Transcript of How to Develop a Conceptual Framework – with REAL Example | Scribbr 🎓

Do you have to write up a conceptual  framework for your thesis?   Then you should definitely keep watching! A conceptual framework illustrates what   you expect to find through your research. It  defines the relevant variables for your study   and maps out how they might relate to each other.  In this video, we will go through an example with  2 key variables: hours of study and exam score.  Hi, I'm Jessica from Scribbr, here to  help you achieve your academic goals.  Variables are simply the characteristics  or properties that you want to study.   The conceptual framework will map the  expected rel ationship between them. You develop the conceptual framework  based on your literature review.   Speaking of which, we have a whole playlist  on literature reviews, check it out here!  By looking at what other  researchers have found or theorized,   you can come up with ideas about the  relationship between your variables.  And based on what we've learned about these  variables from our literature review, we think   that studying more hours will cause a higher  exam score. We want to test whether there is a   cause-and-effect relationship between the amount  of hours you study and the exam score you get.  That means hours of study is our  independent variable, and exam score   is our dependent variable. Because we think  that exam score depends on hours of study. A conceptual framework can be designed in many  different ways. The form yours takes will depend   on what kinds of relationships you expect to find. To visualize our expected cause-and-effect   relationship, we will use the basic  design components of boxes, arrows,   and lines. We used the boxes for the variables,  and an arrow starting from the independent   variable to indicate a causal relationship. Now that we have the basics laid down,   let's move onto expanding the conceptual  framework. As you develop your conceptual   framework, you should also aim to identify other  variables that might influence the relationship   between your independent and dependent variables. Some common variables to be incorporated into the   conceptual framework include: Moderator variables  Mediator variables Control variables A moderator alters the effect  that an independent variable has   on a dependent variable. For example,   the variable “IQ” moderates the effect that the  number of study hours has on the exam score. In   other words, the higher your IQ, the fewer hours  of study you must put in to do well on the exam.  a mediating variable is a variable that links  the independent and dependent variables,   helping explain how or why the independent  variable affects the dependent variable. For example, the hours of study impacts the  variable “number of practice problems completed”,   which in turn impacts the 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. By adding the mediating variable of  “number of practice problems completed,”   we help explain the cause-and-effect  relationship between the two main variables. So while both moderators and mediators have an   impact on the dependent variable,  the key difference between them is: A moderator is not affected  by the independent variable  A mediator is affected by the independent variable For example, the variable “IQ” is a moderator,  not a mediator: although IQ may impact the exam   score (the dependent variable), the number of  hours spent studying (the independent variable)   does not affect IQ. No matter how many  hours you study, your IQ will not increase. A control variable is a variable  that is held constant to prevent   it from influencing the outcome of a study. These are variables that aren't relevant to your  research question - you're not interested in   actually studying their effects, you just want to  make sure they don't interfere with your results. For example, it is likely that  if a student feels ill, they will   get a lower score on the exam. Therefore,  we’ll add “health” as a control variable.  Now you should know the basics you need to  construct a conceptual framework! Click on this   playlist to continue working on other parts of  your research process, see you in the next video!