The purpose and essential qualities of a focused, thorough and well-designed literature review.
By: Dennis Govender
Course: BTEMC 2
Subject RSMG101
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Definition
7 The review process
8 Sources
9 writing the review report
10 evaluate the research review
Introduction
As part of research there has to be a means of evaluating what is currently known about the topic of research and is performed once the topic and purpose of study has been identified. Brink et al (2012, p.70)
The literature review as a part of the research process is for the researcher to familiarise themselves with the topic and if it should be researched or not. Brink et al (2012, p.70)
The following will outline what makes a focused, thorough and well-designed review instead of one which is fragmented, poorly planned and incomplete.
What is a literature review?
A literature review is performed before research is done as a way to analyse all published that is known about the topic to be researched. It is not a collection of annotations but is a critical analysis of the literature at hand. Brink et al. (2012)
Clarify your topic and purpose of study.
Identify the literature that will be reviewed
The articles and information can be researched using Google scholar or another search engine by using key descriptors of the studies (the descriptors should be noted). The university library can also be of help in this regard. It may also be advisable to search for other literature reviews which have been done. Be sure to include key or landmark studies done.
Analyse the literature
Read over the articles then group them into topics, subtopics and published date.
Define key ter...
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...e to and advance theory, conclusions and implications, suggestions for future research towards the end of the review.
1. Flesh out your outline with details from your analysis
Writing the review
Developing a coherent essay
Conclusion
The author has outlined the qualities of a well-planned effective literature review. The main functions are to provide what is currently known about the research topic, with the gathering of data be it statistics or qualitative data, a context in the conception and implementation of the research by critical evaluation of the data gathered. Finding gaps in the research already done and comparatively analyse the different sources. It should be noted that the review has to be an analysis of the research done and not be just a collection of paragraphs with references as this may be an ineffective way to initiate a research topic.
Identify the hypothesis (testable question) that the study was trying to answer and describe the methods of research used in each study.
...g the criteria noted above in the checklists proved in Houser (2015). It has been noted with evaluation that it appears to have the components of adequate criteria for being a credible source and having credible authors. The design of being a qualitative study has been evaluated and contains most of the components of the noted checklist. There are ethical issues that are well documented and weighed. The problem statement and purpose statement have been noted and the literature review was evaluated thoroughly. The sampling strategy is purposeful and explained in depth. The study was compared and is noted that its methods are of trustworthy quality. To optimize EBP is the ultimate goal in conducting a study of this nature. It has been shown that there is a significant amount of knowledge obtained from the study and there is a probable use for this information.
one that the review was conducted recently. This means that the article takes into account more
also point out that: “Literature reviews helps to develop and expand your research ideas, and although you may have some knowledge of your research topic, the literature review ensures you are familiar with recent developments and have a complete understanding of the relevant topics” (Hair et al, 2007, p.94). Even though we already have some knowledge about GBR, a literature review has helped us with expanding our ideas about what areas we needed to focus on, and what to include in the thesis. And in addition we also discovered a great deal of significant material that became crucial for the research.
In the final step of evaluating conclusions, the research community makes an active conversation about what they have discovered, and they write down details about the study. Then, they publish their work in various types of journal in order to let others read and learn from them. In the Katrevich et al. (2014) study, the conclusions were published in North American Journal of Psychology. In this way, scientists can figure out a new idea to be tested or one that will change the thinking about some topics (King, 2016).
In response to the question set, I will go into detail of the study, consisting of the background, main hypotheses, as well the aims, procedure and results gathered from the study; explaining the four research methods chosen to investigate, furthering into the three methods actually tested.
The theory is that when people’s egos are in the way, it causes them to make mistakes and their mistakes make a person realize that their ego affects them, in The Odyssey, by Homer, this dilemma is present for Odysseus. In the beginning of The Odyssey, Odysseus has a huge ego problem. Odysseus was once a generous and successful man, his success and acts of generosity cause his ego to get in the way, and he makes mistakes as a consequence, his ego gets in the way and has failures. When Odysseus realizes his failures, he turns back to his self again. Although, Odysseus was a kind and successful man, his success lead to ego problems which lead to failure and his failures transforms him to the successful Odysseus again.
The very first step to the “Nine Step Stairway to Effective Evaluation” is to define the research population. Population can mean anybody. So, it is needs to be clear as to who we are focusing on. The specification of the focused population is defined by the evaluation researcher. This can include, age, gender, race, culture, or socio-economic status just to name a few (DiClemente et al., 2013).
results of my fieldwork take into account the three disciplines that my literature review is
The literature review is important to find credible, reliable, and relevant sources that fit the research problem. “To achieve its purpose, the literature review may examine issues of theory, methodology, policy, and evaluation that relate to the effectiveness of a policy or intervention” (Krysik & Finn, 2013, p.66). Annotated bibliographies and abstracts also provide information about different sources and this can be helpful for evaluating sources when doing a literature review. “An annotated bibliography includes a summary or evaluation of each of the sources” and when writing one it can help to establish if the sources used are relevant and apply to the research topic that is being investigated. (Stacks, Karper, Bisignani, & Brizee, 2013).
This article hasn’t provided an introduction; however a lengthy summary of the study which identifies the problem, purpose and rationale for the research study has been provided in the background. The introduction should give the reader a general sense of what the document is about, and preferably persuade the reader to continue reading. This prepares the reader for reading the rest of the document (Burns & Grove, 2001 p.636; Nieswiadomy, 2008 p.380; Stockhausen and Conrick, 2002).
Now within the rest of this paper you will be finding a few different things getting discussed. Staring it off we will be discussing the articles that we have found to make our arguments and hypotheses. After wrapping up the literature reviews we will be discussing the hypotheses thus continuing onto our variables and indicators. Once we discuss our hypotheses we will be moving onto the research design. The research design will have our general issues, sampling, and methods.
In conclusion, it is recommended that further literature reviews be completed to explore study results that supplement or add to information already reviewed.
The next chapter deals with the review of literature available in the context of the present study.