Differences between Conceptual, Methodological, & Empirical Papers

One of the research teams and I were meeting today and talking about the difference(s) between empirical, methods, and conceptual papers-- (not only in terms or purpose and goals), but also as related to section headers and formatting. In brainstorming this out with them, I created a small table to help breakdown the differences (which you can see below through the columns):

And, as a note, the paper section breakdowns are generalized based on higher education and education studies discipline (and will often vary for other fields like sociology).

Empirical Paper Sections
Introduction
Literature Review
Theoretical Framework
Research Design
Findings
Discussion
Implications & Recs
Conclusion

Methods Paper Sections
Introduction
Literature Review (of method)
Conceptual/Theoretical  Approach
Introduction to New Method 
Facets, Principles, Guides
Considerations, Exceptions, etc.
Example in Use
Conclusion

Conceptual Paper Sections
​Introduction
Literature Review
Epistemological Grounding
Conceptual Methodologically
Mapping, Tenets, etc.
Considerations
Application
Conclusion

Also important to note is that some journals only publish certain types of papers (like empirical only) so that's also helpful to keep in mind as you think about how different projects map out to different types of paper forms (and formats).