What does Theoretical or Conceptual underpinning mean?

Question

I have an assignment to write a Term Paper, and in developing the Title for it, there are guidelines to follow. One of the guidelines read:

• Are there theoretical and conceptual underpinnings involved? If so what would their functions be in the review.

What does Theoretical and Conceptual underpinning mean?

Answer 1

Imagine writing about a new kind of car engine. You might describe the mechanics, the company financing, the energy efficiency. The "theoretical underpinnings" in this case might be the physics of the special metals used or the chemistry of the new kind of fuel.

If you were writing about an advance in AI you might describe the problems it's good for, the history of the development, the amount of computer power and memory needed. The "theoretical underpinnings" would be the mathematics behind the algorithms, perhaps the software engineering methods needed to build it.