Chapter 3 Critically reviewing the literature

Slide 3.1

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009

Chapter 3Critically reviewing the literature

Slide 3.2


Reasons for reviewing the literature

• To conduct a ‘preliminary’ search of existing material that would have been discussed for the proposal

• To organise valuable ideas and findings

• To identify other research that may be in progress

• To generate research ideas

• To develop a critical perspective subject of this chapter

Slide 3.3


The literature review process

Source: Saunders et al. (2003)Figure 3.1 The literature review process

Slide 3.4


The Critical Review (1)

Approaches used

Deductive -

Use the literature to help you identify theories and ideas that you will test using data. The conclusions reached are certain, inevitable, inescapable

Inductive -

Explores the data to develop theories which are then tested against the literature. The conclusions reached are probable, reasonable, plausible, believable

Slide 3.5



ExamplesDeductive –•All men are mortal. (General and no specific to one man)

•Socrates is a man

•(Therefore,) Socrates is mortal ( specific)

Inductive - •This ice is cold. (Specific, based on a direct observation.)

•All ice is cold. (General, can be applied to any ice)

•3 + 5 = 8 Three and five are odd numbers while eight is an even number. Therefore, an odd number added to another odd number will result in an even number.

Slide 3.6



Approaches used

Deductive -

Develop Theory

Formulate

Hypothesis Collect &

analyze data

Accept/Reject Hypothesis

Slide 3.7



Approaches used

Inductive -

Observation

Pattern

Tentative Hypothesis

Theory

Slide 3.8



Key purposes

• To further refine research questions and objectives

• To discover recommendations for further research

• To avoid repeating work already undertaken

• To provide insights into strategies and techniques appropriate to your research objectives

Based on Gall et al. (2006)

Slide 3.9


Adopting a critical perspective (1)

Skills for effective reading

• Previewing

• Annotating

• Summarising

• Comparing and contrasting

Harvard College Library (2006)

Slide 3.10



The most important skills are

• The capacity to evaluate what you read

• The capacity to relate what you read to other information

Wallace and Wray (2006)

Slide 3.11



Questions to ask yourself

Why am I reading this? (helps to focus on your subject)

What is the author trying to do in writing this?(helps deciding how valuable for your purpose)

How convincing is this?

What use can I make of this reading?

Adapted from Wallace and Wray (2006)

Slide 3.12


Content of the critical review

You will need to

• Include key academic theories

• Demonstrate current knowledge of the area

• Use clear referencing for the reader to find the

original cited publications ( Harvard Ref)

• Acknowledge the research of others

Slide 3.13


Is your literature review critical?

Checklists Box 3.2 and Box 3.3

Complete the checklists to evaluate your literature review

Saunders et al. (2009)

Slide 3.14


Structure of the literature review

Three common structures

• A single chapter

• A series of chapters

• Throughout the report

Slide 3.15


The key to a critical literature review

• Demonstrate that you have read, understood and evaluated your material

• Link the different ideas to form a cohesive and coherent argument

• Make clear connections to your research objectives and the subsequent empirical material


Slide 3.16


Categories of Literature Sources

• Primary (published and unpublished)

• Secondary

• Tertiary

Detailed in Tables 3.1 and 3.2 Saunders et al. (2009)

Slide 3.17


Literature sources availableLiterature sources available

Saunders et al. (2009)Figure 3.2 Literature sources available

Slide 3.18


The literature search strategy (1)

Write down

• parameters of your search

• key words and search terms to be used

• databases and search engines to be used

• criteria for selection of relevant and useful studies

And

Discuss these with a tutor (if possible)

Slide 3.19


The literature search strategy (2)

• Define the research parametersLanguage (English), subject area (Accountancy), business sector (manufacturing), geographic area( Europe), Publication period( last 10 years),

Literature type(journals, books)

• Generate key words• These are the basic terms that describe your research questions/objectives

and will be used to search tertiary literature

• Discuss your research

• Brainstorm ideas

• Construct Relevance trees - use computer software

Slide 3.20


Conducting a literature search (1)

Approaches can include

• Searching tertiary literature sources

• Obtaining relevant literature

• Scanning and browsing secondary literature

• Searching using the Internet

Slide 3.21



Searching using tertiary literature

• Ensure key words match controlled index language

• Search appropriate printed and database sources

• Note precise details used – including search strings

• Note the FULL reference of each search found

Slide 3.22



• Printed sources

• Databases – use of Boolean logic and free text searching (Table 3.3)

• Scanning and browsing

• Searching the Internet (Tables 3.4 and 3.5)


Slide 3.23


Conducting a literature search (4)Searching the Internet


Figure 3.3 Searching the Internet

Slide 3.24


Conducting a literature search (5)Searching the Internet


Figure 3.3 Searching the Internet (Continued)

Slide 3.25


Evaluating the literature

• Define the scope of your review

• Assess relevance and value

• Assess sufficiency

Slide 3.26


Recording the literature

Make notes for each item you read

Record –

• Biographic details

• Brief summary of content

• Supplementary information

Sharp et al. (2002)

Slide 3.27


Recording the literature

• Bibliographic details (Table 3.6)

• Brief summary

• Supplementary information (Table 3.7)


Slide 3.28


Plagiarism

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)

Slide 3.29


Summary: Chapter 3

The critical literature review

• Sets the research in context

• Leads the reader into later sections of the report

• Begins at a general level and narrows to specific topics

Slide 3.30


Summary: Chapter 3

A literature search requires

• Three main categories of sources• Clearly defined research questions and

objectives• Defined parameters• Use of techniques – ( brainstorming and

relevance trees)

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Chapter 3 Critically reviewing the literature

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