Critically Reviewing the Literature

Lecture - 3

Lecture Contents

» What is a Customary 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?

Knowledge does not exist in vacuum and your work only

has value in relation to other people’s.

Reasons for reviewing the literature

What is a Customary Literature Review?

» In its simplest form, a literature review is a list of relevant books and other sources, each followed by a description and comment on its relevance.

» When it is part of a project, a literature review is a systematic way of showing evidence of your reading and how it relates to your investigation.

Reasons for reviewing the literature

» To conduct a ‘preliminary’ search of existing material

» To organise valuable ideas and findings

» To identify other research that may be in progress

» To generate research ideas

» To develop a critical perspective

The literature review processFigure 3.1 The literature review process

Reasons for reviewing the literature

a. The preliminary searchThis helps researcher to generate and refine research ideas.

b. The critical reviewAs an essential part of research it requires researchers to;

demonstrate awareness of the current state of knowledge and

show how this research would fit in the wider context of research area.

(Saunders, 2009)

Why write a Literature Review?

» To provide foundation to build research on: In any discipline, research is incremental. It builds slowly and steadily on the work of past researchers, literature provides a summary of what is known.

» To develop a good understanding and insight into relevant previous research and emerging trends

» To help researcher to identify theories and ideas that researcher test using data (deductive approach)

» To help researcher to relate ideas and theories developed through inductive approach

» To help researcher to refer whether research findings are in line with the available literature or are in contrast to those

» To identify other researches that would be in progress

» To help avoid charges of plagiarism

Why write a Literature Review?

Structure of the literature review

THREE COMMON STRUCTURES

» A SINGLE CHAPTER

» A SERIES OF CHAPTERS

» THROUGHOUT THE REPORT

11

Chronologicalo By publication dateo By trend

Thematico A structure which considers different themes

Methodologicalo Focuses on the methods of the researcher, e.g.,

qualitative versus quantitative approaches

Basically, any approach that works for YOU is appropriate. One possible procedure follows.

Organizing the Literature Review?

WRITING THE REVIEW…..

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 try concept

mapping the topic.

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

under the headings.

3. Develop a table of contents, that can then be fleshed

out with descriptive bullet-points. By subjecting 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 (example follows).

WRITING THE REVIEW…..

» 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 exampleevidence, argument, or exampleevidence, argument, or example

• 2nd supporting pointevidence, argument, or exampleevidence, argument, or exampleevidence, argument, or example

2nd main idea, etc……

WRITING THE REVIEW…..

subtopic

Topic

subtopic

subtopic

subtopic

subtopic

subtopic

subtopic

Organizing the Literature: A tree diagram

The contents and structure of review

Important aspects (contents to be covered)

» Provide a brief overview of key ideas;» Include the key academic theories by

summarizing and comparing the work of the key writers;

» Assess the strengths and weaknesses of previous work including omissions and bias;

» Provide a detailed account of findings of similar work;

The contents and structure of review

Important aspects (contents to be covered)

» Lead the readers into subsequent sections of this research which will address such issues.

» Demonstrate your advanced knowledge;» Justify arguments by referencing previous

research.» Highlight those issues where this research

will provide fresh insights; and

The

liter

atur

e re

view

pro

cess

Re

visi

ted

Planning the literature search

A. Define parameters:a) Language of publication (for example

English)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 refereed

journals)

B. Generate key words and search termsa. Key words or search terms help describe

research question(s) and objectivesb. Key words are used to search the

tertiary literaturec. Using ‘Relevance Tree’ can prove a good

tool in generating key words;

Example follows.......... ‘Relevance Tree’ page 76, Saunders et al. (2009)

C. Discuss ideas as widely as possible

Planning and conducting literature search

Relevance Tree

Is there a link between benchmarking and Total Quality Management?

Benchmarking

BM Theory

Types

BM Practice

Case Studies

Links between BM and TQM ISO 9000

Precise Standards

TQM

Implementation process

TQM in Practice

Planning and conducting literature search - 2

Conducting literature search may involve a variety of overlapping approaches, namely:

• Primary literature sources: are difficult to locate;

• Secondary Sources i.e. books and journals already studies: are aimed at a wider audience;

• Tertiary literature sources: either help to locate primary and secondary sources or introduce a topic;

Information flow from primary to tertiary minimizes details and increases authority

(Next Slide for discussion)

Literature sourcesFigure 3.2 Literature sources available

Planning and conducting literature search

• Scanning and browsing secondary literature available in the libraries;• Table 3.4 entitled “Selected

publishers’ 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’.

Searching the Internet

Figure 3.3 Searching the Internet

Saunders et al. (2003)

Figure 3.3 Searching the Internet (Continued)Searching the Internet

Make notes for each item you read

Record the following» Bibliographic details

* See details in Table 3.6 available at p. 19 of ‘Additional Reading Materials’. Check also Appendix 2 entitled “Systems of referencing” available 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 Reading Materials’.

Obtaining, evaluating and recording the literature - 1

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

Referencing the references

Plagiarism?

Four common forms

» Stealing material from another source

» Submitting material written by another author

» Copying material without quotation marks

» Rewording material without citations

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

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 class is invited to provide their input on the topics selected, and research question(s) and research

objectives developed by the groups.

Discussion on last week assignment

Individual assignment1. Refine and finalyse your research topic, research question(s) and research objectives in light of the feedback received through the class discussion.2. After finalizing your research questions, ‘define parameters’ and ‘generate and refine keyword’ for your research topic. 3. Find relevant references, save materials as soft copies, record ‘bibliographical details’ as per guidelines given in slide 24, and make a list of references as per pattern of slide 25, to include in your report. 4. Your individual reports will be annexed with your group report to be submitted in next week-class.

» Assignment – 3» REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Group’s 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.

» Assignment – 3» REVIEW OF LITERATURE

SPSS Exercise 3

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 a UK firm; we will use data contained in this file for various SPSS exercises.

• Let’s Upload the file’, taking the following steps.i. Open SPSSii. Click ‘File…Open…Data’.iii. Locate data file ‘Teach.Sav’ file on Instructor’sdirectory 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).

What is Left Out of a Literature Review?

Considering the limits in terms of the time and space and remember the following list of dos and don’ts:

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.

What is Left Out of a Literature Review?

Don’ts …omit classic works or discuss core ideas without proper 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)