Research methodology

1. The Literature Review
A focused reading … with a specific purpose.

2. INTRODUCTION
 Literature Review is one of the most important step in the research
process.
 It is an account of what is already known about a particular
phenomenon.
 The main purpose of literature review is to convey to the readers
about the work already done, the knowledge & ideas that have been
already established on a particular topic of research.
 Literature review is a laborious task, but it is essential if the
research process is to be successful.

3. What is A Literature Review?
• Many students are instructed, as part of their research program,
to perform a literature review, without understanding what it is.
Read more: http://www.experiment-resources.com/what-is-a-literature-review.html#ixzz1QGfAxinx

4. • A literature review is an account of what has been published on a
topic by scholars and researchers.
• Occasionally researchers are asked to write a separate assignment
(sometimes in the form of an noted bibliography),
• More often it is part of the introduction to an essay, research
report, or also a chapter in M.Phil./Ph.D. thesis.
What is A Literature Review?

5. Meaning of Literature Review
 A literature review uses its database reports of original scholarship
& does not report new primary scholarship itself.
 The primary reports used in the literature may be verbal, but in the
vast majority of cases, reports are written documents.
 The types of scholarship may be empirical, theoretical, critical or
analytic, or methodological in nature.
 Second a literature review seeks to describe, summarize, evaluate,
clarify &/or integrate the content of primary reports.
…(H.M. Cooper, 1988)

6. Importance of Literature Review
Identification of a research problem & development or refinement
of research questions.
Generation of useful research questions or projects/activities for
the discipline.
Direction to what is known & not known about an area of inquiry
to ascertain what research can best contribute to knowledge
Determination of any gaps or inconsistencies.
Discovery of unanswered questions about subjects, concepts or
problems
Determination of a need to replicate a prior study in different
study settings or different samples or different study populations

7. Importance of Literature Review
Identification of relevant theoretical or conceptual framework for
research problems.
Development of new or refined interventions to test through empirical
research
Description of the strengths & weaknesses of design/methods of
inquiry & instruments used in earlier research work
Development of hypothesis to be tested in a research study.
Helps in planning the methodology of the present research study
Identification of suitable design & data collection methods for a
research study.
Assistance in interpreting study finding & in developing implications &
recommendations

8. Purposes of Literature Review
The purpose of a literature review is to convey to the reader
previous knowledge & facts established on a topic, & their strength
& weakness.
The literature review allows the reader to be updated with the
state of research in a field
Any contradictions that may exist with challenges findings of other
research studies.
It helps to develop research investigative tools or research
instruments & to improve research methodologies
It also provide the knowledge about the ‘problems faced by the
previous researchers’ while studying same topic.

9. Continued…..
Besides enhancing researcher’s knowledge about the topic, writing a
literature review helps to:
Place each in the context of its contribution to the understanding of
subject under review.
Describe the relationship of each study to other research studies
under consideration.
Identify new ways to interpret & shed light on any gaps in previous
research.
Identify areas of prior research to prevent duplication of effort.
Point a way forward for further research.

10. Develop general explanation for observed variations in a behavior
or phenomenon.
Identify possible relationship between concepts & to identify
researchable hypothesis.
Learn how others have defined & measured key concepts.
Identify data sources that other researchers have used.
Develop alternative research projects.
Discover how a research project is related to the work of others.
Continued…..

11. Sources Essential for LT
Sources are generally described as primary, secondary, or tertiary.
• Primary: Primary sources are “materials that you are directly
writing about, the raw materials of your own research.”
• Secondary: Secondary sources are “articles in which other
researchers report the results of their research based on primary
data”.
• Tertiary: Tertiary sources are “articles based on secondary sources,
on the research of others.”
– Tertiary sources synthesize and explain the work of others and
might be useful early in your research, but they are generally
weak support for your own arguments… at times they are
challenged in your argument!

12. The main sources from where
literature can be searched are as …
Resources
of
Literature
Review
Encyclopedia
&
dictionary
Electronic
database
Books
Journals
Conference
papers
Theses
Research
Reports
Magazines
&
newspapers

13. Steps of Literature Reviews
Bibliography
Thematic Organization
More Reading
Integrate Sections
Write Individual Sections

14. Stage I – Marked Bibliography
 At this stage, researchers read articles, books & other types of
literature related to the topic of research & write a brief critical
synopsis of each review.
 After going through the reading list, researchers will have an
footnote of each source of related literature.
 Later, explanations are likely to include more references of other
work since previous readings will be available to compare,
 But at this point the “Important goal is to get accurate critical
summarization of individual work”

15. Stage II – Thematic Organization
 At this stage, researchers try to find common themes of research
topic & organize the literature under these themes, subthemes, or
categories.
 Here, researchers try to organize literature under themes, which
relate to each other & are arranged in a chronological manner.
 Researchers try to establish coherence between themes & literature
discussed under theses themes.

16.  Based on the knowledge gained through primary reading,
researchers have a better understanding about the research topic &
the literature related to it.
 At this stage, researchers try to discover specific literature
materials relevant to the field of study or research methodologies
which are more relevant for their research.
 They look for more literature by those authors, on those
methodologies, etc.
 Also, the researchers may be able to set aside some less relevant
areas or articles which they pursued initially.
 They integrate the new readings into their literature review draft,
reorganize themes, & read more as appropriate
Stage III – More Reading

17.  At this stage, researchers start writing the literature under each
thematic section by using previously collected draft of comments.
 Here they organize the related articles under each theme by
ensuring that every article is related to each other.
 Further, the related articles may be grouped together by ensuring
the coherence between different segments of the literature
abstracts.
 For each thematic sections, draft remarks are used (it is a good idea
to reread the articles & revise remarks, especially the ones read
initially) to write a section which discusses the articles relevant to
that theme.
Stage IV – Write Individual Sections

18.  In this section, researchers have a list of the thematic sections &
they tie them together with an introduction, conclusion, & some
additions & revisions in the sections to show how they relate to
each other & to the overall theme.
Stage V – Integrate Sections

19. Preparing Written Literature

20. Writing the Introduction…
While writing the introduction, following steps should be taken care of:
Define the general topic, issue, or area of concern, thus, providing
appropriate context for reviewing the literature.
Point out overall trends in what has been published about the topic
or conflicts in theory, methodology, evidence, & conclusion or gaps
in research or a single problem or new perspective of immediate
interest.
Establish the writer’s point of view for reviewing the literature, the
criteria to be used in analyzing & comparing literature &
organization or review (sequence), & when necessary, state why
certain literature is or is not included (scope)

21. Writing the Body…
Following measures need to be undertaken while writing the body of the literature.
 Group research studies & other types of literature (reviews,
theoretical articles, case studies) according to common
denominators such as qualitative versus quantitative approaches,
conclusions of authors, specific purposes or objectives & so on.
 Summarize individual studies or articles with as much as or as
little detail as each merits according to its comparative importance
in the literature.
 Assist the reader with strong ‘umbrella' sentences at the beginning
of paragraphs & brief summary sentences at intermediate points in
the review to aid in understanding comparisons & analysis.

22. Writing the Conclusion…
The points to be taken care of in the conclusion are as follows:
 Summarize major contributions of significant studies & articles to
the body of knowledge under review, maintaining the focus
established in the introduction.
 Evaluate the current ‘state of the art’ for the body of knowledge
reviewed, pointing out major methodological flaws or gaps in
research, inconsistencies in theory, finding & areas or issues
relevant to future study.
 Conclude by providing some insight into the relationship between
central topic of the literature reviews & larger area of study such as
discipline, a scientific endeavor or a profession.

23. Points to be Considered for
Literature Review
Be specific & be concise: Briefly state specific findings listed in an
article, specific methodologies used in a study, or other important
points. Literature reviews are not the place for long quotes or in-
depth analysis of each point.
Be selective: Researcher should narrow down a lot of information
into a small space in literature review. Just the most important
points must be mentioned in each work of review (i.e., those most
relevant to the review’s focus).
Focus of current topics: Researcher needs to analyze points such as
if it is a current article, & if not, how old it is: has its claims,
evidence, or arguments been outdated by more recent work; if it is
not current, then if it is important for historical background; etc.

24. Points to be Considered for
Literature Review – Count…
Ensure evidence for claims:
Researcher should focus on what support is given for claims made
in literature. What evidence & what type (experimental, statistical,
subjective, etc.) of evidences are offered? Is the evidence relevant &
sufficient? What arguments are given? What assumptions are made,
& are they warranted?
Focus on sources of evidences:
Researchers should ensure the reliability of the sources of the
evidence or other information – if they are from author’s own
experiments, surveys, historical records, government documents,
etc. He should check how reliable those sources are.

25. Points to be Considered for
Literature Review – Count…
Account of contrary evidences: Does the author take into account
contrary or conflicting evidence & arguments? How does the author
address disagreements with other researchers?
Reference citation: Any references cited in the literature review
must be included in the bibliography. The common practice is that
the reviewer does not list references in the bibliography that are
not directly cited in the literature review or elsewhere in the paper
/thesis.
Avoid abbreviations: Avoid technical terms, jargons &
abbreviations.
Simple & accurate sentence structure: A researcher should use
simple sentences & must avoid errors of grammar & punctuation

26. Points to be Considered for
Literature Review – Count…
Organization of literature review: A literature review is organized by
subtopic, not by individual references. The writers may cite several
references in the same paragraph & may cite the same reference in
more than one paragraph, if that source address more than one of the
subtopics in the literature review.
The contribution that the present reviewers make is organizing the
ideas from the sources into a convincing argument or narrative that
includes their perspectives.
Referring original source: The reviewer should focus on citing the
material that originates with each reference. This may require a careful
reading of the reference. If the reference author refers to another
source whose ideas are relevant or interesting, it is better to track &
use that original reference.

27. What is ‘not’ Literature Review?
– Not - chronological catalog of all of the sources, but an
evaluation, integrating the previous research together
– But - Explain how it integrates into the proposed research
program. All sides of an argument must be clearly explained, to
avoid bias, and areas of agreement and disagreement should be
highlighted.
• Not - collection of quotes and paraphrasing from other sources.
• But - good literature review should also have some evaluation of
the quality and findings of the research.

28. A literature review must do these things:
• Be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research
question we are developing
• Synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known
• Identify areas of controversy in the literature
• Formulate questions that need further research

29. Ask yourself questions like these:
• What is the specific thesis problem, or research question that my
literature review helps to define?
• What type of literature review am I conducting? Am I looking at issues of
theory? methodology? policy? quantitative research (e.g. on the
effectiveness of a new procedure)? qualitative research (e.g., studies )?
• What is the scope of my literature review? What types of publications am
I using (e.g., journals, books, government documents, popular media)?
What discipline am I working in (e.g., Engineering, Psychology,
Humanities, Pharmacy, Management)?
• How good was my information looking for? Has my search been wide
enough to ensure I've found all the relevant material? Has it been narrow
enough to exclude irrelevant material? Is the number of sources I've used
appropriate for the length of my paper/project report/thesis?

30. Ask yourself questions like these:
• Have I critically analyzed the literature I use? Do I follow through a
set of concepts and questions, comparing items to each other in the
ways they deal with them?
• Instead of just listing and summarizing items, do I assess them,
discussing strengths and weaknesses?
• Have I cited and discussed studies contrary to my perspective?
• Will the reader find my literature review relevant, appropriate,
and useful?

31. Ask yourself questions like these about each
book or article you include:
• Has the author formulated a problem/issue?
• Is it clearly defined? Is its significance (scope, severity, relevance)
clearly established?
• Could the problem have been approached more effectively from
another perspective?
• What is the author's research orientation (e.g., interpretive, critical
science, combination)?
• What is the author's theoretical framework (e.g., psychological,
developmental, feminist)?

32. • Has the author evaluated the literature relevant to the
problem/issue? Does the author include literature taking positions
she or he does not agree with?
• In a research study, how good are the basic components of the
study design (e.g., population, intervention, outcome)?
• How accurate and valid are the measurements?
• Is the analysis of the data accurate and relevant to the research
question?
• Are the conclusions validly based upon the data and analysis?
Ask yourself questions like these about each
book or article you include:

33. • How does the author structure the argument?
• Can you "deconstruct" the flow of the argument to see whether or
where it breaks down logically (e.g., in establishing cause-effect
relationships)?
• In what ways does this book or article contribute to our
understanding of the problem under study, and in what ways is it
useful for practice? What are the strengths and limitations?
• How does this book or article relate to the specific thesis or
question I am developing?
Ask yourself questions like these about each
book or article you include:

34. Reference:
• Read more:
• http://www.experiment-resources.com/what-is-a-literature-review.html#ixzz1QGfmJZeW
• http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review
• http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/literature_review.html
• http://library.ucsc.edu/help/howto/write-a-literature-review
• Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination (Published in association with The Open University) Dr.
Christopher Hart.
• Any book on Research Methodology for respective subjects deals with ‘Review of Literature’.
• Cooper, H. (2010). Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis: A Step-By-Step Approach.
Los Angeles: Sage.
(call number McHenry Stacks H62 C5859)
• Machi, L.A. (2009). The Literature Review: Six Steps to Success.
Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
(call number McHenry Stacks LB1047.3 M33)
• Deakin University. (2009). The Literature Review.
Geelong, Victoria, Australia: Author.
Retrieved 4th September 2009 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.deakin.edu.au/library/findout/research/litrev.php
• The University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center. (2009). Writer's Handbook: Common Writing Assignments: Review of Literature.
Madison, Wisconsin: Author.
Retrieved 4th September 2009 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/ReviewofLiterature.html
• http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/ReviewofLiterature.html
• http://library.ucsc.edu/print/help/howto/write-a-literature-review
• Doing Your Literature Review: Traditional And Systematic Techniques
• (Paperback)by Jill Jesson, Lydia Matheson, Fiona M. Lacey (Sage Pub)

35. Reference:
• Afolabi, M. (1992) 'The review of related literature in research' International journal of information and library research, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 59-66.
• Bourner, T. (1996) 'The research process: four steps to success', in Greenfield, T. (ed), Research methods: guidance for postgraduates, Arnold, London.
• Bruce, C. S. (1990) 'Information skills coursework for postgraduate students: investigation and response at the Queensland University of Technology' Australian
Academic & Research Libraries, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 224-232.
• Bruce, C. (1993) 'When enough is enough: or how should research students delimit the scope of their literature review?', in Challenging the Conventional Wisdom in
Higher Education: Selected Contributions Presented at the Ninteeth Annual National Conference and Twenty-First Birthday Celebration of the Higher Education
Research and Development Society of Australasia Inc., HERDSA, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. pp. 435-439.
• Bruce, C. S. (1994) 'Research student's early experiences of the dissertation literature review' Studies in Higher Education, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 217-229.
• Bruce, C. (1994) 'Supervising literature reviews', in Zuber-Skerritt, O. and Ryan, Y. (eds), Quality in postgraduate education, Kogan Page, London.
• Bruce, C. S. (1997) 'From Neophyte to expert: counting on reflection to facilitate complex conceptions of the literature review', in Zuber-Skerritt, O. (ed), Frameworks
for postgraduate education, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW.
• Caspers, J. S (1998) 'Hands-on instruction across the miles: using a web tutorial to teach the literature review research process' Research Strategies, vol. 16, no. 3, pp.
187-197.
• Cooper, H. M. (1988) 'The structure of knowledge synthesis' Knowledge in Society, vol. 1, pp. 104-126
• Cooper, H. M. (1989) Integrating research : a guide for literature reviews, 2nd ed, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, Calif.
• Leedy, P. D. (1997) Practical research: planning and design, 6th ed, Merrill, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
• Libutti, P.& Kopala, M. (1995) 'The doctoral student, the dissertation, and the library: a review of the literature' Reference Librarian, vol. 48, no. 5, pp. 5-25.
• Mauch, J. E.& Birch, J. W. (2003) Guide to the successful thesis and dissertation: a handbook for students and faculty, 5th ed, Marcel Dekker, New York.
• Website: www.dilipbarad.com
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36. Any Questions…..