Glossary
Dive into the language of educational research
A conceptual framework is the justification for the application of a theory to a problem.
Epistemology studies the nature of knowledge.
Methodologies are approaches to gathering knowledge.
Methods are the tools and plans for applying a specific methodology to a specific research question.
Ontology studies the nature of reality.
A paradigm is a worldview, consisting of beliefs about what reality is, what knowledge is, and how knowledge is built. It shapes all decisions of how one “does” science.
A research question is a specific query that guides a project.
A theoretical framework is the tangible application of that abstract mental model (theory) to a real world problem. In other words, a theoretical framework is what happens when one “maps” a theory onto their phenomenon of interest.
A theory is an abstract set of interrelated ideas and concepts that help us to organize the complexities of our reality.