Literature Review PDF

LITERATURE REVIEW © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius INTRODUCTION Keep in mind that today’s le...

LITERATURE REVIEW © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius INTRODUCTION Keep in mind that today’s lecture will be more in terms of the do’s and don’ts of literature review. 2 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius WHAT IS LITERATURE REVIEW? Literature review can be considered as an ‘interpretation and synthesis of published work’ Interpretation Published Active review your own Demonstrate to your reader interpretation of material that you are critically to present your rationale examining your sources with a so that your reader can critical approach, and not just follow your thinking believing them automatically Synthesis ✓ refers to the bringing together of various pieces of material from different sources, and the creation of an integrated whole ✓ building interpretation upon interpretation ✓ Flow of ideas ✓ sufficient supporting evidence. 3 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius What you need to demonstrate? DEFINITION OF Understanding, interpretation, analysis, clarity of thought, synthesis, and development of argument. LITERATURE REVIEW Practical Tips Demonstrate up-to-date awareness of the relevant work of others, and that the research question you are asking is relevant DON’T PROMISE TOO MUCH!!! A literature review is a description of the literature relevant to a More realistic to say that your research will ‘address a gap’, particular field or topic. It gives an rather than that it will ‘fill a gap’. overview of what has been said, who Remember: A research gap is similar to the missing piece or the key writers are, what are the pieces in the research literature, it is that area that has not yet prevailing theories and hypotheses, been explored or is under-explored. This could be a population what questions are being asked, and or sample (size, type, location, etc.), research method, data what methods and methodologies are collection and/or analysis, or other research variables or appropriate and useful. conditions. E.g. online games for a particular sample. 4 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius Narrative literature Critiques, summarize, draw conclusion and identify gaps review Meta-analysis (findings from several studies on the same subject using standardized Systematic literature statistical procedures) and Meta-synthesis (integrates, evaluates and interprets findings review of multiple qualitative research studies using non-statistical techniques) Argumentative Examines literature selectively in order to support or refute an argument literature review Integrative literature Critiques, and synthesizes secondary data about research topic in an integrated way review Theoretical literature Focuses on a pool of theory that has accumulated in regard to an issue, concept, review theory, phenomena. TYPES OF LITERATURE REVIEW 5 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius WHY DO YOU NEED A Significance of your research to be LITERATURE REVIEW? judged in relation to other people’s People reading your dissertation will research and their findings want to be persuaded that your research is relevant and that it was worth doing. Map and assess the existing intellectual territory’ They will ask questions such as: establishing what research has What research question(s) are you been published in your chosen asking? area or is on-going Why are you asking it/them? Has anyone else done anything Critical Literature review will: similar? Provide the foundation on which Is your research relevant to your research is built research/practice/theory in your field? Ensure that you have a thorough What is already known or theoretical background understood about this topic? Ensure that the most relevant and significant research has been How might your research add to reviewed this understanding, or challenge Ensure not repeating what has existing theories and beliefs? already been done 6 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius  PURPOSE OF ❖ To refine further research questions and objectives; LITERATURE REVIEW ❖ To establish the context and rationale (Allows you to build on the work of others; It is impossible to review every Stand on the shoulders of giants so as to gain insight into the topic; Know about single piece of the literature all relevant concepts and theories associated with your chosen topic) before collecting data. ❖ To highlight research possibilities that have been overlooked implicitly in The purpose of literature review research to date is not to provide a summary of everything that has been written ❖ Establish what is already known on your topic ; What are the knowledge gaps? on the research topic in question, ❖ To prevent you from reproducing what is already known and develop your own but to review the most relevant and significant research on the ideas topic. ❖ To discover and provide an insight into research approaches, strategies and techniques that may be appropriate to the research question and objectives. ❖ To discover explicit recommendations for further research. 7 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius  Conducting a thorough and scholarly review of the literature Synthesizing involves comparing, involves eight basic steps contrasting, and merging disparate pieces of information into one 1. Identify keywords or descriptors. coherent whole that provides a new perspective. 2. Create a search query. ✓ Identify relationships among studies 3. Identify relevant literature ✓ Compare and contrast the works, ideas, sources. theories, or concepts ✓ Comment on the major themes and 4. Search the literature and collect Online Journal Databases e.g., patterns relevant materials. ✓ Show evidence of common results using ▪ Scopus data from multiple sources 5. Critically read and analyse the ▪ Emerald insight ✓ Explain a conflict or contradiction ▪ JSTOR literature. among different sources ▪ Ebsco ▪ Science Direct ✓ Identify gaps in the literature 6. Synthesize the literature. ▪ Directory of Open Access Journals ✓ Note inconsistencies across studies over 7. Organize the literature. (DOAJ) time ✓ Make generalizations across studies 8. Write the literature review. 8 PRACTICAL TIP: 5 critical questions to employ The most characteristic CHECKLIST FOR in critical reading. features of critical reading CRITICAL READING 1. Why am I reading this? Examine the evidence or ✓ Previewing arguments presented; 2. What is the author trying to do ✓ Annotating in writing this? Check out any influences on the ✓ Summarising evidence or arguments; 3. What is the writer saying that ✓ Comparing and Contrasting. is relevant to what I want to Check out the limitations of study find out? design or focus; Skills for critical reading: 4. How convincing is what the Examine the interpretations made; ✓ the capacity to evaluate what author is saying? and you read and 5. What use can I make of the Decide to what extent you are ✓ the capacity to relate what you reading? prepared to accept the authors’ read to other information arguments, opinions, or © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius conclusions.  ❖ Throw away the highlighter in favour of a PRACTICAL pen or pencil. Highlighting - can lull you into ADVICE ON a dangerous passivity. HOW TO READ ❖ Mark up the margins of your text with words: IN A ‘THINKING- ideas, inspirations, related issues connect INTENSIVE’ with your research questions and objectives - WAY useful memory triggers. ❖ Develop your own symbol system: e.g. asterisk a key idea, or use an exclamation point – helpful at a later stage ❖ Get in the habit of hearing yourself ask questions – ‘what does this mean?’ 10 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius  What is critical writing? What is descriptive writing? A clear and confident refusal to accept the Descriptive writing will describe something, but will not go conclusions of other writers without evaluating the beyond an account of what appears to be there. Relatively simple. arguments and evidence that they provide ▪ the setting of the research; A balanced presentation of reasons why the ▪ a general description of a piece of literature, or art; conclusions of other writers may be accepted or may need to be treated with caution ▪ the list of measurements taken; A clear presentation of your own evidence and ▪ the timing of the research; argument, leading to your conclusion; and a ▪ an account of the biographical details of a key figure in the recognition of the limitations in your own discipline; or evidence, argument, and conclusion. ▪ a brief summary of the history leading up to an event or decision. 11 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius  Descriptive versus With critical writing you are participating in the academic debate. This is more challenging and riskier. Higher Skills – Critical writing higher marking In descriptive writing, you are merely setting the TIPS: background within which an argument can be Consider the quality of the evidence and argument you developed. have read; Trap that it can be easy to use many words from Identify key positive and negative aspects you can your word limit, simply providing description. comment upon; An assignment using only Assess their relevance and usefulness to the debate that descriptive writing would therefore gain few marks you are engaging in for your assignment; and Identify how best they can be woven into the argument that you are developing. © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius  FINDING YOUR ACADEMIC VOICE Distinguishing between the academic and the non-academic voice: Healthy scepticism … but not cynicism Confidence … but not ‘cockiness’ or arrogance Judgement which is critical … but not dismissive Opinions … without being opinionated Careful evaluation of published work … not serial shooting at random targets Being ‘fair’: assessing fairly the strengths and weaknesses of other people’s ideas and writing … without prejudice Making judgements on the basis of considerable thought and all the available evidence as opposed to assertions without reason.” © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius 13 Stringing together of quotes ※ Tempting to string together quotes to support an argument ※ Thinking that the more quotes you include, the stronger your argument BUT REMEMBER ✓ Also need to interpret the quotes to the reader ✓ To explain their relevance ✓ Discuss their validity ✓ Show how they relate to other evidence. 14 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius STRATEGIC USE OF PARAGRAPHS Use paragraphs to make a clear and visual separation between descriptive Remember writing and critical analysis, by switching to a new paragraph The aim is to lead your A paragraph break can provide a brief pause for your readers within a readers carefully through the longer argument; giving them the opportunity to make sure they are thread of your argument, keeping up with your reasoning to a well-supported Over lengthy paragraph can confuse your reading audience, since they have conclusion. It is pretty much to re-read the material until they can identify the point you are making. like a story telling. There should be a flow in your Within each paragraph you would: narrative, a flow in your introduce the point you want to make (one main idea per paragraph); ideas and arguments, make the point, with supporting evidence; basically a flow in your reflect critically on the point. writing. 15 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius WHAT IS REALLY MEANT BY BEING ‘CRITICAL’ ABOUT THE CONTENT There are four aspects of a critical approach that should be fostered by management education: critique of rhetoric; critique of tradition; critique of authority; critique of objectivity. The first of these, the ‘critique of rhetoric’, means appraising or evaluating a problem with effective use of language. In the context of your critical literature review, this emphasises the need for you, as the reviewer, to use your skills both of making reasoned judgements and of arguing effectively in writing. The other three aspects have implications for being critical when reading and writing about the work of others. This includes you questioning, where justification exists to do so, the conventional wisdom, the ‘critique of tradition’ and the dominant view portrayed in the literature you are reading, the ‘critique of authority’. Finally, it is likely also to include recognising in your review that the knowledge and information you are discussing are not value free, the ‘critique of objectivity’. © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius CHECKLIST FOR AN OVERALL REVIEW OF YOUR WRITING The kinds of questions that might be useful to ask at that stage are: 1. What is the balance between descriptive and critical writing? A useful way to check this balance in your own writing is to use two coloured pens and to mark in the margin whether the lines are descriptive or critical. 2. Why should the reader be convinced by what I’ve just written? A critical read through your own writing may reveal gaps in your logic, which you can rectify before you submit it for the critique of others. 3. Is my conclusion trailed and supported sufficiently well by my preceding analysis and argument? Check out the conclusions that you have drawn, then locate and check the supporting evidence you provide earlier on. It is also a way of checking that, when your reader comes to the end of your writing, the conclusions make sense, rather than being a surprise, or an unconvincing leap of logic. 4. Have I included any unsubstantiated statements? There are three main ways of dealing with generalized sweeping statements: present the evidence to support the statement re-phrase the statement to sound more cautious e.g.: ‘it could be argued …’ or ‘this suggests that …’ remove the statement © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius Structure of Literature review 1. Start at a more general level before narrowing down to your specific research question(s) and objectives Although there is no single structure that your critical review should take, students have found it useful to think of the review as a funnel 2. Provide a brief overview of key ideas and themes; 3. Summarise, compare and contrast the research of the key writers 4. Narrow down to highlight previous research work most relevant to your 5. Provide a detailed account of own research; the findings of this research and show how they are related 6. highlight those aspects where your own research will provide fresh insights 7. Lead the reader into subsequent sections of your project report, which explore these issues. © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius Some writers argue that, in order to improve the transparency of your review process, you should explain precisely how you searched for selected the literature you have included in your review, outlining your choice of key words and of databases use. In considering the content of your critical review, you will therefore need: to include the key academic theories within your chosen area of research; to demonstrate that your knowledge of your chosen area is up to date; through clear referencing, enable those reading your project report to find the original publications which you cite. © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius Examples of ways you might structure your literature review are: Chronologically; although be careful not just to list items; you need to write critically, not just descriptively; By theme; this is useful if there are several strands within your topic that can logically be considered separately before being brought together; By sector e.g.: political background, practice background, methodological background, geographical background, literary background; By development of ideas; this could be useful if there are identifiable stages of idea development that can be looked at in turn; By some combination of the above, or by another structure you create There are many possible structures, and you need to establish one that will best fit the ‘story’ you are telling of the reason for your study. Once you have established your structure you need to outline it for your reader. 20 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius  USING TABLES As well as using tables to display numerical data, tables can be useful within a literature review when you are comparing other kinds of material. For example, you could use a table to display the key differences between two or more: possible theoretical perspectives; possible methods; sets of assumptions; sample profiles; possible explanations. 21 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius  EVALUATING THE STRUCTURE OF YOUR LITERATURE REVIEW ✓ Does your literature review have a clear title which describes the focus of your research rather than just saying ‘literature review’? ✓ Have you explained precisely how you searched the literature, and the criteria used to select those studies included? ✓ Does your review start at a more general level before narrowing down? ✓ Is your literature review organised thematically around the ideas contained in the research being reviewed rather than the researchers? ✓ Are your arguments coherent and cohesive – do your ideas link in a way that will be logical to your reader? ✓ Have you used sub-headings within the literature review to help guide your reader? ✓ Does the way you have structured your literature review draw your reader’s attention to those issues which are going to be the focus of your research? ✓ Does your literature review lead your reader into subsequent sections of your project report? 22 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius  EVALUATING THE CONTENT OF YOUR CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW ❖ Have you ensured that the literature covered relates clearly to your research question and objectives? ❖ Have you covered the most relevant and significant theories of recognised experts in the area? ❖ Have you covered the most relevant and significant literature or at least a representative sample? ❖ Have you included up-to-date literature? ❖ Have you referenced all the literature used in the format prescribed in the assessment criteria? 23 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius  EVALUATING THE RELEVANCE AND VALUE OF LITERATURE TO YOUR RESEARCH Relevance Value ✓ How recent is the item? ✓ Does the item appear to be biased? For example, does it ✓ Is the item likely to have been superseded? use an illogical argument, emotionally toned words or appear to choose only those cases that support the point ✓ Are the research questions or objectives sufficiently close to your being made? Even if it is, it may still be relevant to your own to make it relevant to your own research (in other words, does critical review! the item meet your relevance criteria for inclusion)? ✓ What are the methodological omissions within the work ✓ Is the context sufficiently different to make it marginal to your (e.g. sample selection, data collection, data analysis)? research question(s) and objectives (in other words, is the item Even if there are many it still may be of relevance! excluded by your relevance criteria)? ✓ Is the precision sufficient? Even if it is imprecise it may ✓ Have you seen references to this item (or its author) in other items be the only item you can find and so still of relevance! that were useful? ✓ Does the item provide guidance for future research? ✓ Does the item support or contradict your arguments? For either it will probably be worth reading! 24 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius  PLAGIARISM!!! VERY SERIOUS OFFENCE : AN ACADEMIC SIN ❖ Copying, quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing from any source without giving proper credit. ❖ Submitting another's work as your own. ❖ Closely paraphrasing someone’s work and making pass as your own ❖ Self-plagiarism 25  KNOW WHEN TO STOP Build an argument, not a library It is also important to see the writing stage as part of the research process, not something that happens after you have finished reading the literature Writing while you collect and collecting while you write. A skill that helps in curtailing the reading is: knowing where to set boundaries. Stating the limitations 26 © N. Teeluckdharry, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius