Literature Review and

Conceptual Framework

Kusman Ibrahim, PhD

Faculty of Nursing, Padjadjaran University
 The Knowledge Context: Literature
Reviews

Purpose of a literature review

• Source for research ideas
• Orientation to what is already known
• Provision of a conceptual context
• Information on the research approach
 Scope of A Literature Search

• Types of Information to seek

– Research findings, facts, and statistics
– Theory or interpretation
– Methods and procedures
– Opinions, beliefs, or points of view
– Anecdotes, clinical reports, narrations of
incidents and situations
• Depth and breadth of literature coverage
• Primary and secondary sources
 Locating Relevant Literature for A
Research Review
Electronic Literature searches  Key electronic
databases for nurse researchers
• AIDSLINE
• Alcohol and alcohol problems science database
(ETOH)
• CancerLit
• EMBASE (Excerpta Medica Database)
• HealthSTAR
• PsychoINFO
• Medline/PubMed
• CINAHL
• Proquest
 Reading Research Reports
Content of research reports:
• Abstract
• Introduction
⁻ The central phenomena, concepts, or variables
under study
⁻ The statement of purpose, research questions,
and/or hypotheses to be tested
⁻ A review a research literature
⁻ The theoretical framework
⁻ The significance of and need for the study
• The method section
 Reading Research Reports

Content of research reports:

• The method section
⁻ The subjects
⁻ The research design
⁻ Instrument and data collection
⁻ Study procedures
• The results section
– The name of any statistical tests used
– The value of the calculated statistic
– The significance
 Reading Research Reports

Content of research reports:

• The discussion section
⁻ An interpretation of the results
⁻ Implications
⁻ Study limitations
• The references
Flow of Task in A Literature Review
 Conceptual and Theoretical
Contexts
Theories:
• A theory is a systematic, abstract explanation of some
aspect of reality
• An abstract generalization that presents a systematic
explanation about how phenomena are interrelated
(Polit & Hungler, 1999)

Conceptual Models:
• Concepts are the building blocks of theories
• A less formal attempt at organizing phenomena than
theory
• Less structured than theory
 Conceptual and Theoretical
Contexts
Frameworks:
• Conceptual underpinnings of a study
• Not every study is based on a theory or
conceptual model, but every study has a
framework
• Theoretical framework  framework of a study
based on a theory
• Conceptual framework  framework of a study
that has its roots in a specified conceptual
model
• In many cases, the framework for a study is
implicit, not formally acknowledged or described
Relationship between theory and research

• Reciprocal and mutually beneficial one

• Theories and models are built inductively from
observations
• Concepts and relationships that are validated
empirically through research become the
foundation for theory development
• Research plays a dual and continuing role in
theory building and testing
• Theory guides and generates ideas for research,
research assess the worth of the theory and
provides a foundation for new theories
Developing a Framework in a quantitative
study

• Basic intellectual process underlying theory

development is induction; the process of
reasoning from particular observation and
facts to generalizations
• Integrating what one has experienced and
learned into some concise and general
conclusion
 Health Belief Model

“an individual is likely to take action related to a given health problem

based on the interaction between four different types of belief.”
(Rosenstock & Nutbeam ,1999)
Theory of Planned Behavior
Positive Factors Negative Factors

Age/Maturity Lack of social

support

Wantedness/ Practical
Enrollment in prenatal
intendedness of impediments
education program
pregnancy (cost, accessibility)

Maternal/paternal Competing time

education level demands

Conceptual model: Factors that influence enrollment in a prenatal

education
 Tips on Frameworks in nursing study
• Make clear the concepts under study, how those concepts
are defined and operationalized
• Try to confer with others if you begin with a research
problem and trying to identify a suitable conceptual
framework
• Evaluate theory first before it is used as a basis for a
research
• Read the theory from a primary source
• Read research reports of other studies that were based on
the selected framework
• Strive to congruence between theory and its components,
the research problem and hypotheses, definition and
operationalization of the concepts, and the selection of
research design