Theoretical frameworks in qualitative research

[Adelaide9216]

Help! One of the comments from my external examiner on my master's thesis was that although my chapter on the theoretical frameworks I have used is great, I don't stress enough how those frameworks are going to be useful to my analysis. I have been looking online for resources on how to do this, and I can't find anything. Any resources (articles, books) that is easy to understand and practical to help me out?

 

Thanks!

[Sigaba]

41 minutes ago, Adelaide9216 said:

Help! One of the comments from my external examiner on my master's thesis was that although my chapter on the theoretical frameworks I have used is great, I don't stress enough how those frameworks are going to be useful to my analysis. I have been looking online for resources on how to do this, and I can't find anything. Any resources (articles, books) that is easy to understand and practical to help me out?

 

Thanks!

For this specific exercise, I very highly recommend that you reverse engineer masters theses she's supervised, then secondary works that she assigns or cites and feature theoretically informed-analysis.

If you can't find enough examples, broaden your search incrementally. Because time is of the essence, you should focus on finding an apples to apples match rather than apple to fruit or vegetable.

Set a time budget, take notes, make copies as needed. If you cannot find an answer (or even if you do), I would recommend that you check in with this person to see if you're on the right path. You will also want to demonstrate that you've thought very deeply about her question.

[Adelaide9216]

Just now, Sigaba said:

For this specific exercise, I very highly recommend that you reverse engineer masters theses she's supervised, then secondary works that she assigns or cites and feature theoretically informed-analysis.

If you can't find enough examples, broaden your search incrementally. Because time is of the essence, you should focus on finding an apples to apples match rather than apple to fruit or vegetable.

Set a time budget, take notes, make copies as needed. If you cannot find an answer (or even if you do), I would recommend that you check in with this person to see if you're on the right path. You will also want to demonstrate that you've thought very deeply about her question.

According to my university's policy, I cannot speak to her  (potential conflict of interest) which sucks. The only thing I have noticed while looking at the theses she supervised is that the theory framework chapters are relatively short while mine is 10 pages... I will take a look at those again.

 

Thanks!

[Sigaba]

Just now, Adelaide9216 said:

According to my university's policy, I cannot speak to her  (potential conflict of interest) which sucks. The only thing I have noticed while looking at the theses she supervised is that the theory framework chapters are relatively short while mine is 10 pages... I will take a look at those again.

 

Thanks!

If she's published articles and reviews, you may be able to find the answer you need.

When you take a second look at the theses she's supervised, see if the introduction and theory framework chapters establish themes that run through the rest of the work.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the shorter chapters may be tightly written. IIRC, you'd not done a literature review until recently. IME, initial efforts at such pieces are not as efficiently written as those by one with more experience. 

To emphasize a previous recommendation -- look at every task in this process as an opportunity to develop your skills rather than an item to check off a list.

[maxhgns]

With no other information (and on the understanding that disciplinary norms differ, and may make this less useful to you), it actually sounds to me like this is more of a signposting complaint. In other words, they're claiming that you haven't yet done enough to make those connections explicit. Fixing these sorts of problems is relatively easy, and just requires you to explicitly articulate the links, rather than leaving it to the reader to see them and draw the connections. So, for example, the end of your introduction should say what you're going to argue: "In §2, I argue.... In response to the objection that x, I argue in §3 that... Finally, in §3 I argue that the evidence shows us that... etc." And then, at the beginning of a new section, give a one-sentence reminder of what you argued in the last section, and explain how this coming section relates to the last one. And so on and so forth. Just take opportunities to refer back to what you've argued before, to your theoretical frameworks, etc. If your evidence supports a particular framework, or poses problems for it, tell your reader, and guide them through it.

 

There are lots of decent guides to signposting online. Harvard's Writing Centre has one here, and Birmingham has another (better) one here.

Edited May 16, 2019 by maxhgns

[jujubea]

@Adelaide9216 Is this still an issue? Was gonna write a response but not if it's all good now

[Adelaide9216]

@jujubea It's no longer an issue, I've successfully passed my master's thesis and am a doctoral student now! But you might be writing your tips for someone else who might be reading this thread! 

Edited May 6, 2020 by Adelaide9216

[jujubea]

21 hours ago, Adelaide9216 said:

@jujubea It's no longer an issue, I've successfully passed my master's thesis and am a doctoral student now! But you might be writing your tips for someone else who might be reading this thread! 

Wooo! Congrats!