Instead of adopting a single pre-existing theory wholesale, you select relevant concepts from various sources to show the direct cause-and-effect relationships, correlations, or flows in your specific study. It acts as your specific prediction of what you expect to find.
"This is your Conceptual Framework," Vance explained. "It is a specific diagram of your specific variables. The Theoretical Framework gives you the permission to draw the arrow, but the Conceptual Framework is the arrow connecting your specific variables. The theory says 'sleep affects memory'; your framework says 'in this study, hours of sleep affect math scores .'" theoretical framework vs conceptual framework ppt