Conceptual Frameworks as a Foundation for the Study of Operational Curriculum

The operational curriculum is receiving increasing attention as a research focus.' Investigators are studying the complexity of the environment with an emphasis on the patterns of interactions among a wide range of phenomena. Traditionally such studies have been limited to the description of curriculum development or implementation from the perspectives of only one declsionmaking or experiential group. These studies have limited data collection to observable phenomena characterized by identifiable products and tight controls. However, many researchers no longer consider it appropriate simply to select a "research recipe" which results in a single outcome or product 3 These designs decrease the usefulness of the results in school settings because they frequently fail to consider the multidimensionality of context and individual perspectives that affect curriculum in schools. A conceptual framework or explanatory theory' is useful for structuring contextual elements within complex settings. A conceptual framework is defined as a structure that can be used to operationalize a curriculum theory by systematically identifying and defining the components and elaborating the ways in which they are related. Frameworks can provide a guiding structure