Literature Review: Part I

Week 3 | Thursday 16 October 2014

Literature Review

• To conduct research, and before conducting a literature review, we must first identify a topic of study.

• This is the central idea we are exploring in the literature.

Misconceptions

• A Literature Review is not (Silverman, 2013, p. 294)

• just to display that ‘you know the area’.

• easier to do than your data analysis chapters.

• boring to read (and to write).

• best ‘got out of the way’ at the start of your research.

What does the review

accomplish?

• From Creswell (2014, pp. 27-28)

• Shares the results of other closely related studies

• Relates the study to the larger dialogue in the literature, extending prior studies, and filling gaps

• Framework: to establish the importance of the study and compare results

What does a literature

review do?

• It locates and summarises the studies about a certain topic.

• It adds to the literature on the topic - i.e. fills a gap that was not written about.

• Usually shaped from a large problem and then leads to more refined and narrow issues

What does a literature

review do?

• A literature review is an evaluative report of studies found in the literature related to your selected area.

• A review describes, summarises, evaluates, and clarifies the literature.

• It should give a theoretical basis for the research and help you determine the nature of your own research.

• It is beyond searching for information, it articulate the relationship between the literature and your field of research

Purposes of a

literature review

• Provide a context for the research

• Justify the research

• Ensure the research hasn’t been done before (or that it is not just a replication study)

• show where the research fits into the existing body of knowledge

• Enable the researcher to learn from previous theory on the subject

Purposes of a

literature review

• Illustrate how the subject has been studied previously

• Highlight flaws in previous research

• Outline gaps in previous research

• Show that the work is adding to the understanding and knowledge of the field

• Help refine, refocus or even change the topic

Forms of the literature

review• Cooper (2010) as cited in Creswell (2014, p. 28)

• Four types

1. integrate what others have done and said

2. criticise previous scholarly works

3. build bridges between related topics

4. identify the central issues in a field

• The literature is normally organised in related topics and the literature is summarised by pointing out the central issues.

Preparing the search

• What discipline(s) relate to my main topic?

• How can I focus my topic to make my search more precise?

• What are the main indexes and abstracts relevant to my topic?

• What means of recording will be most efficient for many tasks such as cross referencing? - i.e. literature map//literature matrix

Steps in conducting a

literature review (Creswell)

1. Begin by identifying key words

•will emerge from identifying a topic or from preliminary readings

2. With your keywords, head to the library (or use the online catalogue) and focus on journals related to the topic.

•You can also use the further reading in your handbook for any of your courses.

3. Initially, try to locate about 20-30 reports of research in articles or books related to research on your topic.

4. Skim this initial group of articles or chapters, and duplicate those that are essential to your topic.

Steps in conducting a

literature review (Creswell)

5. Begin designing a literature map while you are reviewing the literature

•The map is a visual picture of grouping of the literature on the topic, illustrating how your study will contribute to the literature, and position this study in the body of research

6. Draft summaries of the most relevant articles - these will make it into your final literature review

•Make sure to reference properly here

7. Once you’ve summarised the literature, assemble the literature review, structuring it thematically (by relevant subjects) or organising it by important concepts.

Help in finding literature

•your tutors - either Rohit, Jennifer, Jeremy, or myself

•the subject librarian in your university library

•bibliographies in the literature you read

•online searches - Google Scholar, etc.

•the social sciences citation index

•newsgroups on the Internet

•your fellow students (past and present)

Selecting Literature

•It is important to prioritise your search for literature - what are you going to review and what priority are you setting for each?

• Select a limited number of works that are central to your area rather than trying to collect a large number of works that are not as closely connected.

Selecting Literature

1. Start with a broad syntheses of the literature such as overviews

2. Turn to journal articles in respected national journals.

•Make sure to check the references at the end of the articles for more sources

3. Turn to books related to the topic

4. Look for recent conference papers - particularly major national conferences

Selecting Literature

5. If time permits, look for entries in dissertation abstracts - PhD thesis

6. Search the web - but make sure to screen these articles carefully for quality

Abstracts

• They help summarise major elements of the article. Reading the abstracts will give you an idea of what this article is all about and if it is relevant to your proposed topic of study

• As Creswell (2014, p. 38) mentions, a good summary of research includes the following:

• Mentions the problem being addressed.

• States the central purpose/focus of study

• Briefly outlines information about sample, population or subjects

• Reviewing the key results related to study

• If a critique or methods review, points out technical and methodological flaws in the study

Questions to ask yourself

• From Silverman, 2013, p. 295

• What do we already know about the topic?

• What do you have to say critically about what is already known?

• Has anyone else ever done anything exactly the same?

• Has anyone else done anything that is related?

• Where does your work fit in with what has gone before?

• Why is your research worth doing in the light of what has already been done?

Literature Map

• The literature map helps you organise your literature.

• It presents an overview of the existing literature

• 3 ways of organising the map

• Hierarchical structure

• Flowchart

• Circles

Seminars

• This week

• Group 2 - 12.00-13.30

• Group 3 - 14.30-16.00

• Group 1 - 16.00-17.30

• Following weeks

• Group 3-1-2//Group 1-2-3//Group 2-3-1…

• It will be a rotating schedule until the end of the term