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Reviewing Literature: You Must Know

Written By Kanwal Jabeen on Thursday, January 12, 2023 | January 12, 2023

 


Check out the list below. Is this something you've seen before? It appears to be a step-by-step guide for conducting primary research, but it actually describes the stages of conducting a literature review.

1. Problem formulation
2. Data collection
3. Data evaluation
4. Analysis and interpretation
5. Public presentation

If there is one thing that should be understood about conducting and reporting a literature review, it is that the stages for conducting and reporting a literature review parallel the process of conducting primary research.

Stage Characteristics 

  • Research Questions Asked

Problem formation: 

 What evidence should be included in the review?

Data collection: 

What procedures should be used to find relevant evidence?

Data evaluation: 

What retrieved evidence should be included in the review?

Analysis and interpretation: 

What procedures should be used to make inferences about the literature as a whole? 

Public presentation: 

What information should be included in the review report?

  •  Primary Function In Review

Problem formation:

Constructing definitions that distinguish relevant from irrelevant studies.

Data collection:

Determining which sources of potentially relevant sources to examine.

Data evaluation:

Applying criteria to separate “valid” from “invalid” studies.

Analysis and interpretation:

Synthesizing valid retrieved studies.

Public presentation: 

Applying editorial criteria to separate important from unimportant information.

  • Procedural differences that create variation in the review conclusion

Problem formation:

1. Differences include operational definitions
2. Differences in operational detail.

Data collection:

Differences in the research contained in sources of information.

Data evaluation:

1. Differences in quality criteria
2. Differences in the influence of non-quality criteria

Analysis and interpretation:

Differences in the rules of inference.

Public presentation:

Differences in guidelines for editorial judgment.

  • Sources of potential invalidity in review conclusions

 Problem formation: 

  1.  Narrow concepts might make review conclusions less definitive and robust.
  2.  Superficial operational detail might obscure interacting variables.

Data collection:

  1. Accessed studies might be qualitatively different from the target population of studies.
  2.  People sampled in accessible studies might be different from the target population of people.

Data evaluation:

  1.  Nonequality factors might cause improper weighting of study formation.
  2.  Omissions in study reports might make conclusions unreliable.

Analysis and interpretation:

  1. Rules for distinguishing patterns from noise might be inappropriate.
  2.  Review-based evidence might be used to infer causality.

Public presentation:

  1.  Omission of review procedures might make conclusions irreproducible.
  2.  Omission of review findings and study procedures might make conclusions obsolete.


What one knows about conducting primary research applies to conducting secondary research with a few modifications (i.e., a literature review). The key components are (a) a rationale for conducting the review; (b) research questions or hypotheses that guide the research; (c) an explicit plan for data collection, including how units will be selected; (d) an explicit plan for data analysis; and (e) a plan for data presentation. Instead of human participants, the units in a literature review, for example, are the articles that are reviewed. Validity and reliability are the same issues that apply to both primary and secondary research. Furthermore, as with primary research, the stages may be iterative and not necessarily completed in the order listed.

The steps for conducting a literature review are as follows:


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