The Literature Review

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The Literature Review

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What is a Literature Review?

• According to Creswell (2005), a review of the
  literature is a written summary of journal
  articles, books and other documents that
  describes the past and current state of
  information, organizes the literature into topics
  and documents a need for a proposed study. (pp.
  79)

Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research
Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative
and Qualitative Research
3
Focusing on Empirical Research

• What does Empirical Mean?
• Primary Sources
• Original Research Article
• Secondary Sources
• Newspapers
• Book chapters
• Television/Radio
• Magazines
• Wikepedia

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Empirical Research

• All empirical research is inherently flawed
• Limitations
• Sampling
• Generalizability
• Representative
• Measurement
• Measurement Error
• Social Desirability
• Problem Identification
• Grasping the Whole Problem

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Literature Reviews

• Well-written analytical narrative that brings a
  reader up-to-date on what is known on a given
  topic, but also provide fresh insights that
  advance knowledge
• Resolve conflicts between studies
• Identify new ways to interpret research results
• Creating a path for future research

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Anecdotal Reports

• A description of an event or experience that
  happened to be noticed
• No control
• No comparison

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Review of Key Elements of Previous Definition

• The LR is a summary of research
• It is not a list of found research but a
  coherent and articulate account of past and
  current research findings
• Suggestion read 2 or 3 LRs in order to become
  familiar with summary styles

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Review of Key Elements of Previous Definition
(contd)

• The sources typically are journal articles, books
  and other documents that describe past and
  present status of research in a given field
• The LR should be exhaustive and as current as
  possible.
• How many articles?
• There is no set number. As long as the search is
  exhaustive and focused on the research topic, the
  review will be acceptable.

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Review of Key Elements of Previous Definition
(contd)

• How far back should one search?
• A reasonable and widely accepted timeframe
  includes research conducted during the past 10
  years. Important studies (i.e., studies that had
  a significant impact on the field of study)
  should also be mentioned even if these go beyond
  the mentioned timeframe.

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Review of Key Elements of Previous Definition
(contd)

• The LR should be organized
• The review should not only be coherent, but
  should organize the studies reviewed under themes
  or topics.
• The reviewer is a guide and should be able to
  provide readers with an in-depth and current
  status of research in a given area.
• This aspect is essential for readers to
  understand what the reviewer found during the
  search.

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Review of Key Elements of Previous Definition
(contd)

• The LR should document the need for a proposed
  study
• Studies should not duplicate research that has
  been already done.
• Even in cases when research is duplicated
  (replicated is the appropriate term), one is
  responsible for documenting the need for
  replication, e.g., need to explore the same
  methodology with a different group or population,
  or need to change methodology with the same group.

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Creswells 5 steps to Conduct a Literature Review

• Step 1 Identify Key Terms or Descriptors
• Extract key words from your title (remember, you
  may decide to change the title later)
• Use some of the words other authors reported in
  the literature

Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research
Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative
and Qualitative Research
13
Step 1 Identify Key Terms or Descriptors
(contd)

• Use the Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors to look
  for terms that match your topic go to
  www.eric.ed.gov and in Search select
  Descriptors (from Thesaurus)
• Scan both electronic and library journals from
  the past 10 years and look for key terms in the
  articles

Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research
Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative
and Qualitative Research
14
Creswells 5 steps to Conduct a Literature Review
(contd)

• Step 2 Locate Literature
• Use academic libraries, do not limit your search
  to an electronic search of articles
• Use primary and secondary sources. A primary
  source is research reported by the researcher
  that conducted the study. A secondary source is
  research that summarizes or reports findings that
  come from primary sources

Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research
Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative
and Qualitative Research
15
Step 2 Locate Literature (contd)

• It is best to report mostly primary sources (p.
  82)
• Search different types of literature summaries,
  encyclopedias, dictionaries and glossaries of
  terms, handbooks, statistical indexes, reviews
  and syntheses, books, journals, indexed
  publications, electronic sources, abstract
  series, and databases

Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research
Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative
and Qualitative Research
16
Creswells 5 steps to Conduct a Literature Review
(contd)

• Step 3 Critically Evaluate and Select Literature
• Rely on journal articles published in national
  journals
• Prioritize your search first look for refereed
  journal articles, then, non-refereed articles,
  then books, then conference papers, dissertations
  and theses and then papers posted to websites

Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research
Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative
and Qualitative Research
17
Step 3 Critically Evaluate and Select Literature
(contd)

• Look for research articles and avoid as much as
  possible opinion pieces
• Blend qualitative and quantitative research in
  your review

Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research
Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative
and Qualitative Research
18
Creswells 5 steps to Conduct a Literature Review
(contd)

• Step 4 Organize the Literature
• Create a file or abstract system to keep
  track of what you read. Each article you read
  should be summarized in one page containing
• Title (use APA to type the title so that you can
  later copy-paste this into the References section
  of your paper)
• Source journal article, book, glossary, etc.

Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research
Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative
and Qualitative Research
19
Step 4 Organize the Literature (contd)

• Research problem one or two lines will suffice
• Research Questions or Hypotheses
• Data collection procedure (a description of
  sample characteristics can be very handy as well)
• Results or findings of the study
• Sort these abstracts into groups of related
  topics or areas which can then become the
  different sections of your review

Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research
Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative
and Qualitative Research
20
Creswells 5 steps to Conduct a Literature Review
(contd)

• Step 5 Write a Literature Review
• Types of Reviews
• Thematic Review a theme is identified and
  studies found under this theme are described.
  Major ideas and findings are reported rather than
  details.

Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research
Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative
and Qualitative Research
21
Step 5 Write a Literature Review(contd)

• Study-by-study Review a detailed summary of each
  study under a broad theme is provided. Link
  summaries (or abstracts) using transitional
  sentences. Must be organized and flow coherently
  under various subheadings. Avoid string
  quotations (i.e., lengthy chunks of text directly
  quoted from a source)

Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research
Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative
and Qualitative Research
22
Preliminary Literature Review

• This succinct review of current literature
  should
• Provide further contextual background
• Reveal issues related to your study
• Describe similar problems in other organizations
• Provide significance to your approach to the
  study

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Guidelines on Style, Mechanics, and Language Usage

• Does your draft follow the logic or idea that is
  presented in your intro and title?
• Avoid overusing direct quotations, especially
  long ones
• Check style manual for correct use of citations
• (Doe, 2005) Doe (2005) (Doe Smith, 2005) Doe
  and Smith (2005) (Black, 2005 Brown, 2006
  Yellow, 2007)

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Guidelines on Style, Mechanics, and Language Usage

• Avoid using synonyms for recurring words
• This is not creative writing and stay consistent
  with terminology
• Group I, Phoenix Cohort, Experimental Group
• Spell out all acronyms when first using them
• Traditional - American Psychological Association
  (APA)
• Non-traditional - Collective Efficacy (CE)
• Yes - Do NOT use contractions No Dont use
  contractions
• Coined terms should be set off by quotes

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Guidelines on Style, Mechanics, and Language Usage

• Avoid the following
• Slang cool
• Colloquialisms thing gtgt item or feature
• Idioms rise to the pinnacle gtgt to become
  prominent
• Use great care to avoid Plagiarism

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Activity

• Please Read page 119-121, from the Galvan book.
  Then answer the following questions on page 9.
• Have the reviewers clearly identified the topic
  of review? Have they indicated its delimitations?
  Does it deal only with certain aspects of the
  problem
• Have the reviewers writing a cohesive essay that
  guides you thorough the literature from subtopics
  to subtopic? Explain.
• Have the reviewers interpreted and critique the
  literature, or have they merely summarized it?
• Overall, do you think the reviewers make an
  imporatnt contribution to knowledge through their
  synthesis of the literature? Explain.

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What needs to be included in the Literature
review.

• Provides contextual background
• Reveals related issues
• Reviews similar problems elsewhere
• Provides significance to your approach to the
  study
• Includes major/seminar research articles
  pertaining to study
• Written in an integrated manner
• Uses peer-reviewed research
• Includes a Reference section

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Writing Your Research Question(s)

• Reflect the problem that the researcher wants to
  investigate
• Can be formulated based on theories, past
  research, previous experience, or the practical
  need to make data-driven decisions in a work
  environment

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Writing Your Research Question(s) (contd)

• Are vitally important because they, in large
  part, dictate what type of statistical analysis
  is needed, as well as what type of research
  design may be employed
• A research question should address only 1 concept
• Question must be measurable

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Types of Questions Asked

• Once you have identified the topic of study, you
  will need to consider the type of question you
  want answered and how it will be answered
• Two paradigms
• Quantitative Paradigm
• Generally attempt to quantify variables of
  interest. Questions frequently address how well
  or how much.

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Types of Questions Asked

• Qualitative Paradigm
• there are times when we wish to know not how
  many or how well, but simply how. (Shulman,
  1988, pg. 7)

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Class Exercise

• Now youre ready to formulate your own research
  question(s)
• Sample questions
• Is there a relationship between participation in
  an Elluminate chat session and course grade?
• How do 5th grade students experience the
  anticipation of standardized testing?

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Research Questions

• From Topic to Research Question A good research
  topic asks a clear, concise question. Asking a
  research question helps you keep a tight focus on
  your topic.
• Tweaking Your Research Question
• A good research topic is broad enough to allow
  you to find plenty of material, but narrow enough
  to fit within the size and time constraints of
  your paper.
• If your topic is either too broad or too narrow,
  consider adding or eliminating the following
  elements
• Time Period, century, decade, future, Population
  Type, age, gender, nationality, species,
  Geographic Location country, state, region, Point
  of View economic, social, cultural, biological

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Assignment 2 Components (see syllabus for
details)

• Title Page
• Nature of the Problem
• Background and Significance of the Problem
• Literature Review
• Research Questions
• References