Table 1

Classifying Micro-Conceptual Frameworks^[1]

Research purpose (1)	Research Question (2)	Micro-Conceptual Framework (3)	Research Technique/ Method (4)	Statistical Techniques (5)
Exploration	Anything Goes What, When, Where, Why, Who, How, or any combination of the above	Working Hypotheses	Usually qualitative techniques: field research, structured interviews, focus groups, document/ archival record analysis	Qualitative evidence may not be statistical But anything goes Any type of statistical analysis possible
Description	What	Descriptive categories	Survey and content analysis	Simple descriptive statistics: Mean median, mode frequency distribution, percentages, t-statistics
Gauging	How close is process/policy to an ideal or standard? How can x be improved?	Practical Ideal Type	Case study, survey, content analysis, document analysis, structured interviews	Simple descriptive statistics: Mean median, mode frequency distribution, percentages, t-statistics
Decision making	What is the best decision? Which approach?	Models of Operations Research	Cost Benefit analysis, Cost Effectiveness Analysis, linear programming, decision tree, etc.	Quantitative techniques of Operations Research
Explanation	Why	Formal Hypothesis If x then y	Usually Quantitative, Experimental and quasi experimental design, Survey, existing data analysis	t-statistics, correlation, Chi-Square, analysis of variance, simple and multiple regression

318 Journal of Public Affairs Education

Shields, Patricia M. and Hassan Tajali. 2006. Intermediate Theory: The Missing Link in Successful Student Scholarship. Journal of Public Affairs Education 12(3): 313-334. http://ecomons.txstate.edu/polsfacp/39/

http://uweb.txstate.edu/~ps07/conframe.htm

Revised 9/1/10

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