Literature Review

1. Literature Review Remember The Literature Review carries 40% of the Research Proposal mark! A literature review summarises and synthesises what is known about your topic in relation to your objectives. Steve Malone August 2009 stephen.malone@lsclondon.co.uk

2. Importance of the Literature Review “The literature review is a crucial part of a dissertation.....It provides the basis on which you justify your research questions and build your research design” (Bryman and Bell, ch4) Roughly speaking it should be 40% of the proposal. 40% of the proposal = 40% of the mark In essence we’re going to answer two questions: “What is a literature review?” “How do I do it?”

3. Reasons for Writing a Literature Review • It provides a context and justification for the research • You need to know what is already known about your research area • You can learn from the mistakes of others • To ensure the research hasn't been done before (discuss) • To show where the research fits into the existing body of knowledge • To enable the researcher to learn from previous theory on the subject and illustrate how the subject has been studied previously and therefore…

4. Reasons for Writing a Literature Review • It may help you to develop an analytic framework • It may lead you to consider including variables in your research of which you might not have thought • It may suggest further research questions • To highlight flaws in previous research • To outline gaps in previous research • To show how your work is adding to understanding and knowledge of the field – the contribution • To help refine, re-focus or even change the topic

5. How to Search the Literature I • Read books and articles you know, or are recommended by your supervisor • Keep notes based on your reading • Note the keywords used • Note other literature which might be interesting later • Generate your own keywords

6. How to Search the Literature II • Search the library • Search online (using an appropriate database) • Examine titles and abstracts for relevance • Retrieve selected items, read, take notes • Check regularly for new material

7. How Your Supervisor can Help your Reading • By giving you a ‘starter’ reading-list • By mentioning key contributors and/or seminal articles in your field • By giving you a ‘credibility’ index of writers and journals • By, perhaps, discussing their own research and publications with you

8. Getting the most from your Reading • Take lots of notes (including references) • Ask yourself questions about what you read (its value to your topic, methods used, conclusions) • Find research questions (perhaps because what you read indicates contention) • Identify sources to which you will want to return later on • Be selective (read for relevance) • Don’t stop reading!!

9. Searching for Books and Articles • Start with module reading-lists • Consult the references and bibliographies of recommended textbooks • Use the library of your institution: - to find out what is available, - to find out your institution’s subscriptions to on-line databases • Three recommended databases: - ABI / Inform (proquest.com) - EBSCO (epnet.com) - SSCI (isiwebofknowledge.com)

10. A Word (or two) of Warning about the Internet • Search engines find sites but do not evaluate them • Dictionaries and encyclopaedias are fine for basic definitions, but little else • Many Internet sites serve a commercial purpose, so don’t be taken in by propaganda • Rely on academic sites (usually.ac or .edu), government sites (.gov), not-for-profit institutions (.org), in that order • Download and save all material found on the Internet. Sites are dynamic and you may not findthe data a second time. Your institution may also require proof when defending your thesis

11. Putting Your Reading to Work Through: • putting material together which is not usually related (synthesized coherence) • building up separate items into a consensus (progressive coherence) • showing lots of related contributions but no overall agreement (non-coherence) • revealing a gap in the literature • developing a new perspective • showing the existing literature to be simply wrong.(Golden-Biddle and Locke, 1997:43).

12. Start Thinking About Your Research Area Early on It is worth giving yourself a good deal of time: • as you are doing your various modules, begin to think about whether there are any topics that might interest you and that might provide you with a researchable area • this may at times feel like a rather unproductive process in which a number of false starts or changes of direction are made • however, taking the time to explore different avenues at the point of problem identification can prevent difficulties at a much later stage

13. Generating Research Ideas“But what shall I do? Can you give me a topic/title Steve?!” The short answer is I can’t do the work for you but there are lots of ways I and LSC can help… Lets see what they are…

14. Intellectual puzzles and contradictions The existing literature Replication Structures and functions Opposition A social problem The counter-intuitive Sample topics on the portal Deviant cases and atypical events New methods and theories Social and technical developments and trends Personal experience Sponsors and teachers Marx’s Sources of Research Questions see Thinking deeper 3.1 in Bryman and Bell for more 

15. Referencing Your Work • A source is usually referenced in two parts: - the citation, in your text at the point of use; - full publication details, in a reference list, or bibliography, at the end of your dissertation or report. • You should use the Harvard Referencing system

16. How your Supervisor can help your Writing • By questioning or amending your references • By highlighting unsupported assertions • By suggesting a more coherent structure • By highlighting gaps in your logic

17. What? Why? What puzzles /intrigues me! What do I want to know more about/understand better? What are my key research questions? Why will this be of enough interest to others to be published as a thesis, book, paper, guide to practitioners or policy makers? Can the research be justified as a 'contribution to knowledge'? How – conceptually? How – practically? What models, concepts and theories can I draw on/develop to answer my research questions! How can these be brought together into a basic conceptual framework to guide my investigation? What investigative styles and techniques shall I use to apply my conceptual framework (both to gather material and analyse it)? How shall I gain and maintain access to information sources? A ‘What, Why, and How’ Framework for Crafting Research Watson (1994: S80), see Figure 3.3 in Bryman and Bell

18. Looking for Business Information in Online Databases Databases such as: • ABI/INFORMGlobal (proquest.umi.com/pqdweb)provides business information from a wide range of international periodicals and reports, can be searched by keyword or by using BROWSE LISTS or TOPIC FINDER to search for relevant articles by subject • Business Source Premier (http://search.epnet.com)provides comprehensive full text access to certain key business and management journals including Harvard Business Review and Academy of Management Review, as well as indexing and abstracts for over 3,000 business journals • Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI at isiknowledge.com) which fully indexes over 1,700 major social science journals covering all social science disciplines dating back to 1981 (SSCI does not provide full text access to journals but does provide references, abstracts book reviews and editorial material)

19. Other Online Sources • Books: • www.amazon.com • www.amazon.co.uk • www.bookshop.co.uk • COPACcontains the holdings of twenty-two of the largest university research libraries plus the British Library at www.copac.ac.uk/copac • General Market Information Database (GMID)contains marketing profiles, consumer market sizing for fifty-two countries, consumer lifestyle reports, data for over 200 countries, market forecasts to 2012, and information about 100,000 brands and 12,000 companies • Mintelprovides comprehensive market research reports on the UK retail and leisure sectors and conducts its own market research • Reuters Business Insight provides access to hundreds of market research reports focused on: energy, consumer goods, finance, health care, and technology

20. Other Online Sources CASE STUDIES: bbc.co.uk Economist.com Thetimes100.co.uk Sites for managers: cipd.co.uk businesslink.gov.uk

21. Developing Keywords • To identify suitable references in online databases, you need to work out keywords to enter into the search engine • Business dictionaries can help you to define your area of research and identify changes in the language used to describe the subject: • Collins Dictionary of Business, 2nd edition (1995) • TheIEBM Dictionary of Business and Management(1999) • e.g., the term ‘personnel management’ has now been largely superseded by ‘HRM’ and ‘payment systems’ are now more widely referred to as ‘reward management’ • You will also need to think of synonyms and try to match your language to that of the source you are searching • e.g., performance management may be referred to in practitioner publications as ‘employee evaluation’ or ‘appraisal’

22. Issuesto Identify in the Existing Literature • What is already known about this area? • What concepts and theories are relevant to this area? • What research methods and research strategies have been employed in studying this area? • Are there any significant controversies? • Are there any inconsistencies in findings relating to this area? • Are there any unanswered research questions in this area?

23. Reading the Existing Literature • Start with references in bibliographies from books and journal articles • In some areas of research, there are very many references • try to identify the major ones and work outwards from there • Take good notes, including the details of the material you read • it is infuriating to find that you forgot to record the volume number of an article you need to include in your Bibliography • You will be able to revise and refine your research questions in the process of reviewing the literature • A competent review of the literature can affirm your credibility as someone who is knowledgeable in your chosen area

24. Developing Critical Reading Skills • Your literature review should be critical rather than merely descriptive, so it is worth recording relevant critical points as you take notes (critical? Discuss.) • Developing a critical approach is not necessarily one of simply criticizing the work of others • It entails moving beyond mere description and asking questions about the significance of the work: • How does the item relate to others you have read? • Are there any apparent strengths and deficiencies - perhaps in terms of methodology or in terms of the credibility of the conclusions drawn? • What theoretical ideas have influenced the item?

25. Plagiarism: Crime and Punishment I • To Plagiarize “transitive verb:to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (another's production) without crediting the sourceintransitive verb:to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary,2006)Etymology: Derives from the Latin for kidnapper or plunderer! • Plagiarism means pretending that we, ourselves, wrote what others actually wrote; • Plagiarism might be accidental: - not using quotation marks for direct quotes might be careless rather than deceitful - forgetting to cite a source in the text • Plagiarism might not be seen for what it is: - recycling our own material from previously submitted work; - not referencing ourselves as the author of our own older work. • Levels of offence

26. PLAGIARISM is a serious academic offence that can result in your failure of the course and possible suspension from the university. It is important that you know what plagiarism entails so that you can avoid the consequences. • Ignorance is no excuse/defence! • You have been warned!

27. Key Points • Writing a literature review is a means of reviewing the main ideas and research relating to your chosen area of interest • A competent literature review confirms you as someone who is competent in the subject area • A great deal of the work of writing a literature review is based upon reading the work of other researchers in your subject area; key skills can be acquired to help you get the most from your reading

28. Core Text Bryman A and Bell E. (2007) Business Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Golden-Biddle, K. and Locke, K. (1997). Composing Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Watson, T.J.(1994)., "Managing, Crafting and Researching: Words, Skill and Imagination in Shaping Management Research", British Journal of Management, Vol.5 (Special Issue), pp.77-87.