Purpose of Literature review

• Helps the researcher to

⮚Establish the theoretical roots of the study (i.e. provide
a theoretical background to the study)
✔Identify and describe the various theories relevant to the field
✔Specify gaps in existing knowledge in the area of study
✔Identify recent advances in the area of study
✔Identify current trends in the area of study
⮚Clarify ideas of the researcher
⮚Develop research methodology
⮚Enhance and consolidate knowledge base
 Purpose of Literature review
⮚Integrate findings with the existing body of knowledge
✔Integrate the results from your study with specific and relevant findings from
the existing literature by comparing the two for confirmation or contradiction
✔List main themes and convert them into subheadings
✔Under each subheading
o Record findings w.r.t. the theme in question
o Highlight reasons for and against an argument
o Identify gaps and issues

⮚Identify aspects of the subject area that have been examined by

others
✔What they have found
✔Gaps other researchers have identified
✔Suggestions that have been made for further research
 Purpose of literature review in quantitative
research
• Introduction section
▪ The introduction section uses relevant sources to summarize the background and
significance of the research problem
▪ The review of literature includes both theoretical and empirical literature that
document the current knowledge of the problem studied
• Methods section
▪ Describes the design, sample, measurement methods and data collection process
▪ Literature is used to validate the methods used in the study
• Results section
▪ Compares the analysis of the data in the present study with results of previous
studies
• Discussion section
▪ Provides conclusions that are a synthesis of the findings from previous research
and those from the present study
Four steps involved in conducting a literature
review
• Step 1
• searching for literature in books, journals and
internet (e.g. google scholar,
www.scholar.google.com)
• Step 2
• review the selected literature
▪ Identify themes and issues that are relevant to your
study
▪ Pull together themes and issues relevant to your study
 Review the selected literature
• Critically examine the literature w.r.t. the following aspects
⮚Note whether knowledge relevant to the theoretical framework
has been confirmed beyond doubt
⮚Note the theories put forward, criticisms, study design, sample
size, sample characteristics, measurement procedures
⮚Examine the extent to which the findings can be generalized to
other situations
⮚Examine whether there are significant differences of opinion
among researchers and give your opinions about the validity of
these differences
⮚Ascertain the gaps that exist in the body of knowledge (areas in
which little or nothing is known)
Four steps involved in conducting a literature
review
• Step 3
• Develop a theoretical framework
⮚ Theoretical framework consists of all the theories/issues in which the
study is embedded
⮚ Information obtained from the literature needs to be sorted under
main themes and theories
⮚ Literature pertinent to the study may deal with two types of
information
✔Universal
✔More specific
⮚ Writing about such information
✔Start with the general information
✔Then narrow down to specific
Four steps involved in conducting a literature
review
• Step 4
• Developing a conceptual framework
⮚The conceptual framework describes the aspects
selected from the theoretical framework to
become the basis of the enquiry
⮚Out of all the theories, the researcher might plan
to test only one theory
 Literature review
• A successful literature review should
⮚Provide an overview of the available literature on
the study topic
⮚Help to determine what is known and what is not
known about the study
⮚Identify areas of controversy
⮚Identify weaknesses in the existing research
⮚Help to formulate questions requiring further
research
Checklist for reading the literature
• What was the purpose of the study and how does
it differ from other studies and my own research?
• How was the research conducted and how does
that differ from other studies and my own
research?
• What were the findings and how do they differ
from other studies?
• What were the limitations and weaknesses of the
study?