The "theoretical framework" of an experiment or paper refers to the larger assumptions in which the researcher is working. For example, a psychologist writing a paper may be working in a Freudian, Jungian or behaviorist theoretical framework. A theoretical framework provides a large, overarching structure of ideas that the researcher can then draw from in beginning to analyze a phenomenon or a text.

Academics refer to their theoretical frameworks when publishing papers or experiments to explicitly identify the assumptions that inform their work. This allows readers in the field immediate familiarity with the ideas on which a study is based, and a beginning point for critical analysis.  

While a theoretical framework provides the general set of ideas in which a study occurs, the conceptual framework refers to the specific ideas a researcher uses in the study. Examples of conceptual frameworks include the methods of a chemistry experiment, the definitions a sociologist uses to describe a culture and the types of data an economist considers when evaluating a country's industry. The conceptual framework thus consists of the ideas that are used to define research and evaluate data. Conceptual frameworks are often laid out at the beginning of a paper or an experiment description for a reader to understand the methods used.

Watch the videos listed below:

1. Theoretical and conceptual frameworks in the dissertation

https://youtu.be/oBRkbNDqpMM

2. Conceptual frameworks (part 1)

https://youtu.be/guUdGZWgKdw

3. Conceptual frameworks (part 2)

https://youtu.be/HMzkqU0uZKI

4. Conceptual frameworks (part 3)

https://youtu.be/Sk8vWdy2DaM

5. Theoretical framework

https://youtu.be/EcnufgQzMjc