How to choose theories for your theoretical framework as a qualitative researcher
There’s a particular point in most qualitative PhDs where theory starts weighing on your mind.
Up until then, you may have been reading quite freely - following ideas, noticing patterns, getting a sense of what interests you. And then, suddenly, the expectation sharpens. You’re no longer just engaging with theory. You’re expected to choose it. To position your work in relation to it. To build something that looks like a theoretical framework.
That’s often where the hesitation - and imposter syndrome - begins.
Not because you’re incapable of doing it, but because it starts to feel like there must be a right answer. As though somewhere in the literature, there is a set of theories you’re supposed to select and that choosing incorrectly will undermine everything that follows.
If that’s where you are, it’s worth pausing for a moment because the work of building a theoretical framework isn’t about selecting the “best” or most impressive theories.
It’s about choosing theories that make sense for what you are trying to understand.
Why theory can feel so uncomfortable at this stage
Part of the difficulty is that theory often arrives in your PhD as something fully formed.
You encounter it in journal articles where it is already neatly articulated, confidently applied, and seamlessly integrated into the argument. What you don’t see is the process behind that - how those choices were made, what was considered and set aside, how uncertain it may have felt at the time.
It’s easy to assume that you’re supposed to replicate that level of clarity immediately.
But in qualitative research, theoretical clarity is rarely something you start with. It is something that develops alongside your thinking.
You begin with a sense of what you’re interested in. You notice certain patterns or tensions. You find yourself drawn to particular explanations. And gradually, theory becomes a way of giving shape to that emerging understanding.
You are not starting from nothing
One of the most helpful things to recognise is that you are not approaching theory as a blank slate. The questions you have chosen to ask already reflect certain assumptions about the world.
If you are interested in people’s experiences, meanings, or interpretations, you are already leaning towards particular kinds of theoretical perspectives. If you are drawn to issues of power, inequality, or identity, that too reflects a theoretical orientation - even if you haven’t yet named it.
So rather than asking, “Which theory should I choose?”, it can be more helpful to ask: “What kind of explanation am I already moving towards?”
That question tends to bring theory much closer to your work, rather than positioning it as something external that you have to “apply.”
The pressure to choose the “right” theory
It’s also very common at this stage to feel a pull towards certain theories because they appear frequently in the literature.
They are widely cited. They seem to carry weight. Other researchers are using them, so it feels like a safer choice to do the same.
However, this is where things can start to drift because a theory can be influential, well-established, and intellectually sophisticated - and still not be the right fit for your study.
In qualitative research, fit matters more than familiarity. A theory that aligns closely with your research aims, your data, and your way of thinking will do far more for your work than one that simply signals academic credibility.
Part of developing as a researcher is learning to trust that judgement.
Where to begin, if everything feels slightly unclear
When theory feels overwhelming, it’s often because it’s being approached in isolation.
You’re looking at theories as standalone entities, trying to evaluate them on their own terms, rather than in relation to your study.
Bringing it back to your research can make this feel much more manageable. Spend some time with what you are actually trying to do.
What are you hoping to understand? What kinds of questions are you asking? What feels important in your data, or in the area you’re exploring? From there, theory becomes less about selection and more about alignment.
For example, if your research is exploring how people make sense of their experiences in a particular context, you might find yourself drawn towards theories that foreground meaning-making, identity, or interpretation.
If your focus is on how inequalities are produced or sustained, theories that engage with power, structure, or social positioning may begin to feel more relevant.
The point is not that one of these is correct.
It’s that each opens up different ways of seeing - and your task is to choose the one that helps you see your research more clearly.
The role of your paradigm (even if you don’t feel confident with it yet)
Your broader research paradigm also plays an important role here.
If you are working qualitatively, you are likely already positioned - whether explicitly or implicitly - within approaches that value meaning, context, and interpretation. That positioning shapes the kinds of theories that will feel coherent within your work.
For example, highly positivist theories that rely on measurement and prediction may not sit comfortably within a study that is exploring lived experience in depth. Not because they are “wrong,” but because they are designed to do something different.
Understanding this can be reassuring. It means you don’t have to engage with every theory you encounter. You can begin to recognise which ones align with your approach - and which ones don’t.
Reading the literature without losing your footing
Engaging with the literature is, of course, an important part of this process. However, it’s easy for this to become overwhelming if you approach it as a search for “the answer.” Instead, it can be more useful to read with a slightly different question in mind:
“What are these researchers trying to understand - and how is theory helping them do that?”
When you read in this way, you begin to see theory in use, rather than as something abstract. You notice how it shapes the questions being asked, how it frames the analysis, and sometimes, where it falls short. Gradually, this helps you develop a sense of what might work in your own study.
Allowing your framework to take shape over time
A theoretical framework is not something you need to fix perfectly at the outset. In qualitative research, it often develops alongside your data and your analysis.
You might begin with a loose sense of direction, engage with certain ideas early on, and then refine or adjust your theoretical positioning as your understanding deepens.
What matters is that, over time, your choices become clearer, and that you can explain why those theories make sense for your study.
If there’s one thing to hold onto here, it’s this: You are not being asked to choose the “correct” theory. You are being asked to make a reasoned, thoughtful decision about what helps you understand your research. That is something you are entirely capable of doing - even if it doesn’t feel like it yet.
If you want more structured support with this
If you’re at the stage where theory, paradigms, and frameworks all feel slightly entangled, and you’re not completely sure how they fit together in your own work, that’s a very common point in a qualitative PhD.
My Conceptual and Theoretical Foundations PhD Survival Guide was designed to help you work through exactly this.
Not just what these terms mean, but how they connect, how to articulate them clearly, and how to build a foundation that actually supports the rest of your research.
It’s there when you’re ready to make those decisions feel more grounded.
