Reviewing Literature 03

8/8/2019 Reviewing Literature 03

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Lecture - 3


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What is a Traditional Literature Review?

Why Write a Literature Review?

How is a literature review different from an

academic research paper?

Writing the review. How to Organize your Literature Review?

What is Included in a Literature Review?

What is Left Out of a Literature Review?


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In its simplest form, a literature review is a

list of relevant books and other sources, eachfollowed by a description and comment on itsrelevance.

When it is part of a project, a literaturereview is a systematic way of showingevidence of your reading and how it relates to

your investigation.

As part of a research project, a literaturereview can be used to focus the research.


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Without reviewing the existing literature, a

researcher starts from a dark room, heading

towards a badly designed study that is poorlycarried out and produces findings of little

importance.

Similarly to policy makers and practitioners,

reviews of the relevant literature will allow

informed choices to be made regarding the

costing, planning and implementation of

proposed interventions.

The review is therefore a part of your academic

development of becoming an expert in the field(Hart, 1998:1).


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The review of literature can prove an invaluable

asset to a range of people, including practitionersand researchers, teachers and students, to work

more quickly and effectively.

In any discipline,research is incremental. Itbuilds slowly and steadily on the work of past

researchers,literature provides a summary ofwhat is known.

A new research project not only needs to have a

good recap of the current state of knowledgebut also the strengths and weaknesses of each

of the earlier approaches in making an informed

choice.


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Reasons for reviewing theReasons for reviewing the literatureliterature -- 11

a. The preliminary search

This helps researcher to generate andrefine research ideas.

b. The critical review

As an essential part of research it

requires researchers to;i. demonstrate his/herawarenessof the current state of knowledge and

ii. show how his/her research fits

in the wider context of research area.


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To provide foundation to build research on

To develop a good understanding and insightinto relevant previous research and emerging

trends To help researcher to identify theories and ideas

that researcher test using data (deductiveapproach)

To help researcher to relate his/her ideas and

theories developed through inductive approach To help researcher to refer whether his/her

research findings are in line with the availableliterature or are in contrast to those

To identify other research that may be in

progress To help avoid charges of plagiarism


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8

Chronological

By publication date

By trend

Thematic

A structure which considers different themes

Methodological

Focuses on the methods of the researcher,

e.g., qualitative versus quantitative

approaches


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Basically, any approach that works for YOU is

appropriate. One possible procedure follows.

1. Arrange your notes in a logical order. If you are

having difficulty seeing an order, look for clues in

the sequence of your ideas or tryconcept

mapping the topic.

2. Identify the main ideas - sorting your notes to fit

under the headings.


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3. develop a table of contents, that can then be

fleshed out with descriptive bullet-points

(annotated table of contents). Bysubjecting

an annotated table of contents (or outline) to

review, a novice researcher can receive a self

leading advice on contents and structure of the

planned literature review.

4. Example follows


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Example: a step-by-step, hierarchical list of the points

you plan to cover, e.g.,

1st main idea

1st supporting point

evidence, argument, or example



2nd supporting point




2nd main idea, etc


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subtopic

Topic

subtopic

subtopic

subtopic

subtopic

subtopic

subtopic


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Home visits

Academic

achievement

Homework

assistance

Home-school

communication

Parent

involvement

volunteerism

barriers

Teachers beliefs

Involvement in

decision making


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Try to avoid long lists of supporting points. Combine into

related ideas.

If you can't decide where to put something, put it in two

or more places in the outline. As you write, you can

decide which place is the most appropriate.

Now you are ready to write your review.

Introduce the topic and give a brief statement of the main

ideas.


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write some plausible synthesis or analysis for these ideas

using headings according to the step-by-step hierarchical

list and guide the reader through the material.

If the literature review is part of a research project, stop at

the end of each topic, to mention the main relevant ideas and

how they fit together relating to your research.

leave it, then reread, edit and revise what you have

written, to make sure that it makes sense and 'flows' in a way

that the reader will understand what you are tying to convey.


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Considering the limits in terms of the time and space and

remember the following list of dos and donts:

Do

identify and discuss the key relevant landmark studies

on the topic;

include as much up-to-date material as possible;

check the details, such as how names are spelled; show that you are selective, analytical and critical;

manage the information: have a system (as discussed

earlier) for records management;

make your review worth reading explaining how your

topic is different.


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Donts omit classic works or discuss core ideas withoutproper reference;

discuss outdated or only old materials;

misspell names or get the date of publication wrong;

use concepts to impress or without definition;

produce a list of items, even if annotated; a list is not

a review;

accept or believe everything that is written;

drown in information by not keeping control;

make silly mistakes or be boring.(Hart, 1998: 219)


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The contents and structure of review - 1

Important aspects (contents)

(to be covered) To include the key academic theories To demonstrate researchers advanced

knowledge ;

To show links between present and

previous research; To assess the strength and weaknesses of

previous work; including omissions andbias; and

To justify arguments by referencingprevious research.


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The contents and structure of reviewThe contents and structure of review -- 22

Start at a more general level;

Provide a brief overview of key ideas;

Summarize, compare and contrast the work of the keywriters;

Narrow down to highlight the work most relevant tothis research;

Provide a detailed account of findings of similar work;

Highlight those issues where this research willprovide fresh insights; and

Lead the readers into subsequent sections of thisresearch which will address such issues.


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The literature review process


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a. Define the parameters of the research, whichare:

a. Language of publication (for exampleEnglish)

b. Subject area (for example accountancy)

c. Business sector (for example manufacturing)

d. Geographical area (for example Asia)e. Publication period (for example the last 10

years)

f. Literature type (for example refereedjournals)


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a. Generate key words and search terms

a. Key words or search terms help describe

research question(s) and objectivesb. Using Relevance Tree can prove a good tool

in generating key words; a worked example forgenerating key words through Relevance Treeis provided in Additional Reading Materials on

page 13)c. Key words are used to search the tertiary

literature

b. Discuss ideas as widely as possible


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Planning and conducting literature searchPlanning and conducting literature search -- 22

Conducting literature search may involvea variety of approaches, namely:

Primary literature sources;

Secondary Sources i.e. books andjournals already studies;

Tertiary literature sources Table 3.2 entitled Tertiary literature

sources and their full coverage isavailable at pp.14-15 of AdditionalReading Materials.

(Next Slide for discussion)


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Literature sources


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Scanning and browsing secondary

literature available in the libraries;

Table 3.4 entitled Selectedpublishers and bookshops

Internet addresses is available at

p.16 of Additional Reading

Materials.

Searching using Internet.

See next slide and pp. 17-18 of

Additional Reading Materials.


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Planning and conducting literature search3: searching the Internet


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Define the scope of your

review

Assess relevance and value

Assess sufficiency


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Recording the literatureMake notes for each item you read

Record the following Bibliographic details

* See details in Table 3.6 available at p. 19 of Additional ReadingMaterials. Check also Appendix 2 entitled Systems of referencingavailable at pp. 20-26.

Brief summary of content* (covered in slide 4 & 5)

Supplementary information

* See details in Table 3.7 available at p. 19 of Additional ReadingMaterials.


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Referencing the references

ExamplesIn text:

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009)

In references (or bibliography)Saunders, M.N.K, Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2009)Research Methods for Business Students (5th edn),Prentice Hall


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Four common forms

Stealing material from another source

Submitting material written by another

Copying material without quotation marks

Paraphrasing material without documentation

Adapted from Park (2003), cited in Easterby-Smith et al. (2008)


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WE ARE NOW GOING TO HAVE A BRAINSTORMING

DISCUSSION ON RESEARCH TOPICS SELECTED, AND

RESEARCH QUESTION(S) AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

DEVELOPED BY VARIOUS GROUPS

RESPECTIVE GROUPS ARE INVITED TO PRESENT THEIR

CASES

The audience is invited to provide their input on the

topics selected, and research question(s) and

research objectives developed by the groups.


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Individual students assignment1. You, individually as well as in group, refine and finalyse

your research topic, research question(s) and research

objectives in light of the feedback received through class

discussion.2. After finalizing your research questions, you will be in a

position to initiate at least the first two steps of the

literature review process, meaning that you can define

parameters and generate and refine keyword for your

research topic, as per material provided in slide 8.

3. Please do so as per guidelines (a) & (b) of slide 9.

4. Please generate keywords and search terms using

techniques known as relevance tree (Slide 9).

Continues on next slide

Assignment 3

REVIEW OF LITERATURE - 1


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5. Now take the next step in conducting the literature search; and

the first step here is searching using tertiary literature sources

(Slide 10), using the keywords and search terms you have already

generated. Find relevant references, save materials with you as soft

copies, record bibliographical details as per guidelines given in slide

13, and make a list of references as per pattern of slide 14, for

inclusion in your report.

6. You will do this all individually, and your individual reports will be

annexed with your group report to be submitted in next week-class.

Groups assignment:1. Exchange reports with each other, evaluate report of at least one

colleague, hold a group meeting and finalyze group report.

2. Be ready to make a presentation in next class on the Relevance

tree prepared and Keywords and search terms generated by your

respective group.


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Use of an already generated data file TEACH.SAV An introduction of Teach.Sav data file is provided in

Additional Reading Materials pages 55 63.This data file

consists of data about 347 people recruited to work for aUK firm; we will use data contained in this file for various

SPSS exercises.

Lets Upload the file, taking the following steps.

i. O

penSPSS

ii. Click FileOpenData.

iii. Locate data file Teach.Sav file on Instructors

directory on D:\.........................\CHISHTI drive.

iv. Open Teach.Sav by double-clicking on it.

v. Study the data provided and its nature/check howvariables have been coded (in Variable View).

Reviewing Literature 03

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