I am not sure that you need anything as formal as a "conceptual framework" for qualitative research. Instead, the main thing is to have a well-developed research question. So, you do need to justify why the topic you are studying is important, and that is what matters most.

The guidance/illustrations/discussions as per the following publications/link may further help:

• Berman, J. (2013) Utility of a conceptual framework within doctoral study: A researcher's reflections, Issues in Educational Research, 23, pp. 1-18.
• Green, H. (2014) The Use of Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks in Qualitative Research, Nurse Researcher, 21, 6, pp. 34-38.
• Jabareen, Y. (2009) Building a Conceptual Framework: Philosophy, Definitions, and Procedure, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 8, 4, pp. 49-62.
• Leshem, S. and Trafford, V. (2007) Overlooking the conceptual framework, Innovations in education and Teaching International, 44, 1, pp. 93-105.
• Marshall, C. and Rossman, G. B. (1999) The "What of the Study": Building the Conceptual Framework, in Marshall, C. and Rossman, G.B. (eds.) Designing Qualitative Research. 3rd ed. London: Sage Publications, Inc., pp. 21-54.
• How to develop conceptual framework for a qualitative research study?: https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_to_develop_conceptual_framework_for_a_qualitative_research_study

As someone who oversees a doctoral program, I get a lot of questions regarding conceptual versus theoretical frameworks. Some researchers use these terms interchangeably, but they are different. Let me try to put this distinction in simple words. A conceptual framework is really a plan. What is the issue that you want to address, and what would be a reasonable approach to shed some light on the issue? The conceptual framework allows you to have a basic plan or map to follow in your efforts to answer your questions. Literature reviews can help you to gather a conceptual framework in that you will start to see potential approaches and major themes/findings that help you to see established connections, or at least related ones, between your desired focus and what has been discovered previously. A theoretical framework is a bit different in that it gets at your actual research paradigm with greater specificity. Are you going to subscribe to constructivism or take a critical approach? This will determine your perspective when approaching research. Perhaps you will utilize a feminist perspective or a pragamatic (e.g., Dewey) approach? The approach will drive your methodology, to an extent. You will need to determine whether ethnography, action research, grounded theory, or something else would serve as the best methodological approach. In addition, you will need to determine methods/tools to collect data. Will you opt to utilize surveys to capture perception phenomena, focus groups, interviews, or would narrative inquiry best help to answer the research question?

Doing a proposal on a qualitative research, does not mean you are off the hook of theories. Try to develop your conceptual framework as a general understanding of a thought, event, process and a course of action to guide your research by emerging key statements and concepts out of your exploratory review of literature and theoretical foundation.

Article Using a Theory-Driven Conceptual Framework in Qualitative He...

Article Building a Conceptual Framework: Philosophy, Definitions, an...

A conceptual model will be made after extensive study of past review of literature for teh topic.A conceptual model can eb built by studying the concept through past papers and concluding a conceptual model or else it can aslo be constrcuted from the response of respondents through a PI or expert interview.

Qualitative research's conceptual framework can be developed based on your research problem, objective & question(s).  The goal of the conceptual framework is to illustrate your research approach in some pictorial & text forms to ease readers' understanding of your research approach.

Refer to the resources links provided below about the conceptual framework for a qualitative research.  

http://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/48274_ch_3.pdf

http://journals.rcni.com/doi/pdfplus/10.7748/nr.21.6.34.e1252

http://fsg.afre.msu.edu/zambia/Conceptual_Framework_and_Research_Questions.pdf

In congruence with the above answers, I think that theories, fundamentally, are formulated to describe, forecast, and understand phenomena. The theoretical framework presents and indicates the theory that elucidates why the research problem under study exists. It is also the structure that can hold or support a theory of a research study.

In conceptual framework section, the major concepts that discriminate the variables of the study will be introduced, to develop an enlightened understanding of the study field. This part is of paramount importance to situate the study within what has been accomplished in order to flag the significance of your research.

Martin Otto - Thank you for your interesting question. Building a conceptual framework and supporting results through theoretical frames aim at strengthening the discussion, explaining and making predictions. Linking the work with theory enables a set of interrelated propositions or concepts in defining points raised and connecting the findings into a meaningful phenomenon. I recommend reading the work of Smith Mj and Liehr P 1999, published in Research and Theory for Nursing Practice.

Thanks very much. That was really helpful.

You can develop your conceptual framework, firstly, you need to make it clear about your research question.

Secondly, you need to define the main concept of your research question.

For example:you want to find out the protective factors of adolescent depression.

Thirdly, you need to have a comprehensive literature review of the main concept, such as depression. You need to review physiological perspective, pschoansltical perspective, psychodynamic perspective.

After conducting comprehensive literature review, then you can develop your own conceptual framework basing on those theories.

When you have summarized your findings and attempt to prepare your discussion. You can make a dialogue once again with those theories in part of literature review.

For novice researchers I can highly recommend the Book "Research Methods for Business" by Uma Sekaran and Roger Bougie.

The book provides guidance and recommendations for qualitative as well as quantitative research and explains the structure of the theoretical framework, among others.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/40943010_Research_methods_for_business_a_skill_business_approach