CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

 Literature Reviews - is the documentation of a

comprehensive review of previous work in the
areas of specific interest to the researcher.
A literature review means locating and assessing
studies about a topic.
The literature review is an integral part of the
entire research process and makes a valuable
contribution to almost every operational step.
The literature review can play an extremely
important role in shaping your research problem
It also helps you to define the relationship between
your research problem and the body of knowledge
in the area.
Often these are research studies, but they may
also include conceptual articles or thought
pieces that provide frameworks for the topics.
By research studies it means that the author or
authors pose a question or hypothesis, collect
data and try to answer the question or
hypothesis.
Literature review is not a simple compilation of
every work written about a topic.
 Mention the problem addressed
 State the central purpose or focus of the study
 Briefly state information about (methodology) the
sample, population or subjects;
 Review key results that relate to the proposed study
 Review of Literature Cont……..
The literature review accomplishes several purposes:
• It shares with the reader the results of other studies that are
closely related to the one being undertaken;
• It relates a study to the larger, ongoing dialogue in the
literature;
• It provides a framework for establishing the importance of the
study as well as a benchmark for comparing the results with
other findings;
 Theoretically, there is no single form of a literature review
for a proposal;
 It can assume various forms.
 For example, the literature review in a proposal may be brief
and summarize the major literature on the research
problem;
 Or may be an outline of the various studies related to the
issue planned to be assessed by the proposed study;
 we usually see the need for the review of most of the
research studies at the time of preparing proposal
 Placement of LR
In a quantitative research proposal LR is
usually placed in a separate section titled
review of the literature;
For qualitative research articles, the
literature review may be found in a separate
section, included in the introduction or
threaded throughout the study.
 How to organize a literature review
Introduction: define the topic and tell the
reader about the structure of the section;
Or you may tell the reader about the sections
included in LR. This passage is a statement
about the organization of the section.
Body: this is where you show the review;
There are some ways in which you could
organize your discussions:
chronologically: for example, if writers' views
have tended to change over time.
thematically: take particular themes in the
literature;
methodologically: the focus is on the methods,
Conclusion: End the literature review with a
summary of the major themes and pointing out
the major flaws in methodology, gaps in the
research, contradictions, and areas for further
study and suggest how your proposed study
will contribute to the literature.
Priority for selecting literature material
What types of literature might be reviewed and in
what priority?
Consider the following:
1. may start with broad syntheses of the literature,
such as overviews found in encyclopaedias.
2.Next, turn to journal articles in respected
journals, especially those that report research
studies.
Start with the most recent issues of the
journals and look for studies about your topic
and then work back in time.
Follow up on references at the end of the
articles for more sources to examine.
3. books related to the topic.
4. recent conference papers.
5. Dissertations and
6. others, the web also provides helpful
materials for a literature review.
 Theory
Theory base, theoretical perspective, theoretical
rationale etc.
Conceptual matters about the issue being examined
An interrelated set of variables formed into propositions
that specify the relationship among variables
A theory might appear in a research study as an
argument, a discussion or rationale and it helps to
explain (predict) phenomena that occur in the world.
In quantitative study – it provides an explanation or
prediction about the relationship among variables in the
study
A theory explains how and why the variables are related,
acting as a bridge between or among the variables
Researchers state their theories in several ways such as
a series of hypotheses or visual models
Theory may be placed in the literature
review; in the hypotheses or research
questions or in a separate section.
Theory in qualitative research -inquirers
employ theory as a broad explanation
Some qualitative studies do not include
theory
The steps involved in conducting a
literature review:
Begin by identifying key words
begin searching the catalog for holdings
 try to locate about 50 reports of research in
articles or books related to research on your
topic
Skim this initial group of articles or chapters,
and duplicate those that are central to your
topic.
begin designing a literature map
review the literature selected;
begin to draft summaries of the most relevant
articles writing up the literature reviewed
 Conceptual framework
A conceptual framework is an analytical
tool with several variations and contexts.
It can be applied in different categories of
work where an overall picture is needed.
It is used to make conceptual distinctions and
organize ideas.
 Bank size

Capital adequacy

Assets utilization

Management efficiency

Earning ability Profitability

Ages