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.

A. Mehdi Riazi obtained his Ph.D. from the graduate school of education of the University of Toronto with a focus on Applied Linguistics and second language education. He is currently a professor at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and the associate dean for research of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Before joining HBKU in 2021, he worked at Macquarie University (2009-2021) and before that at Shiraz University (1995-2008).

He is a Distinguished Professor of second language education and Applied Linguistics. His areas of interest include issues related to teaching, learning, and assessment. He is also interested in the relationship between research methodology and knowledge production. He has extensive experience in research methodology relevant to different disciplines in the broad area of education, humanities, and social sciences. He has published numerous books and peer-reviewed articles, focusing on qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research. Notable among these are The Routledge Encyclopedia of Research Methods (2016), and Less Frequently Used Research Methodologies in Applied Linguistics (John Benjamins, 2024). His most recent co-edited volume is Adaptable English language teaching, which was published in 2024 by Routledge. He is now co-authoring a book titled How to Write Research Proposals to be published by University of Toronto Press. His most contract with Springer is a co-authored book titled Navigating Mixed Methods Research (MMR): Bridging Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. He was also the chief investigator for three research projects with IELTS, Pearson, and ETS (TOEFL) on test validation.

With recent advances in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), he has also focused on the use of AI in higher education. He is particularly interested in the potential uses of AI tools in teaching, learning, and assessment. He has published a couple of papers in the local outlet, Al-Fanar. The first article is titled Redefining Teaching and Learning in the Age of AI. The second one is titled AI and Educational Assessment: A Paradigm Shift in Learning Evaluation.

He also serves as an editorial board member for several international journals in the field. He is also the guest editor of the Special Issue (Generative Artificial Intelligence and Writing for Scholarly Publication) of the Journal of English for Research Publication Purposes to be published in 2026. In addition, he is the co-editor of the Special Issue (Mixed Methods Research) of TESOL Quarterly to be published in 2026. He was also the co-editor of the Special Issue of Educational Psychology on Second Language Writing in 2017.

With about three decades of academic and editorial experience, he has supervised 28 Ph.D. students and 55 master's students to completion. He emphasizes the role of theory in research and has guided students in selecting relevant theoretical frameworks or developing conceptual frameworks drawing on relevant theories. The Ph.D. graduates are now faculty members in different universities across the globe. His interdisciplinary expertise and global academic contributions have made him a prominent figure in advancing research practices.