Lit Review versus Introduction: Whats the difference

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Lit Review versus Introduction Whats the
difference?

• Literature Review
• Im going to tell you what is known about X
• Familiarization process
• Answers a set of questions
• Discusses publications of relevant studies
• Introduction/Background
• Im going to tell you what is known about X (and
  Y), which leaves this obvious question.
• Sets up your studys guiding questions and
  hypotheses
• Refers to previous studies with only necessary
  review
• A lit review has to happen at some level before
  the introor the studycan proceed.

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The Introduction Section of your paper

• See 1.08, pages 1517, in the APA Manual
• Background
• Research Problem
• Briefly, how the problem is solved
• Evokes interest in the reader

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Reader should be able to find out

• Your research problem
• Background and context of the problem
• Why the problem is important
• What are the gaps in the body of knowledge about
  this phenomenon?
• Your approach to addressing the gap(s).

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In the HOURGLASS model, the Intro is the top half

• Begin broadly
• Why this area is important in the big picture
• Establish your territory
• Narrow to your research question using previous
  studies
• Indicate gaps in knowledge
• Establish your niche
• End with narrow focus of YOUR research question,
  approach to answering it, and hypotheses.
• Occupy your niche

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Generating hypotheses

• Problem
• Question that begins with WHY rather than CAN or
  DOES.
• Not merely a statement of an observation
• Often arises from your observation of gaps in the
  research literature
• General Hypothesis
• Arises from the Because . . . answer to the
  problem question
• Predict results
• If (the hypothesis is true). . . , then . . .
• Can you test this empirically?
• Generates the more specific hypotheses naming the
  variables.

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Lit Review Introduction

• Identifies the general phenomenon and its
  importance
• What concepts and terms does one need to know in
  order to understand the study?
• What do we know and what dont we know about this
  phenomenon?
• Your study and hypothesis(es).

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Identifies the general phenomenon and its
importance

• Memory for the number of times that an event has
  been experienced is often remarkably good. This
  is true whether the event to be remembered has
  been experienced in a particular situation, for
  example, as part of a laboratory experiment, or
  whether the event is one that an individual has
  experienced in many different situations as part
  of a lifetime of experiences (Zechmeister
  Nyberg, 1982). This sensitivity to event
  frequency is assumed to play a role in many kinds
  of cognitive decisions. For example, frequency
  information is relevant when discriminating
  between old and new events as part of a
  recognition memory task (Underwood, 1971) and
  when assessing degrees of uncertainty about the
  truth or validity of statements (Hasher et al.,
  1977).

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What concepts and terms does one need to know in
order to understand the study?

• Define key concepts relevant to stating
  hypotheses
• Define basic concepts
• Its the basic concepts that have the most
  controversial definitions, e.g., intelligence,
  automatic encoding, normal
• Hasher and Zacks (1979) have suggested that
  frequency information is encoded automatically.
  Automatic processes, in their view, are those
  that are completed without effort, are not
  affected by intention to learn, and are
  developmentally quite stable.

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What do we know and what dont we know about this
phenomenon?

• Cite existing theories.
• Use the literature to answer this question.
• Hasher and Zacks (1979) have provided empirical
  support for this theory of automatic encoding of
  frequency information. In one experiment, these
  investigators presented a list of 48 words to
  students in the second, fourth and sixth grades,
  and to college students. The critical words were
  presented zero to four times. Half of the
  students at each grade level were warned that a
  frequency judgment test would be forthcoming the
  other half were not told that memory for
  frequency would be tested. Results revealed that
  students at all levels judged frequency
  relatively accurately, that this ability did not
  differ across grade levels, and that students
  forewarned about a frequency did not do better
  than those not forewarned.

Summary/ Interpretation Method Results
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What do we know and what dont we know about this
phenomenon?

• When many studies contribute to the big picture
• Research has shown that early childhood
  maltreatment negatively impacts upon an
  individuals capacity to form and maintain
  healthy interpersonal relationships (Coleman
  Widom, 2004). In previous research, maltreated
  children were more aggressive than their
  nonmaltreated peers (Bolger, Patterson,
  Kupersmidt, 1998 Hasket Kister, 1991 Mueller
  Silverman, 1989 Salzinger, Feldman, Hammer,
  Rosario, 1993) and often avoid or withdraw from
  social interactions (Haskett et al., 1992).
  Examinations of interpersonal relationships
  indicate that maltreated children are less
  popular with their peers and are less likely to
  have their self-reported friendships reciprocated
  by classmates (Bolger et al., 1998 Sheilds,
  Ryan, Cicchetti, 2001). Children with abuse
  histories also report less satisfaction when
  describing their relationships with their best
  friends (Lynch Cicchetti, 1991). Until
  recently, whether these relational difficulties
  followed abuse victims into adulthood was not
  known.
• Now available evidence suggests that adults who
  experienced childhood sexual abuse continue to
  experience relationship problems into adulthood
  (Coleman Widom, 2004). Women who report a
  history of childhood sexual abuse have been found
  to be more likely than controls to report feeling
  socially isolated (Harter, Alexander, Neimeyer,
  1988). Some studies have reported a significant .
  . .

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What do we know and what dont we know about this
phenomenon?

• Identify gaps in the literature and how your
  study fills a gap
• Studies investigating memory for event frequency
  have generally examined retention of verbal
  stimuli, such as words, parts of words, or
  pictorial stimuli. Nevertheless, automatic
  encoding of frequency information is assumed to
  extend potentially to all stimuli, whether
  meaningful or not. In the present experiment, the
  generality of automatic encoding of frequency was
  tested by examining memory for frequency of
  hearing popular songs.

Gap identified Gap filled
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Your study and hypothesis(es).

• Given the theories and studies youve cited, what
  are your predictions and how will you test them?
• Your introduction should conclude with a clear
  indication of your hypotheses.
• In the present experiment, the generality of
  automatic encoding of frequency was tested by
  examining memory for frequency of hearing popular
  songs. College students listened to a lengthy
  series of brief excerpts from popular songs that
  were presented zero to four times. After
  listening to the presentation series, all
  students were asked to judge the number of times
  that different songs had been heard. Half of the
  students were informed that a frequency test
  would be administered half were not informed. If
  frequency of hearing popular songs is encoded
  automatically then students estimates of
  situational frequency should correspond closely
  to actual frequency of occurrence and should not
  differ between students told that a frequency
  test would be given and those not told.

How will you test them? Hypothesis
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Hourglass model

• Moves from general to specific
• General phenomenon and its importance
• More specific aspects discussed with research lit
• Even more specific when referring to your
  experiment
• Moves from conceptual to operational
• Begin discussion of construct (concept), e.g.,
  memory
• When discussing past research, indicate how the
  construct was implemented, measured,
  operationalized
• Smith and Jones (1999) tested memory by
  measuring performance on a free recall and a cued
  recall test
• By the time you are addressing your experiment,
  the reader should be familiar how your
  operational terms are related to the
  concepts/constructs you are examining.
• The hypotheses should be stated in operational
  terms.