report is a very important element that helps the reader understand how the authors plan to study their hypothesis based on their review of literature.
References
Plano-Clark, V., & Creswell, J. (2015). Understanding research: A consumer’s guide (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Zhang, L. (2018, January 27). Unit 4 Learning activity 4.5. Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/layla11/2018/01/27/unit-4-learning-activity-4-5/
I would also add to this, but saying that some research studies begin with a conceptual framework or a theory that has already been established in previous research. For example, the servant leadership framework was used to guide the questions in the Hunter et al., (2013) study. They were not forming a theory on their own but rather using the servant leadership framework as a guide or a blueprint. Does that make sense?
Dr. Strong