What is a literature review? Major Reasons for Doing Literature Reviews The Search Process

1. 1
Literature Review
and
Research Related Problems
OKIKI, Olatokunbo C. PhD
University of Lagos Library, Nigeria
cokiki@unilag.edu.ng
1

2. Outline
What is a literature review?
 Major Reasons for Doing Literature Reviews
The Search Process (Step 1 ~ 9 )
Critical Analysis of Literature Reviews
Publication Bias
Variable Quality in the Primary Research
Studies
Inclusion-Exclusion Decisions

3. 3
What is a Literature Review?
Review research in your chosen area to clarify
conceptual issues and empirical context for your project
If there is no previous published research look for
empirical work from related areas
Use literature review to learn about research design for
your project – build on work of previous scholars
Consider how your project will contribute to the literature
in your chosen subject area
Your opportunity to persuade your reader (and
examiner) that your work is relevant and that it was
worth doing!

4. Three stages at which a review
of the literature is needed
an early review is needed to establish the context and
rationale for your study and to confirm your choice of
research focus/question;
as the study period gets longer, you need to make sure
that you keep in touch with current, relevant research in
your field, which is published during the period of your
research;
as you prepare your final report or thesis, you need to
relate your findings to the findings of others, and to
identify their implications for theory, practice, and
research.

5. A literature review should not be…
A descriptive list of papers or summaries of research
Organised around the sources with each described in
great detail
An argument for the importance of what you are
researching with no contextualisation of key issues
Instead, your literature review must be organised around
ideas with an assessment of previous studies (including
their strengths and weaknesses).

6. Merriam (1988) lit review as ‘an interpretation and
synthesis of published work’
You need to be actively involved in interpreting the
literature that you are reviewing, and in explaining that
interpretation to the reader, rather than just listing what
others have written.
The term ‘synthesis’ refers to the bringing together of
material from different sources, and the creation of an
integrated whole.

7. Questions that your examiners ask that
your literature review can help you
answer
What research question(s) are you
asking? Why?
Has anything similar been done in this
area before?
What is already known/understood about
this topic?
How might your project challenge existing
beliefs or add to this understanding?

8. What is meant by critical writing?
a clear and confident refusal to accept the conclusions of
other writers without evaluating the arguments and
evidence that they provide;
a balanced presentation of reasons why the conclusions
of other writers may be accepted or may need to be
treated with caution;
a clear presentation of your own evidence and argument,
leading to your conclusion;
a recognition of the limitations in your own evidence,
argument, and conclusion.

9. Major Reasons
for
Doing Literature Reviews

10. For planning Primary Research
The purpose of the literature review is to
provide the reader with an overall
framework.
Literature review serves to explain the
topic of the research and to build a rational
for the problem that is studied.
Researchers use the literature review to
identify a rationale for their own study.

11. Some of specific rationales might emerge from your
literature review:
You may find a lack of consistency in reported result
 e.g. Born (1993) chose to study site based management and
shared decision making because the outcomes of previous
research were unclear.
You may have uncovered a flaw in previous research
based on its design, data collection instruments,
sampling, or interpretation
e.g. Lips (1993) notes the gender-sensitive nature of tests used
to support differences between males and females in
mathematics skills.
Research may have been conducted on a different
population.
e.g. Sullivan, Vernon, and Scanlan (1987) note that incidence
data on sexual abuse were available for the general population
but not for deaf children.

12. Some of specific rationales might emerge from your
literature review
You may document an ongoing educational or
psychological problem and propose studying the
effect of an innovative intervention to try to
correct that problem.
e.g. Benson (2008) noted the ongoing problem of
underrepresentation of minority women in scientific careers.
Uncertainty about the interpretation of previous
studies’ findings may justify further research.
e.g. Oke and Ayoola (2003) reported that the sex if the research
influenced the size of differences associated with specific
psychological characteristics.

13.  Morse (1994) points out that qualitative researchers
should be well prepared in their topic.
 Extant literature can be used to guide you in the
interpretation of your results.
 e.g. knowing the results of other studies can
reveal whether your results are smaller,
typical, or larger. (Eagly & Wood, 1994)
 Primary research articles published in journals
contain 20 to 30 references of primary research.
 The exact number varies, depending on the purpose
of the literature review and the extant literature.
 Use of the literature review to plan and conduct a
study requires that you critically evaluate the
research that you read.

14. Review of Literature as an End in itself
The process for conducting this type of literature
review varies, depending on your purpose.
e.g. Anderson (1993) reviewed literature for the purpose of
proposing a model intervention program to increase the
representation of minority women in scientific careers.
When a literature review is conducted to provide
a comprehensive understanding of what is
known about a topic, the process is much
longer.
e.g. Scarr and Eisenberg (1993) reviewed almost 200
references in their review of child care research.

15. The Search Process

16. Differences in the general process
With the postpositivist paradigm, the researcher who
plans to conduct quasi-experimental research needs to
be able to develop a hypothesis.
With an interpretive/constructivist orientation, the
researcher should have a good understanding of
previous research(Marshall & Rossman, 1989).
In this transformative paradigm, the researcher should
consult with persons who have experienced oppression
and seek out literature that represents their viewpoints
(Harding, 1993).

17. Step 1:Identify Researcher Topic
Two pieces of advice should guide
researchers.
Researchers should be flexible in their
conceptualization of the research problem
being investigated.
Researchers should begin with a broad
idea and be prepared to narrow it down as
they progress through the research.

18. Source of research topics
A research topic can emerge from a wide
variety of source.
↪ the researcher’s interests, knowledge of
social conditions, etc
Any of these is appropriate as a source to
help identify the primary research topic.

19. Source (cont.)
For researchers interested in conducting a
comprehensive review of literature, they must
study topics that appear in the literature
(Cooper, 1989).
For sponsored research, the researcher needs
to clarify with the funding agency what the
research problem is (Hedrick, Bickman, & Rog,
1993).
Scholars working in the transformative paradigm
have been instrumental in stimulating research
on a variety of topics.

20. Step 2 : Review Secondary Sources
to Get an Overview
Review of Research in Education: Each volume
contains a series in diver topics such as violence
in the schools, welfare reform and education, etc
Yearbook of the National Society for the Study
of Education: Recent topics include inter
professional partnerships that facilitate the
integration of services to enhance both teaching
and learning.

21. 21
Sources for literature review
Identify key primary sources (e.g. govt. documents,
newspaper articles) and secondary sources (e.g. books,
journal articles) relevant to your topic early on
Use relevant search terms on library databases (e.g.
Lexis Nexis) to identify your sources (see Library
tutorials for more on this)
Use resources that are not in the library e.g. Inter-library
loans, BFI Archive, blogs.
Remember, there is no target for the number of
references you include, but you need to show the marker
you have covered the literature that is relevant to your
project.

22. Finding relevant literature:
Check references of references. it can be a good idea to
check through their reference lists to see the range of
sources that they referred to.
Hand searching of journals will reveal ideas about focus,
research questions, methods, techniques, or
interpretations that had not occurred to you
Use software packages such as RefWorks to collect and
store details of articles but also read abstracts to make
sure they are relevant
If in doubt, consult your Subject Librarian!

23. Exercise to help you use the library
effectively for your literature review
Identify 2 - 3 key terms relevant to your dissertation (e.g.
social media, Arab Spring) and use these to search the
library catalogues for relevant resources.
Try to evaluate the relevance of the resources that you
find in the library catalogues by using the title and the
abstracts.
Identify a list of resources for your literature review
including books, journal articles (databases if relevant to
your topic), and other resources that are relevant.
Identify any difficulties that you have doing this, and write
it in less than 50 words (These can be discussed with
your supervisor if you have any concerns).

24. Personal Networking
Additional resources can be found by talking to
people who are doing work in area related to
your interest. This can include people at your
own institution or those you meet through
professional association, such as the American
Educational Research Association, etc..
Talking to people who have completed related
work can reveal sources that you were unaware
of.

25. Writing up your literature review:
Write up your review part way through your reading in
order to identify gaps/weaknesses
Keep the focus on your study and not the literature
Make sure the structure leads the reader through the key
issues e.g. signposting
Make sure that the literature review is framed by your
research questions
Where possible, use original sources rather than other
people’s review of literature(s)

26. Structure of the Literature Review:
There is not one ‘ideal’ structure for your
literature review so talk to your supervisor about
this
Consider whether you wish to organise your
literature review chronologically, thematically, by
development of ideas (or a combination of
these)
Make sure that you always explain your
structure for your reader and have a clear
narrative

27. Referencing
Provide full details of all sources cited in the dissertation
Should include published books or articles, book
chapters, technical reports, web sources, etc.
List alphabetically by author name (name of first author
in the case of works with co-authors)
Make sure you understand the university regulations on
plagiarism
Consult your department guidelines for more on
referencing style

28. Conclusion
Be systematic in your search for relevant
sources
Critique literature that is relevant to your project
and avoid being overly descriptive
Use a structure that leads the reader through the
key points and is framed by your research
questions
Make sure you adhere to the university
regulations on presentation (including
referencing)
The researcher should be aware of potential
biases in literature reviews

29. Thank you