NCM-111-Topic-2-Related-Literature.pdf

Research Writing - Writing the Review of Related Literature  A research literature review is a written summary of the state of evidence on a research problem. Collection of pertinent readings, published or unpublished data- based research reports or article Current knowledge of a problem,...

Research Writing - Writing the Review of Related Literature  A research literature review is a written summary of the state of evidence on a research problem. Collection of pertinent readings, published or unpublished data- based research reports or article Current knowledge of a problem, gaps in this knowledge base, contribution of present study to the development of new knowledge on that particular research problem Conceptual Literature Non-research reference materials written by authorities on the subject with embody experiences, viewpoints and interpretations of the subject of the study.  Research Literature Data-based or consist of studies and researches or theses and dissertations, published or unpublished  Purposes of Research Literature Reviews The primary purpose of literature reviews is to summarize evidence on a topic, to sum up what is known and what is not known. In qualitative research, opinions about literature reviews vary. Grounded theory researchers typically begin to collect data before examining the literature.  Phenomenologists and Ethnographers often undertake a literature search at the outset of a study Phenomenology is an approach to understanding people’s everyday life experiences. Phenomenologists are committed to theoretical naiveté and try to hold preconceived views of the phenomenon in check. Ethnography involves the description and interpretation of a culture and cultural behavior Ethnographers bring a cultural perspective to their studies, and this perspective shapes their fieldwork. Cultural theories include ideational theories and materialistic theories. Ethnographers typically use a strategy called participant observation Ethnographers distinguish “emic” and “etic” perspectives. An emic perspective refers to the way the members of the culture regard their world—the insiders’ view. The etic perspective, by contrast, is the outsiders’ interpretation of the culture’s experiences. Ethnographic inquiry can thus help to foster understanding of behaviors affecting health and illness. Leininger coined the phrase ethno-nursing research. The theoretical underpinning of grounded theory is a melding of sociological formulations, the most prominent of which is symbolic interaction (or interactionism). Three underlying premises include 1. Humans act toward things based on the meanings that the things have for them 2. The meaning of things is derived from the human interactions; and 3. Meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process.  Types of Information to Seek for a Research Review If you are preparing a literature review, you should rely mostly on primary sources, which are descriptions of studies written by the researchers who conducted them. Secondary source research documents are descriptions of studies prepared by someone else.  Developing a Search Strategy Reviewers also use the ancestry approach and the descendancy approach.  Searching Bibliographic Databases Bibliographic databases are accessed by computer. Most databases can be accessed through user-friendly software with menu-driven systems and on-screen support so that minimal instruction is needed to retrieve articles. An early task in an electronic search is identifying keywords to launch the search (although an author search for prominent researchers in a field is also possible). A keyword is a word or phrase that captures key concepts in your question. Two especially useful electronic databases for nurses are CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) and MEDLINE (Medical Literature OnLine).  The CINAHL Database CINAHL is an important electronic database for nurses. It covers references to hundreds of nursing and allied health journals as well as to books and dissertations. CINAHL contains about 3 million records. CINAHL provides information for locating references (i.e., the author, title, journal, year of publication, volume, and page numbers) and abstracts for most citations. Links to actual articles are often provided.  The MEDLINE Database The MEDLINE database, developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, is the premier source for bibliographic coverage of the biomedical literature. MEDLINE uses a controlled vocabulary called MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) to index articles. MeSH terminology provides a consistent way to retrieve information that may use different terminology for the same concepts.  Google Scholar Google Scholar (GS) is a popular bibliographic search engine that was launched in 2004. GS includes articles in journals from scholarly publishers in all disciplines and includes books, technical reports, and other documents. One advantage of GS is that it is accessible free of charge over the Internet. Screening, Documentation, and Abstracting 1. Screening and Gathering References 2. Documentation in Literature Retrieval 3. Abstracting and Recording Information  Analyzing and Synthesizing Evidence A number of different types of themes can be identified in a literature review analysis, three of which are as follows: ✓ Substantive themes ✓ Methodologic themes ✓ Generalizability/transferability themes  Writing a Literature Review Content of the Written Literature Review  A written research review should provide readers with an objective synthesis of current evidence on a topic.  Findings should be summarized in your own words. The review should demonstrate that you have considered the cumulative worth of the body of research.  The review should not omit a study because its findings contradict those of other studies or conflict with your ideas.  A literature review typically concludes with a summary of current evidence on the topic. The summary should recap key findings, assess their credibility, and point out gaps in the evidence