Chapter 3 Critically reviewing the literature

Chapter 3Critically reviewing the literature

Learning outcomes • By the end of this chapter you should: • Understand the importance and purpose of the critical literature review to your research project; • To be able to adopt a critical perspective in your reading; • Know what you need to include when writing your critical review; • Be aware of the range of primary, secondary and tertiary literature sources available; • Be able to identify key words and to undertake a literature search using a range of methods;

Learning outcomes • Be able to evaluate the relevance, value and sufficiency of the literature found; • Be able to reference the literature found accurately; • Understand what is meant by plagiarism; • Be able to apply the knowledge, skills and understanding gained to your own research project.

Reasons for reviewing the literature • To conduct a ‘preliminary’ search of existing material • To organise valuable ideas and findings • To identify other research that may be in progress • To generate research ideas • To develop a critical perspective

The literature review process Source: Saunders et al. (2003) Figure 3.1 The literature review process

The Critical Review (1) Approaches used Deductive - Develops a conceptual framework from the literature which is then tested using the data Inductive - Explores the data to develop theories which are then tested against the literature

The Critical Review (2) Key purposes • To further refine research questions and objectives • To discover recommendations for further research • To avoid repeating work already undertaken • To provide insights into strategies and techniques appropriate to your research objectives Based on Gall et al. (2006)

Adopting a critical perspective (1) Skills for effective reading • Previewing which is looking around the text before you start reading in order to establish precisely its purpose and how it may inform you literature search • Annotating that is conducting a dialogue with yourself, the author and the issues and the ideas at stake • Summarising the best way to determine that you’ve really got the point is to be able to state it in your words. Outlining the argument of text is a version of annotating, and can be done quite informally in the margins of the text • Comparing and contrasting: ask your self how you thinking has been altered by this reading or how has it affected your response to the issue and themes your research Harvard College Library (2006)

Adopting a critical perspective (2) The most important skills are • The capacity to evaluate what you read • The capacity to relate what you read to other information Wallace and Wray (2006)

Adopting a critical perspective (3) Questions to ask yourself Why am I reading this? What is the author trying to do in writing this? How convincing is this? What use can I make of this reading? Adapted from Wallace and Wray (2006)

Content of the critical review You will need to • Include key academic theories • Demonstrate current knowledge of the area • Use clear referencing for the reader to find the original cited publications • Acknowledge the research of others

Structure of the literature review Three common structures • A single chapter • A series of chapters • Throughout the report

The key to a critical literature review • Demonstrate that you have read, understood and evaluated your material • Link the different ideas to form a cohesive and coherent argument • Make clear connections to your research objectives and the subsequent empirical material Saunders et al. (2009)

Categories of Literature Sources • Primary (published and unpublished) • Secondary • Tertiary Detailed in Tables 3.1 and 3.2Saunders et al. (2009)

Literature sources available Literature sources available Saunders et al. (2009) Figure 3.2 Literature sources available

Journals • Journals are also known as ‘periodical’ ‘serials’ and ‘magazines’ and are published on a regular basis. Journals are a vital literature source for any research. They are well covered by tertiary literature, and good selection can be accessed from most university libraries (printed or online)

Refereed academic Journals • Articles in refereed academic journals (such as Journal of management studies)are evaluated by peers academic prior to publication, to assess their quality and suitability, they are usually written by experts in the field. There will be usually be detailed footnotes, an extensive bibliography , rigorous attention to detail and verification of information. • Such articles are written for a more narrow audience of scholars with a particular interest in the field. The language used may be technical or highly specialized as a prior knowledge of the topic will be assumed.

Professional Journals • Professional Journals (such as People Management) they are produced for their members by organization such as the chartered Institute of personal and development (CIPD). They contain a mix of news related items and articles that are more detailed. However you have to exercise caution

Trade Journals • They fulfill a similar function to professional journals. They are published by trade organizations or aimed at particular industries or trades such as carting or mining. Often they focus in new products or services and news items, they rarely contain articles based on empirical research, although some provide summaries of research, You should therefore use these with consideration caution for you research project.

Books • Books and monographs are written for specific audiences. Some are aimed at the academic, with a theoretical slant. Others, aimed at practicing professionals, may be more applied in their content. The material in books is usually presented in a more ordered and accessible manner than in journals, polling together a wider range of topics, they are therefore, practically useful as introductory sources to help clarify your research question(s) and objectives or research methods you intend to use. Some academic textbooks such as this one are now supported by web pages providing additional information.

Newspaper • Newspaper are good source of topical events, developments within business and government, as well as recent statistical information such as share prices, they also sometimes review recent research report. • Again you should be carful when you use newspaper in your research project as newspaper may contain bias in their coverage, be it political geographical or personal. • Reporting can also be inaccurate and you may not pick up any subsequent amendments

Reports • Reports include market research reports such as those produced by Mintel and keynote government reports and academic reports. It is not easy to get access for these reports as they are not as widely available as books. It is important to try to assess the authority of the author, and to beware of personal bias

Conference proceedings • Conference proceedings sometimes referred to as symposia, as often published as unique titles within journals or as books. Most conferences have a theme that is very specific, but some have a wide-range overview. Many conferences have associated web pages providing abstract and occasionally the full papers presented at the conference .

Theses • Theses are unique and so far a major research project can be a good source of further references. Unfortunately, they can be difficult to locate and, when found, difficult to access as there may be only one copy at the awarding institution.

Planning your search strategy • All our students have found their literature search a time consuming process, which take far longer than expected. Fortunately, time spent planning will be rapid in time saved when searching the literature. As you start to plan your search, you need to beware of information overload! • One of the easiest ways to avoid this is to start the main search for your critical review with a clearly defined research question (s), objectives and outline proposal.

The literature search strategy (1) Write down • parameters of your search • key words and search terms to be used • databases and search engines to be used • criteria for selection of relevant and useful studies And Discuss these with a tutor (if possible)

The literature search strategy (2) • Define the research parameters • Generate key words • Discuss your research • Brainstorm ideas • Construct Relevance trees - use computer software

Defining the parameters of your search • For most research questions and objectives you will have a good idea of which subject matter is going to be relevant. You will, however, be less clear about the parameters within which you need to search. In particular, you need to be clear about the following (Bell 2005): • Language of publication (e.g. English); • Subject area (e.g. accountancy); • Business sector (e.g. manufacturing); • Geographical area (e.g. Europe); • Publication period (e.g. the last 10 years); • Literature type (e.g. refereed journals and books).

Generating your keywords • It is important at this stage to read both articles by key authors and recent review articles in area of your research .This will help you to define your subject matter and to suggest appropriate key words. Recent review articles in your research area are often helpful here as they discuss the current state of research for a particular topic and can help you to refine your keywords. In addition ,they will probably contain references to other work that is pertinent to your research question(s) and objectives.(Box 3.8) If you are unsure about review articles ,your project tutor should be able to point you in the right direction. Another potentially useful source of references is dissertations and theses in your university's library.

Generating your keywords • After re-reading your lecture notes and textbooks and undertaking this limited reading you will have a list of subjects that appear relevant to your research project. You now need to define precisely what is relevant to your research in terms of key words. The identification of keywords or ‘research 'terms is the most important part of planning your search for relevant literature (Bell 2005). Key words are the basic terms that describe your research questions(s) and objectives, and will be used to search the tertiary literature. Keywords (which can include authors’ surnames identified in the examination of your lecture notes and course textbooks)can be identified using one or a number of different techniques in combination.

Discussion • We believe you should be taking every opportunity to discuss your research. In discussing you work with others, whether face to face, by email or by letter ,you will be sharing your ideas, getting feedback and obtaining new ideas and approaches. This process will help you to refine and clarify your topic.

Initial reading, dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks and thesauruses • To produce the most relevant keywords you may need to build on your brainstorming sessions with support materials such as dictionaries ,encyclopedias, handbooks and thesauruses, both general and subject specific. These are also good starting points for new topics which may be unfamiliar and for related subject area. Initial reading, particularly of recent review article, may also be of help here. Project tutors ,colleagues and librarians can also be useful sources of ideas.

Initial reading, dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks and thesauruses • It is also possible to obtain definitions via the Internet. The online search engine Google offers a ‘define’(by typing ‘define:[enter term ]’) that provides links to websites providing definitions .Definitions are also offered in free online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia(see box 3.9).These are often available in multiple language and, although anyone is allowed to edit the entries, inappropriate changes are usually removed quickly [Wikipedia 2008].However, whilst these websites may be useful for a quick reference or in helping to define keywords, your university will almost certainly expect you to justify the definitions in your research project using refereed journal articles or textbooks.

Referencing • Why do I need to provide references in my work?To show anyone who reads your work that you understand the topic and can demonstrate your own thoughts on this.To demonstrate that you have read widely and deeply.To enable the reader to locate where you obtained each quote or idea. By providing the original source you are acknowledging that you have read the work and recognize the original author(s) ideas.

Conducting a literature search (1) Approaches can include • Searching tertiary literature sources • Obtaining relevant literature • Scanning and browsing secondary literature • Searching using the Internet

Conducting a literature search (2) Searching using tertiary literature • Ensure key words match controlled index language • Search appropriate printed and database sources • Note precise details used – including search strings • Note the FULL reference of each search found

Plagiarism Four common forms • Stealing material from another source • Submitting material written by another • Copying material without quotation marks • Paraphrasing material without documentation Adapted from Park (2003), cited in Easterby-Smith et al.(2008)

Summary: Chapter 3 The critical literature review • Sets the research in context • Leads the reader into later sections of the report • Begins at a general level and narrows to specific topics

Summary: Chapter 3 A literature search requires • Three main categories of sources • Clearly defined research questions and objectives • Defined parameters • Use of techniques – ( brainstorming and relevance trees)

Chapter 3 Critically reviewing the literature