The Role of Theoretical Frameworks in Mathematics Education Research

Although both novice and experienced researchers can struggle with what theoretical frameworks are and why they are necessary, it is nevertheless clear that they are an important part of designing, carrying out, and reporting on research in our field. In this chapter, we attempt to clarify the roles played by theoretical frameworks in mathematics education and to explain why they are important and useful, both to individual researchers and to the field as a whole. Finally, we provide some examples of how different frameworks might be applied to a typical set of data: videotaped whole-class, teacher-student, and student-student interactions in a mathematics classroom.