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CONDUCTING A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW:Write the Review

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Research Methods ­STA630
VU
Lesson 9
CONDUCTING A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW
Define and refine a topic
Prior to the review of literature have a good idea of the topic of your interest. Although, the new
thoughts emerging out of the review of literature may help in refocusing the topic, still the researcher
needs to have some clear research question that could guide him/her in the pursuit of relevant material.
Therefore begin a literature review with a clearly defined, well focused research question and a plan. A
good review topic should be as focused as a research question. For example "crime" as such may be too
broad a topic. A more focus may be a specific "type of crime" or "economic inequality and crime
rates." Often a researcher will not finalize a specific research question for a study until he or she has
reviewed the literature. The review helps bring greater focus to the research question.
Design a search
The researcher needs to decide on the type of review, its extensiveness and the types of material to
include. The key is to be careful, systematic, and organized. Set parameters on your search; how much
time you will devote to it, how far back in time you will look, the maximum number of research reports
you will examine, how many libraries you will visit, and so forth.
Also decide how to record the bibliographic citations for each reference. May be begin a file folder or
computer file in which you can place possible sources and ideas for new sources.
Locate research reports
Locating research reports depends on the type of report or "outlet" of research being searched. Use
multiple search strategies in order to counteract the limitations of single search method.
Articles in Scholarly Journals. Most social and behavioral research is likely published in scholarly
journals. These journals are thee vehicles of communication in science. There are dozens of journal,
many going back decades, each containing many articles. Locating the relevant articles is formidable
task.
Many academic fields have "abstracts" or "indexes" for the scholarly literature. Find them in reference
section of the library. (Many available on compute as well). Such indexes and abstracts are published
regularly.
Another resource for locating articles is the computerized literature search. Researchers organize
computerized searches in several ways ­ by author, by article title, by subject, or by keyword. A
keyword is an important term for a topic that is likely to be found in a title. You will want to use six to
eight keywords in most computer based searches and consider several synonyms.
Scholarly Books. Finding scholarly books on a subject can be difficult. The subject topics of a library
catalog systems are usually incomplete and too broad to be useful. A person has to be well conversant
with the library cataloging system.
Dissertations. A publication called Dissertation Abstract International lists most dissertations. It
organizes dissertations by broad subject category, author, and date.
Government Documents. The "government documents" sections of libraries contain specialized lists of
government documents.
Policy Reports and Presented Papers. The most difficult sources to locate are policy reports and
presented papers. They are listed in some bibliographies of published studies; some are listed in the
abstracts or indexes.
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Research Methods ­STA630
VU
What to Record
After you locate a source, you should write down all details of the reference (full names of the authors,
titles, volumes, issue, pages)
Write the Review
A literature review requires planning and good, clear writing, which requires lot of rewriting. Keep
your purposes in mind when you write, and communicate clearly and effectively.
To prepare a good review, read articles and other literature critically. Skepticism is the norm of science.
It means that you should not accept what is written simply on the basis of authority of its having been
published. Question what you read, and evaluate it.
Critically reading research reports requires skills and take time and practice to develop. When reading
an article, read carefully to see whether the introduction and title really fit with the rest of the article.
Sometimes, titles, abstracts, or the introduction are misleading. They may not fully explain the research
project's method and results.
The most critical areas of an article to read are the methods and results sections. Few studies are
perfect. Researchers do not always describe the methods they used as fully as they should. Some times
the results presented in tables or charts do not match what the researcher says. Some points may be over
emphasized and others ignored. Check the conclusions, theses may not be consistent with the results.
What does a good review look like?
The author should communicate a review's purpose to the reader by its organization. The wrong way to
write a review is to list a series of research reports with a summary of the findings of each. This fails to
communicate a sense of purpose. It reads as a set of notes strung together. Perhaps the reviewer got
sloppy and skipped over the important organizing step in writing the review.
The right way to write a review is to organize common findings or arguments together. A well accepted
approach is to address the most important ideas first, to logically link statements or findings, and to note
discrepancies or weaknesses in the present.
The writing process
Your audience:
Professional writers say: Always know for whom are you writing. This is because communication is
more effective when it is tailored to a specific audience. You should write research report differently
depending on whether thee primary audience is the instructor, students, professional colleagues,
practitioners, or the general public. It goes without saying that the writing should be clear, accurate, and
organized.
Instructors assign reports for different reasons and may place requirements on how it is written. In
general, instructors want to see writing an organization that reflect clear, logical thinking. Student
reports should demonstrate a solid grasp of substantive and methodological concepts. A good way to do
this is to use technical terms explicitly when appropriate: they should not be use excessively and
incorrectly.
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Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION, DEFINITION & VALUE OF RESEARCH
  2. SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF RESEARCH & ITS SPECIAL FEATURES
  3. CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH:Goals of Exploratory Research
  4. THEORY AND RESEARCH:Concepts, Propositions, Role of Theory
  5. CONCEPTS:Concepts are an Abstraction of Reality, Sources of Concepts
  6. VARIABLES AND TYPES OF VARIABLES:Moderating Variables
  7. HYPOTHESIS TESTING & CHARACTERISTICS:Correlational hypotheses
  8. REVIEW OF LITERATURE:Where to find the Research Literature
  9. CONDUCTING A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW:Write the Review
  10. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:Make an inventory of variables
  11. PROBLEM DEFINITION AND RESEARCH PROPOSAL:Problem Definition
  12. THE RESEARCH PROCESS:Broad Problem Area, Theoretical Framework
  13. ETHICAL ISSUES IN RESEARCH:Ethical Treatment of Participants
  14. ETHICAL ISSUES IN RESEARCH (Cont):Debriefing, Rights to Privacy
  15. MEASUREMENT OF CONCEPTS:Conceptualization
  16. MEASUREMENT OF CONCEPTS (CONTINUED):Operationalization
  17. MEASUREMENT OF CONCEPTS (CONTINUED):Scales and Indexes
  18. CRITERIA FOR GOOD MEASUREMENT:Convergent Validity
  19. RESEARCH DESIGN:Purpose of the Study, Steps in Conducting a Survey
  20. SURVEY RESEARCH:CHOOSING A COMMUNICATION MEDIA
  21. INTERCEPT INTERVIEWS IN MALLS AND OTHER HIGH-TRAFFIC AREAS
  22. SELF ADMINISTERED QUESTIONNAIRES (CONTINUED):Interesting Questions
  23. TOOLS FOR DATA COLLECTION:Guidelines for Questionnaire Design
  24. PILOT TESTING OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE:Discovering errors in the instrument
  25. INTERVIEWING:The Role of the Interviewer, Terminating the Interview
  26. SAMPLE AND SAMPLING TERMINOLOGY:Saves Cost, Labor, and Time
  27. PROBABILITY AND NON-PROBABILITY SAMPLING:Convenience Sampling
  28. TYPES OF PROBABILITY SAMPLING:Systematic Random Sample
  29. DATA ANALYSIS:Information, Editing, Editing for Consistency
  30. DATA TRANSFROMATION:Indexes and Scales, Scoring and Score Index
  31. DATA PRESENTATION:Bivariate Tables, Constructing Percentage Tables
  32. THE PARTS OF THE TABLE:Reading a percentage Table
  33. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH:The Language of Experiments
  34. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH (Cont.):True Experimental Designs
  35. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH (Cont.):Validity in Experiments
  36. NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH:Recording and Documentation
  37. USE OF SECONDARY DATA:Advantages, Disadvantages, Secondary Survey Data
  38. OBSERVATION STUDIES/FIELD RESEARCH:Logic of Field Research
  39. OBSERVATION STUDIES (Contd.):Ethical Dilemmas of Field research
  40. HISTORICAL COMPARATIVE RESEARCH:Similarities to Field Research
  41. HISTORICAL-COMPARATIVE RESEARCH (Contd.):Locating Evidence
  42. FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION:The Purpose of FGD, Formal Focus Groups
  43. FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION (Contd.):Uses of Focus Group Discussions
  44. REPORT WRITING:Conclusions and recommendations, Appended Parts
  45. REFERENCING:Book by a single author, Edited book, Doctoral Dissertation