Reason & Rigor

Sharon M. Ravitch is a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. She engages in numerous applied research projects in India, serving as a visiting scholar at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai and working as a co-researcher and key resource expert in policy advocacy, professional development, and community-based participatory research related to corporate social responsibility through TISS’s corporate social responsibility hub. She is involved in the design and implementation of assessment and evaluation of statewide performance through mixed-methods research in the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s major policy initiative, Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a countrywide reform initiative aimed to resurrect India’s state public university system. Ravitch is also an expert adviser at the Center for Academic Leadership and Education Management at TISS. The center provides professional development and policy advocacy support to school education leaders across India. Ravitch works in the center’s capacity-building program to collaboratively develop case studies and technology-innovation frameworks for the higher education and K–12 sectors using a participatory approach. She received the prestigious GIAN Scholar Award from the government of India for 2016–2017 and the RUSA Scholar Award for 2017–2018. Ravitch also received a Fulbright Fellowship to engage in research and applied development work in India from 2017 to 2019.Ravitch has published five books: Applied Research for Sustainable Change: A Guide for Education Leaders (with Nicole Carl, 2019); Qualitative Research: Bridging the Conceptual, Theoretical, and Methodological (2nd ed., with Nicole Carl, 2020); Reason and Rigor: How Conceptual Frameworks Guide Research (2012; 2nd ed., with Matthew Riggan, 2016); School Counseling Principles: Diversity and Multiculturalism (2006); and Matters of Interpretation: Reciprocal Transformation in Therapeutic and Developmental Relationships With Youth (with Michael Nakkula, 1998).Matthew Riggan, Ph.D., is a Senior Researcher at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at the University of Pennsylvania, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Penn’s Graduate School of Education. His current research focuses on formative assessment in elementary mathematics; assessing analytic and problem-solving skills for postsecondary readiness; systemic reform to support science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education; and factors supporting or undermining the scale-up of promising reforms in urban school districts. He teaches courses in qualitative research design, data collection, and analysis, and has worked extensively on developing qualitative and mixed methods approaches to program theory evaluation and analysis of video data. He holds a doctorate in Anthropology and Education from the University of Pennsylvania.

"[The Second Edition] does a better job than any other text I’ve read of demystifying research by emphasizing the process rather than the strategies."

• Chapter 1: Introduction to Conceptual FrameworksConceptual Frameworks Explored and DefinedElements of a Conceptual FrameworkOrganization of this BookConcluding Thoughts: Using Conceptual FrameworksChapter 2: Why Conceptual Frameworks?What (and Where) is Theory?Whose Theory is It, and Where Does It Come From?What is a Literature Review, and What is It For?The Case for Conceptual Frameworks: Concluding ThoughtsChapter 3: Origins of a Conceptual Framework: The Birth of GritBackground and context: An overview of the work in focusThe argumentOrigins: Conversations with the dead and the livingFormulating the concept: From conversing to inquiringForming and advancing the argumentChapter 4: Excavating Questions“Excavating” Research QuestionsAbout the AuthorBackground and Context: An Overview of the Work in FocusThe ArgumentConceptual Frameworks and Research DesignThe Co-evolution of Conceptual Frameworks and Research DesignConceptual Frameworks and Research Design: Concluding ThoughtsReflection QuestionsChapter 5: The Role of the Conceptual Framework in Data Collection and FieldworkWho You Are, How You Think, and What You StudyAbout the AuthorBackground and Context: An Overview of the Work in FocusThe ArgumentHyphenated Selves as a Theoretical FrameworkThe Hyphen as Method: Positionality and PracticeConceptual Frameworks and Fieldwork: Concluding ThoughtsChapter 6: Conceptual Frameworks and the Analysis of DataExamining the Influence of an Ever-Emerging Conceptual FrameworkAbout the AuthorBackground and Context: An Overview of the Work in FocusThe ArgumentFrom Argument to AnalysisTranscription as Data AnalysisEvolving and Shifting Frameworks of AnalysisConceptual Frameworks and Data Analysis: Concluding ThoughtsChapter 7: Expanding the Conversation, Extending the Argument: The Role of Conceptual Frameworks in Presenting, Explaining, and Contextualizing FindingsAbout the AuthorBackground and Context: AN OVERVIEW OF THE WORK IN FOCUSBeing in Conversation With Theory: Influences on Thought and ActionThe ArgumentConclusionChapter 8: Reflections on the Making and Re-making of a Conceptual Framework - William K. DunworthDeveloping a Conceptual FrameworkChallenges in the fieldRevisiting Conceptual Frameworks: Turning Artifacts into Processes“Everything is data”: Returning to the fieldRevising the conceptual framework and integrating findingsChapter 9: The Conceptual Framework as Guide and BallastDeveloping a Conceptual FrameworkStarting Points: Self and AudienceMaking—and Breaking—Your PlansThe Conversation: From Listening to SpeakingStrategies and Exercises for Developing Conceptual FrameworksIdentifying Your Interests, Beliefs, and Motivations for Doing ResearchExamination of the “Conversations Already Happening”Ongoing Questions and Concerns about the ResearchConcept MapsResearch MemosResearch JournalReason and Rigor