ABSTRACT
A person’s conceptual framework, or life view, is not employed solely in research, of course; it is used across life endeavors to make decisions, form opinions, choose friends, and even decide what to eat for dinner. The conceptual framework of the researcher does, however, translate into each component of the research process by, for example, making researchers more prone to adhere to a certain epistemology or use a certain paradigm to support their methodological choices. Although in some venues researchers are still discouraged from being explicit about their conceptual frameworks. The explicit discussion of the impacts of religion, gender, sexual orientation, political stance, and other parts of the conceptual frameworks are now more accepted, and, in some venues, required. This is due in part to the trend toward more participant-centered and action research, where it becomes crucial to understand both the researcher’s stance and the participants’ beliefs in order to understand the interpretation of often complex and “messy” results.
