Advanced Research Methodology

1. Advanced Research Methodology
By
Gebre Miruts (Ph.D.)

2. UNIT THREE
Literature Review and Referencing

3. Unit Learning Objectives and Contents
 At the end of this unit, you will be able to:
Explain the purpose of conducting literature review
Outline the steps involved in conducting literature review
(i.e., how literature review should be conducted)
Discuss the meaning, significance and desired contents of a
theoretical framework
Discuss the meaning, significance and desired contents of a
conceptual framework
Adopt appropriate referencing style while writing short
(individual & group) papers, research proposals and the
thesis.

4. Learning Contents
3.1. Why we conduct literature review?
3.2. A general guideline for conducting literature review
3.3. Key outputs of literature review:
o Theoretical framework
o Review of relevant empirical studies
o The conceptual framework
3.4. Referencing Styles: The APA Referencing Style

5. 3.1 Why We Conduct Literature Review?
 we conduct literature review to:
Dive readers an overview of the sources you have explored
Demonstrate how the research fits into the larger field of
study
Outline the key ideas and theories that help us to understand
the research problem
Show what is already known about the research topic
Show what is not known (the research gap): unaddressed
aspects, issues, factors; methodological limitations, etc

6. 3.2. A general guideline for conducting literature review
o Use search engines such as Google (preferably Google Scholar)
and Yahoo search
o Insert key phrases or sentences in the search box
o Try the search in different ways
o Broaden or narrow down your search depending on the search
result you get
 If too broad, you will get thousands or millions of resources
which makes it difficult to select relevant ones. If so, narrow it.
 If too specific, you may get few or nor materials. In this case,
broaden the search.

7.  For example, suppose you want to search resources in relation to
the causes of people’s migration from rural areas to urban areas.
How to narrow down?
 Migration is too broad which may refer to migration of people
or animals
 Migration of people or human migration
 Causes of migration of people
 Causes of rural-urban migration of people
 Economic factors causing rural-urban migration of people
 Social factors causing rural-urban migration of people
 Political factors causing rural-urban migration of people

8.  Choose a variety of resources that relate to your topic.
• Articles: by reading their titles and the abstract
• Books: from the library through the library computer-based
catalogue.
• Documents (e.g., those published by government, international
organizations, etc)
 Then select the relevant materials in light of your research
problem/objective(s).
o You may again have a look at the abstract of articles or table of
contents of books
o Read the introduction and conclusion part of the articles
 Use software such as End-Note to keep a record of your
references (this will be discussed later).

9.  Select the most relevant information from the references – in light
of the topic/research objective.
Skim the paper or the chapter of the book
Identify the relevant parts of the article or the book chapter
You can highlight the important sentences or paragraphs – use
highlighter on hard copy, word file, PDF, etc). Even PDF &
MS Word software have in-built highlighters.
 Critically examine the parts you have highlighted. Look at:
 Objective, context, methodology, statistics, results, etc
 Theoretical framework, the author's purpose, etc.
 Include controversies/debatable issues when they appear

10.  Organize the information obtained form the literature review in
the way that makes most sense (in your MS word file). For
example:
o Concepts, factors, relationships, dynamisms/mechanisms, etc.
o Themes: Meaning, causes, effects, etc.
 Make sure that, the information relates to your research question
or objectives of the thesis
Avoid information that does not relate with your research
objectives. Ask your self, why do I need this information in my
literature review section?
 Make sure you have done more than simply summarize your
sources.
a critical assessment of those sources is necessary.
 Develop questions for further research

11. 3.3. Theoretical Framework
 Theoretical Framework: is a summary of relevant theories. In
deductive approaches, it consists of:
1. Definitions of concept(s) provided by one or more authors – one or
alternative definitions. For example, Harvey and Green (1993)
categorized the widely differing conceptualizations of quality into
five categories, namely, quality as:
A. Exceptional
B. Perfection (or consistency)
C. Fitness for purpose
D. Value for money and
E. Transformation (value added)
o Similarly, you may find alternative conceptualizations of
quality of education and training

12.  In the context of education, Harvey & Green (1993) have stated,
conceptualization of quality as transformation refers to ‘cognitive
transcendence’. This means:
• ‘Enhancing the participant’ – with knowledge, skills and
attitudes (KSA) and
• ‘Empowering the participant’ - allowing the participants to
have an influence on the transformative process.
 Kemenade, Pupius, and Hardjono (2008) also state that, quality
needs standards and hence quality of education can be defined in
terms of conformance to standards (i.e., the extent to which
students meet the competency standards or learning outcomes).

13. 2. It indicates the factors that the cause and effects of a phenomenon
(e.g., Human migration, drug addiction, inflation, etc).
Example-1: the possible risk factors that can cause drug addiction
includes:
Family history of addiction
Being male
Having another mental health disorder
Peer pressure
Lack of family involvement
Anxiety/depression/loneliness and
Taking a highly addictive drug

14. Example-2: The literature on inflation indicates that the general price
level in a country could be caused by factors such as:
National/aggregate demand
Aggregate supply
International price levels
Hoarding behavior of suppliers/sellers
Expectations of buyers and/or sellers
An excessive money supply etc
• In turn, the general price level may affect aggregate consumption,
savings & investment; real wages & real interest rates, etc.

15. 3. It indicates the degree and direction of relationship among
variables: For example: Ceteris paribus, the general price level
increases when:
 Aggregate demand increases
 Aggregate supply decreases
 The international price level increases
 There exists hoarding by whole sellers or retailers
 People expect that prices will increase
 The government supplies excessive money, etc.

16. 4. It indicates the possible measures/indicators of a variable. A
variable can be measured using one or more indicators. For
example: Poverty among households can be measured in two
ways:
A. Income poverty: earning below a certain dollar per day ($ 1for
absolute poverty; $2 for relative poverty).
B. Consumption poverty: below certain calories of consumption

17.  An Illustration of Concepts, Factors, Variables & Indicators:
Example-1: regarding the internal influence of organizational factors
on organizational effectiveness.
Concepts: what is organizational effectiveness? Its dimensions?
Factors: leadership, policies & strategies, employee, resources
& facilities, processes/systems, etc.
Variables: Example-1: Variables to measure commercial
banks’ effectiveness:
 level of profit
 customer satisfaction
 amount of deposits
 Percentage of loan defaulted etc.

18. Example-2: Leadership capacity may be measured by variables such
as the leaders’
 Educational qualification
 Skills
 Work experience, etc
Indicators: a leader’s educational qualification can be measured
by:
 His/her level of education, which could be coded as 1=below
diploma, 2=diploma, 3= first degree, 4=MA/MSc degree,
5=PhD, etc) or by years of education.
 The relevance of his/her educational background to his/her
position as a leader (coding: 1=less relevant, 2=somewhat
relevant, 3= very relevant).
 Work experience: the No. of years in leadership position.

19.  Assessment themes or issues:
Example-1: Assessing the status and challenges of good governance,
you may take the principles of good governance as your
assessment issues/ themes:
Transparency
Accountability
Rule of law
Fairness, etc.
• Definition
• Aspects
• Measurement, etc

20. Example-2: Assessing the effect of Integrated Housing Development
Program. Possible assessment themes:
Job creation
MSEs Promotion/integration
Access to housing
Slum improvement/improved living condition
Low-cost construction technology
Land use etc.

21. 3.4. Review of Related Empirical Studies
 In addition to theories, review of related empirical studies are
also very important to:
Identify relevant theories referred by those studies
Identify additional factors, variables and indicators
Pinpoint research gaps
Understand possible methodologies adopted
Learn from their data collection instruments
Compare ones findings (results) with their findings.

22. 3.5. Conceptual Framework
 Based on your review of theories and related empirical studies,
you must develop your conceptual framework. In this part, you
need to:
Operationally define the concepts, factors and variables you
used in your research.
The operational definitions would indicate the way the
concepts, factors, variables, indicators need to be understood
by the reader.
Why we select & specify the variables & indicators?
why not used all the variables indicated in the theory?

23.  This is because:
o The variables/indicators may be too many to handle (time and
cost wise)
o Data may not be available in your area for some of the
variables/indicators
o Some of the variables/indicators may not be appropriate, given
the operational definition of your concepts
Example-1: quality of education: how do you define and measure it
in your research?
o Quality of input? Process? Output (students/graduates)? How will
it be measured?

24. Example-2: effectiveness of commercial banks: given the various
variables, which one will you use to measure effectiveness in your
research?
o Profit? Customer satisfaction? employee satisfaction? Amount
of deposits? All of these or one (some)?
Why We Provide an Operational Definition?
It is because
 In the theory, the concepts may be defined based on
different perspectives. Given the objective of your study,
you may not address all perspectives.
 The conceptualizations may even be contradictory
philosophically.

25. How to Operationalize?
 This Can Be Done:
Borrow a definition of one author, or
Combine definitions of different authors, or
Provide your own definition.

26.  The conceptual framework can better be summarized using a
diagram. Example: Organizational effectiveness of Commercial
Banks.
Leadership
Employees
Resources &
facilities
Processes/systems
Organizational
effectiveness
Policies/strategies
NB: You must operationally
define each of these
determinant factors & specify
& define their variables and
indicators. Do the same for the
dependent variable (i.e.,
effectiveness)

27.  Dependent variable= Organizational effectiveness
Possible Indicators:
• Profit (in Birr)
• Deposits (in birr)
• Loan repayment or default rate (in %)
• Customer satisfaction (e.g., in %)
• Employee satisfaction (e.g., in %)
• Share holders’ satisfaction (e.g., in %)
 Determinant factors:
o leadership, policies/strategies, employees, resources and
facilities, processes/systems, etc,
o Could be operationalized as follows:

28. Factor Variables
(example)
Indicators
(examples)
Expected
relationship
Leadership General
Competence
Educational qualification Positive/direct
Leadership skills positive
Work experience in leadership positive
Leadership
style
Authoritative Negative/inverse
Democratic Positive
Leissez-faire Negative
Planning Availability of strategic &
operational plans with
resource allocation
Positive
Monitoring,
Evaluation &
Feedback
Adequacy (frequency) Positive
Quality (Relevance to plans) Positive

29. Factor Variables
(example)
Indicators (examples) Expected
relationship
Policies and
strategies
Credit policy • Availability
• Currency
• Clarity
• Quality/efficacy
Positive/direct
Deposit/withdrawal/
transfer policy
Foreign trade policy
Marketing strategy
Employee Number/quantity Vacant positions as % of
available positions in the
structure
Negative
Competence Educational qualification Positive
Occupational skills Positive
Work experience Positive
Motivation Self-rating (high,
medium, low)
Positive
Integrity Corrupt or fraudulent
practices
Negative

30. Factor Variables
(example)
Indicators
(examples)
Expected
relationship
Resources
& facilities
Working space • Availability
• Adequacy
•Quality/Functionality
Positive/direct
Office equipments
Furniture
ICT (LAN/WAN, ATM,
queue machine, etc)
Overall work environment Conduciveness Positive
Processes/
systems
• Core processes
• Support processes (HR,
finance, etc)
•Clarity
•Functionality/quality
Positive
Positive
Complaint Handling
System
• Existence
• Functionality
Positive
Customer satisfaction
survey system
• Existence
• Functionality
Positive
Reward system • Existence
• Functionality
• Efficacy
Positive