How To Create A Theoretical Framework For Research

Ebook Central

Search for and read full-text e-books online. Over 100,000 titles available in psychology, business, and education. Full-text available.
Credo Reference
Provides access to a large number of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri and other reference books. Subjects covered include art, biography, business, economics, education, history, literature, music, psychology, religion, and science and technology.

Use the Library's e-book databases to gather background information on a particular theory or theorist. Since the e-book databases will contain fewer resources than a database containing thousands of scholarly journal articles, it is best to keep your search terms a little more broad.

For example, a search for education theory in the Ebook Central database results in many relevant e-books, as shown below. Expanding the Table of Contents will provide additional details about the e-book.

Ebook Central search results screen showing books related to education theories.

Encyclopedias and handbooks will also provide reliable background information on particular theories. For example, a search for cognitive developmental theory in the Credo Reference database results in a number of reference entries which discuss the history of the theory, identify relevant theorists, and cite seminal research studies.

Credo Reference search results screen for cognitive developmental theory.

You may search for theorists and theoretical information using Google and Google Scholar, as well. However, please keep in mind that you will need to be more discriminating when it comes to using material found on open access websites. We recommend reviewing the Website Evaluation guidelines when considering online sources.

One method that may be used in Google is limiting your search by a particular domain name. If a website ends in .org, .gov, or .edu, it is more likely to be a scholarly source. If it ends in .com or .net it is less likely to be a scholarly source. In the search below, for example, we have limited our search for "leadership theories" to just those websites ending with .edu. You may also find this domain limiter under Tools>Advanced Search.

Note: Limiting to a particular domain is not necessary in Google Scholar, as all results in Google Scholar may be considered scholarly. This may include articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, material from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.

Google search box with example search terms "leadership theories" site:.edu

For additional information, see the following:

Google Scholar Quick Tutorial Video

A short video demonstration of using Google Scholar for academic research.

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses @ Northcentral University
Search this database for dissertations published by NCU students. Also, search dissertations by advisor (chair), degree, and/or department.
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global
Offers more than 2.1 million full-text dissertations in the humanities, social sciences, technology and more. Full-text available.

Since most doctoral research requires a theoretical framework, looking at completed dissertations related to your topic is an effective way to identify relevant theories and theorists. ProQuest Dissertations is accessible from Research Resources - Dissertation Resources, and provides access to over 1 million full text doctoral dissertations and graduate theses. You may limit your search to only doctoral dissertations by using the Advanced Search screen. Look at the table of contents or abstract for reference to theoretical framework, as shown below. The dissertation's references/bibliography will have a full citation to the original theorist's research.

Screenshot of a dissertation abstract highlighting the theoretical framework.

Roadrunner Search

NCU Library's unified search engine. Searches the majority of the Library's resources and databases all at once, and includes access to scholarly/peer-reviewed journals, magazines, newspapers, ebooks, videos, and more. NOTE: Certain databases and publisher content are not searchable in Roadrunner, and individual databases may need to be searched to retrieve information due to unique content.

On the Roadrunner Advanced Search screen, include theor* as one your search terms, as shown below. It will retrieve results that include one of the following keywords: theory, theories, theoretical, theorist, or theorists. It is important to keep in mind, however, that this is not a foolproof method for locating theoretical frameworks. Scholars will often cite theory or theorists in order to refute them, or because they are saying something that's tangentially related, or they may even just refer to theory briefly in passing. In our example, we have selected the field for AB Abstract because if theory is mentioned within the abstract, the study is more likely to take a theoretical approach.

Screenshot of Roadrunner Advanced Search with example search for theor*.

As shown below, results from our example search clearly include articles which apply theory to the topic of curriculum design.

Roadrunner Search results screen showing article titles related to theory.

Remember to look past the article title. Theoretical information may be mentioned in a subheading, or referred to elsewhere in the document. Use the FIND feature in your PDF viewer or internet browser to scan the document for terms such as theor (to pull up theory, theorist, theoretical), framework, conceptual, perspective, etc., as shown below.

Screenshot of an article PDF showing the Find feature.

SAGE Research Methods

A tool designed to help you create research projects and understand the methods behind them. Includes over 1,400 methods that are linked to content in over 640 books, encyclopedias, and videos. Full-text available.

SAGE Research Methods is a multimedia database containing more than 1,000 books, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos covering every step of the research process. It includes e-books and e-book chapters which may help you better understand the theoretical framework aspect of your research study. A selection of resources is included below:

Searching in SAGE Research Methods

Use the main search bar to locate information about theoretical frameworks. Search the general phrase "theoretical frameworks," or the name of a specific theoretical framework like "social cognitive theory," in quotation marks to yield results with that specific phrase. See the example below.

Image of SAGE Research Methods search screen

You may also browse content in this database by Discipline. SelectBrowseon the top navigation to view a list of key topics.

Browse by Topic or Discipline screen in SAGE Research Methods

Web of Knowledge
Provides access to current and retrospective bibliographic information, author abstracts, and cited references in social science journals that cover more than 50 disciplines. Citations only.

You may conduct a Cited Reference Search in Web of Knowledge to find articles that cite a primary theorist in your area. These articles are likely to tackle your topic through your theoretical lens, or will point you toward another article that does. To access Web of Knowledge, go to Research Resources – Databases from the Library's home page.

On the Web of Knowledge home page, click on Cited Reference Search to search for articles that cite a person's work.

Enter the name of a key theorist in your area (in our example, John Dewey) in the format they specify (in this case Dewey J*), as shown below, and press "Search."

Select all the options that appear to relate to your theorist. For often-cited people (such as Dewey) use the "Select All*" button, even though this will probably gather in a few citations that aren't relevant to your search. Select 'Finish Search' on the right.

On the results screen, select the appropriate Web of Science category under Refine Results. For example, we could select "Education Educational Research" and then click "Refine." You may wish to further refine by Document Type, Research Area, Author, etc. (also located on the left hand menu). Sorting your results by "Times Cited - Oldest to Newest" is an effective way to discover the most frequently cited works.

Finally, start reviewing your results to see how they may relate to your topic/theory. Typically, the abstract will identify the cited theorists, as shown below.