2. Chapter 3: The Review of Literature
Learning Outcomes
Understand the importance of a literature review.
Know the need for the literature review.
Learn how to conduct the literature review.
Know different sources of literature.
Know different types of literature reviews.
Use different searching tools for literature.
Find the citations of the research work.
Write the literature review section of your research
study
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 2
3. The Literature Review
The research study cannot be done in isolation
without knowing the findings of other researchers.
For this, the literature review is done by the
researchers.
The literature refers to the collection of scholarly
writings on a topic. The literature review provides
an insight into the work of others and extends our
knowledge in that research area.
Thus, the purpose of the literature review is to
provide an understanding of previous researches
and the strengths and weaknesses of earlier
research studies in that area.
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 3
4. The Literature Review Cont’d
A literature review for quantitative research mainly
surveys the scholarly research articles, books,
dissertations or thesis, papers in conference
papers, discussion papers, monographs, and other
published or unpublished materials relevant to
researchers' study.
The literature review is conducted for a:
research idea
research proposal
research paper
thesis or dissertation
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 4
5. Need for the Literature Review
Provides a foundation of knowledge on the topic.
Determines if the proposed research is needed.
Identifies the gaps in research in previous studies.
Identifies the conflicting and ambiguous results of previous studies
Helps the researcher to narrow down a problem.
Provides knowledge about methodologies/designs of past studies.
Helps the researcher to form the research questions.
Helps the researcher to formulates testable hypotheses.
Provide key sources and authors.
Helps the researcher to know directions for further research suggested
by the previous researchers.
Helps the researcher to know-how is the knowledge on the topic is
organized.
Helps the researcher to set the context of the research topic.
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 5
6. Guidelines for the Literature Reviews
The review of the literature provides the basic foundations of the
research study. The literature review should be continued almost
to the writing up stage.
To conduct a literature review, first, we need to focus on major
works (pioneer work) in that area.
Then, we look at the studies that are based on major works in
that research area.
Finally, we review the new major works in that research area.
It should be noted that the literature review is not a book report,
nor is a list of papers with a summary of their contents.
For a useful literature review, a systematic or critical evaluation
by the researcher is required. The review should be conducted in
a way to explain how key ideas relate together and relate to the
research area.
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8. Sources of Literature
Primary Literature
The primary literature includes all those literature that are
original. These are the first occurrence of a piece of work.
The classification of primary literature varies by discipline.
Examples of primary literature include original documents
such as diaries, speeches, unpublished manuscripts, letters,
reports, scholarly research papers/articles published in
journals, articles/papers in conference proceedings,
discussion papers, dissertations or theses.
Creative work such as poetry, music, video, photography is
also primary literature. Primary literature does not explain
the basic concepts or terminologies or theoretical
principals in detail.
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 8
9. Papers Published in Journals
Journals are also known as periodicals, and the serials, are
published regularly. These journals are published weekly,
monthly, quarterly, or bi-annually basis and are available in
printed form or online on the internet.
The research journals are vital literature sources for any research,
that mainly publish research papers and book reviews.
The credibility of a journal is assessed by its indexing and impact
factor.
Research papers are the first published record of the findings of
the research. They are peer-reviewed and published in research
journals. Peer review means that the work is published after
evaluation by anonymous experts. The work is a double-blind
peer review if it is reviewed by two anonymous experts in the
same field.
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 9
10. Papers Presented in Conferences, Workshops,
and Symposiums
The papers presented in some national, regional, or
international conferences, workshops or symposiums and
published in proceedings are also classified as primary literature.
These papers vary in length and quality. Sometimes they are
peer-reviewed and sometimes not.
Such papers are presented to get comments of the discussants
and other audience.
In some cases, their results are preliminary, and after
modification, it appears later in the form of a research paper in
some academic journals.
These papers often contain the most up-to-date information and
developments in research; that is why it is also considered
relevant literature.
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11. Dissertations/Theses
Dissertations or theses are in-depth research on a
particular topic by graduate and postgraduate
students and appear as M.Phil./Ph.D. dissertation
or thesis.
Most of the dissertations/theses are unpublished
and kept in the library of that institute; therefore,
it is difficult to access them.
These dissertations/theses are examined by
relevant research supervisor(s) and other external
referees.
Because dissertations report on original research,
they can be a valuable source of information.
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 11
12. Reports
The reports include the documented reports
submitted to any government or private
organization. These reports are funded by such
organizations and sometimes are confidential.
These reports are sometimes available on the
website of such organizations that fund them.
Some literature is not published, or if published,
then it has limited distribution, and it will be
difficult to obtain such publications. Such kinds of
literature are called grey literature.
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13. Reports (cont’d)
The research released by non-commercial
publishers, such as government agencies, policy
organizations, and think-tanks, is sometimes
called grey literature.
Many organizational publications (such as working
papers, technical papers, project reports) are good-
quality sources as they go through rigorous internal
scrutiny and review before publication.
If literature is classified as grey literature, it does
not mean that the publication has little scientific
merit. Some types of grey literature are rigorously
peer-reviewed and counted as primary literature.
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 13
14. Monographs
It is a detailed written document on a single
specialized topic.
The monographs are written for a specific audience
such as experts in the field, students,
academicians, or researchers.
Some research organizations or university presses
publish monographs. In the case of journal articles
and conference papers, the authors do not get any
royalty, but for a monograph, the author may get a
royalty.
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15. Secondary Literature
A secondary literature source summarizes or discusses
the details of the research initially available in primary
sources.
This literature is mainly for a broad audience and
includes explaining the basic concepts and terms, the
explanation of theories, and the summaries of the major
studies.
The researchers mainly used the secondary literature
source to identify the primary literature.
These sources include literature review articles (survey
articles), books, magazine articles, newspaper articles,
book reviews, and commentaries. The researcher mostly
relies less on such sources for their research studies.
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16. Books
Books or manuscripts are written for a specific audience.
Books present concepts and theories and adequately
explain them.
Books are excellent sources for a review of theoretical
literature.
Although they are not likely to contain any of the most
recently published research, they cover a wider field than
any single research paper.
The books can be located from the Online Public Access
Catalogue (OPAC) of a library. In the past, books were in
hard copy form, but now they are also available in soft copy
in the form of eBooks. Digital libraries provide access to
eBooks.
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17. Newspapers Articles
A newspaper is a periodical publication and usually covers a wide
variety of fields such as politics, business, sports, and arts.
They also include opinion columns and articles related to
business and economics and are considered the latest
information on a particular event.
They also provide regular and current data on stock prices, gold
prices, and weather.
The researchers need to be careful about the newspapers'
information as it may contain biased information. Reporting can
also be inaccurate as sometimes they publish amendments later
on.
There are also trade publications that are geared towards
professionals in a discipline. These publications report news and
trends in a field, but not original research.
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18. Tertiary Literature
The materials concerning primary or secondary
literature are summarized in the tertiary
literature. Examples of tertiary literature are:
textbooks(sometimes considered secondary
literature),
dictionaries,
encyclopedias, and
handbooks.
These sources are not cited in academic
research; instead, they are used as an aid to the
primary or secondary literature.
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19. Types of Literature Review
Critical Review
A critical review aims to demonstrate that the
researcher has extensively researched the literature
and critically evaluated its quality.
This type of literature review goes beyond a mere
description of research papers.
It provides a critical evaluation and interpretive
analysis of existing literature on a particular topic of
interest to reveal strengths, weaknesses,
contradictions, and controversies concerning theories,
hypotheses, research methods, or results and
implications.
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 19
20. Types of Literature Review
Systematic review
It attempts to aggregate in a single source all empirical
evidence that meets a set of previously specified eligibility
criteria to answer a research question on a particular topic.
In many systematic reviews, the researcher statistically
combines quantitative studies' results to provide a more
precise effect of the results, which is called Meta-analysis.
In a meta-analysis, all included studies in the literature
review should be sufficiently similar. By statistically
combining data from multiple studies, the meta-analyses
can create more precise and reliable estimates.
Meta-analyses are regarded as powerful tools for deriving
meaningful conclusions if included studies are
homogeneous.
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 20
21. Types of Literature Review
Mapping Review
The mapping or descriptive review map out and
categorize existing literature on a particular topic.
In this type of review, the researcher extracts
specific characteristics of interest, research
methods, data collection techniques, research
outcomes, interpretation, and implication of
results.
It identifies the gaps in research studies from
which we will know the need for further primary
research.
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22. Search Tools for Researchers
The search tools are useful in locating primary and
secondary literature.
An important point related to the literature review is that
all kinds of literature are not eligible for inclusion in the
literature review.
The literature which is closely related to the research study
qualifies for inclusion.
When there is a need to search for the related literature,
selecting a set of keywords is necessary. It will help to
reach the relevant literature. Boolean operators (such as
AND, OR, NOT or AND NOT) can be used as conjunctions
to combine or exclude keywords in a search.
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 22
23. Search Tools for Researchers
The majority of the sources of literature are
available online.
The author can access the research materials
through the home page of the provider.
The home page has multiple linked pages and
hypertext links to other websites.
As a first step, the researcher should search their
research materials on the internet using a search
engine such as yahoo or google.
Then, subscription-based bibliographic
databases can be used to search the relevant
research materials.
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24. Guidelines for Writing the Literature Review
After reviewing the relevant literature, a researcher
must put together and sum-up that literature
review.
Some guidelines for writing a literature review are
summarized below.
Select only the most important points in each
source to highlight in the review.
Short quotes can be used if what an author stated
cannot be easily paraphrased.
Keep your voice in the review, by starting and
ending the paragraph with your ideas and wording.
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 24
25. Guidelines for Writing the Literature Review
Develop efficient time management and note-
taking skills to complete your review on time.
Make a preliminary list of literature that is relevant
to your research topic. The abstract/summary of
the study can be helpful to identify the relevant
literature.
Not every reference is relevant to your research
problem. Keep what is relevant and ignore what is
irrelevant.
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 25
26. Research Activity-1
Find out the following paper and answer the questions given
below.
Waheed, A. (2012). Effects of Policy Uncertainty on
Nominal Rupee-Dollar Exchange Rate in
Pakistan. International Journal of Trade, Economics,
and Finance, 3 (6), 428-431.
Identify the type of literature that is focused on describing
the problem.
What is the sample of the study and from where the
secondary data were obtained?
Describe how data were analyzed?
Discuss the policy implications of the study.
What directions are set for future research?
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 26
27. Research Activity-2
Collect the following papers and write the Review of
Literature section for a paper, the "Determinants of
External Debt.“
1. Waheed, A. (2017). Determinants of External
Debt: A Panel Data Analysis for Oil & Gas
Exporting and Importing Countries. International
Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 7(1),
234-240.
2. Waheed, A. (2016). Sustainability of Public
Debt: Empirical Analysis for Bahrain. Journal of
Internet Banking and Commerce, 21(2), 1-15.
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 27
28. Research Activity-2 (cont’d)
3. Waheed, A. (2016). Effects of Macroeconomic and
Uncertainty Factors on External Debt: Empirical
Analysis for Bahrain. Journal of Economics and
Economic Education Research, 17(1), 76-88.
4. Waheed, A. (2005). The Behavior of Public External
Debt in Pakistan: A Financial Macroeconomic
Analysis. Forum of International Development Studies,
28, 201-228.
5. Waheed, A. (2003). Risk Analysis on External
Indebtedness of Pakistan. Journal of Economic
Cooperation among Islamic Countries(renamed
as Journal of Economic Cooperation and Development),
24 (2), 113-136.
Quantitative Research Methods by Abdul Waheed 28
