Navigating Theory: Ph.D. Students’ Choice of Their Theoretical Frameworks

This open access book is a practical guide to choosing and using theoretical frameworks in humanities and social sciences. Written by and for Ph.D. students, early career researchers, and academic supervisors,  it tackles one of the most challenging parts of research and writing, that of selecting and applying theoretical frameworks in the humanities and social sciences. The book shows how theoretical frameworks operate in real doctoral projects: how they are chosen, adapted to context, justified to different audience, and sometimes refined or rethought as the study evolves. It also clarifies what a “theoretical framework” is (and is not), and how it differs from concepts such as methodology and method when it is used as a lens to investigate the research problem. The book includes 20 richly contextualized theoretical frameworks. These theoretical frameworks are drawn from doctoral research conducted in diverse global settings. The topics span across various domains, including AI in education, teacher identity, inclusion, and cultural studies, making the book relevant to readers across a wide range of disciplines and methodological orientations. Each chapter illustrates how emerging scholars move from conceptual interests to workable analytical lenses, showing the reasoning, constraints, and trade-offs behind theoretical decisions and the implications for data and claims. The book bridges the gap between talking about theory and research practice. This is done by offering firsthand accounts of how doctoral researchers engage with influential frameworks such as Sociocultural Theory, Activity Theory, and Critical Discourse Studies. Readers will see how theory shapes research design, informs research questions, and guide data collection and analysis, and supports interpretation and argumentation. Equipping readers with strategies, reflective prompts, and interdisciplinary perspectives, the book helps scholars develop a defensible  theoretical stance and communicate it with clarity. Whether you are drafting a dissertation proposal, revising a literature review, refining your methodology, or supervising doctoral work, this volume is an indispensable resource for building theoretical coherence, analytic rigor, and scholarly confidence.