From the abstract to the concrete and beyond: the winding road of constructing a conceptual framework.

Methodological procedures are frequently described using ideal-typical sequences and relatively linear phases, often covering the whole research process. We aim to uncover the long-term process of construction of a conceptual framework of a study as constituted by cycles using the method of ascending from the abstract to the concrete (AAC) as a starting point. Empirical research often requires the introduction of intermediate concepts between general theory and data. In this paper we follow how a specific intermediate concept -- the intermediary object -- was constructed and interpreted in two research cases: 1. the use of building information modelling (BIM) in collaboration between designers, architects and engineers in construction projects; 2. the craft of historical wooden boat building in Russia and Finland. Using 'manuscript archaeology' we follow the construction of a conceptual framework by analysing the development of the key texts and documents in these cases. In both c80-ases the process contained multiple 'episodes'-- relatively independent and complete parts of research process, constructed around specific tangible products (like a conference paper or a draft of an article), but forming a sequence when taken together. Each episode contained own cycle of movement from the abstract to the concrete, and the whole research process constituted a relatively autonomous but interconnected network of methodological cycles, where concepts emerged based on conceptualizations from previous episodes. This shows how transmethodological processes of constructing a conceptual framework for a specific study through multiple methodological cycles often develop across a long period, with both vertical movements between theory and data, and horizontal movements between theoretical conceptualizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]