Literature Review – how to conduct

1. Literature Review – how to conduct We will talk about BOTH: “Literature Review” as the qualitative methodological approach “literature review” as a step in the Research process

2. “Literature Review” (upper-class “L”s)is a qualitative method • Article characterized by reporting primary studies that compose body of literature • Sometimes… • Annotated bibliography – descriptive analysis of primary studies • New arguments - using primary studies to support new hypotheses • Expert opinions - Providing expert summary of history of literature, including organization, synthesis, analysis, and insights into future

3. “literature review” (lower-case “l”s) occurs at THREE stages (1) Research Idea – for pre-emption search (2) Research Design – for getting materials/procedures (3) Publication Process – for writing “Introduction”

4. What are similarities/differences between the two? • Similarities = all pre-writing aspects are the same, such as • identifying topic • inclusion/exclusion criteria • collecting literature • summarizing it • interpreting it

5. What are similarities/differences between the two? • Difference = writing stage, such as • Literature Review • (1) Annotated Bibliography • Describe each primary study; paragraph per at minimum; few paragraphs per at maximum; include major points including hypothesis and design; can group studies together if relevant; opinions and comments to minimum • (2) New Arguments • Group primary studies according to arguments; discuss studies only as relevant to arguments; provide critique; opinions and comments to maximum • (3) Expert Opinion • Summarizing studies as relevant to history, current trends, and future research; highlighting most important studies; opinions and comments to maximum

6. What are similarities/differences between the two? • Difference = writing stage, such as • literature review • (1) Research Idea phase • No writing for literature review at research idea phase; only interested in gathering information for pre-emption • (2) Research Design phase • No writing for literature review at research design phase; • only interested in collecting measures/procedures • (3) Publication process phase • Concisemixture of all purposes of Literature Review; • want to include descriptive analysis of primary studies; want to group studies according to arguments/hypotheses; want to provide expert opinions of history of topic, current trends of topic, and future research of topic.

7. Steps in conducting (pre-writing) • Identify “core” resources • Primary (articles and books reporting original content) • Secondary (textbooks, books, Handbooks, etc) • Branch out from there using… • Database searches • Descendancy approach • Ancestry approach • Hand searches • Invisible College • Inclusion/Exclusion criteria • Keeping records

8. Steps in conducting (writing) • Steps are based upon purpose behind the article (see previous slides) • Some commonalities include: • Summarize • Interpret • Organize • Synthesize

9. Advanced Sources • Synthesizing Research: A Guide for Literature Reviews, by Cooper, Sage publications, 1998. • The Handbook of Research Synthesis, by Cooper and Hedges, Russell Sage publications, 1994