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This literature review provides a critical and factual overview of published research by accredited scholars, offering a synthesis of the current knowledge on a specific topic. It evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of previous studies and suggests recommendations for future research. This review serves as a valuable resource for researchers seeking to develop a background and guide for their studies.
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Literature Review Dr.Maji Jose MDS, PhD Professor & Head Dept of Oral Pathology Yenepoya Dental College
What is a review of the literature? • An account of what has been published on certain topic by accredited scholars and researchers. • Acritical analytical summary and synthesis of the current knowledge of a topic. • A critical, factual overview of what has gone before.
A literature review is • a report on the current state of research in a given area of study • that comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the research within a given field • and perhaps gives recommendations for possible future study
Why a Literature Review? • to develop a background for a topic, based on the information that has been collected • to make a guide for studies so that they are build on what is known rather than working in a vacuum. • to see what is not known about a problem or issue, so gaps can be identified in the research that need to be explored.
Literature review helps in ….. • Increasing knowledge about the topic • Also to gain and demonstrate skills information-seeking: the ability to scan the literature efficiently, to identify a set of useful articles and books critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles of analysis
Knowledge about the topic • delimiting the research problem, • seeking new lines of inquiry, • avoiding fruitless approaches, • gaining methodological insights, • identifying recommendations for further research, and • seeking support for grounded theory.
Literature review maybe…. Stand alone literature reviews • provide an overview and analysis of the current state of research on a topic or question. • The goal is to evaluate and compare previous research on a topic to provide an analysis of what is currently known; also to reveal controversies, weaknesses or gaps in current work.
Part of a research proposal -to demonstrate how the proposed research will contribute to the field by pointing out current issues and questions concerning a topic. Part of a research report -The review should provide the context to which your work is a contribution.
The objectives…… A good literature review should show:- • that you are aware of what is going on in the field, and thus your credentials • that there is a theory base for the work you are proposing to do • how your work fits in with what has already been done (it provides a detailed context for your work) • that your work has significance • that your work will lead to new knowledge.
Credentials …./ proof of knowledge • demonstrate author’s knowledge about a particular field of study, including vocabulary, theories, key variables and phenomena, and its methods and history. • convince Readers that you are well read in whatever it is that you are investigating. -This is established by selection of works, organising them in a way that makes sense, discussing them objectively, and focussing on the important ones
Theory base • A theory base is necessary for readers to take your work seriously. • you need to show that you understand and can relate your work to the major theories that justify, the objectives. • For this, find the major explanatory theories that pertain to what you are doing and comment on them as they relate to your work.
Context …. • locate your work in the work of others. • Make it clear to the reader how, what you are proposing to do fits in with what has gone before. • By discussing the works related to what you’re going to do and focussing on the ones most closely related, the context of your work will automatically be clear.
Significance… • By grounding your proposed work in the previous literature, show the significance of the work. • Emphasise the significance and originality of your work by gently pointing out, omissions or inadequacies in previous work
Originality….. After reviewing the most closely related and most current work of other scholars and if anything that precisely duplicates your work is not found, then your work must be original e.g. “while contributing in this and that regard, unfortunately So-and-so’s work does not address [your originality]” or “So-and-so’s major contribution was this, that and the other. However, he fails to consider his point [while you do].
Taxonomy of Literature Reviews Cooper(1988) suggests that literature reviews can be classified according to different characteristics: • focus, goal, • perspective, coverage, • organization, and audience. • Effective method is to consider where the proposed review fits into Cooper’s Taxonomy of Literature Reviews.
Focus Cooper (1988) identifies four potential foci: • Research outcomes- help identify a lack of information on a particular research outcome, thus establishing a justifiable need for study. • Research methods - sound rationale that can justify proposed dissertation research, if it turns out that the previous research has been methodologically flawed.
Theories-help establish a lack of theories or reveal that the current theories are insufficient helping to justify that a new theory should be put forth. • practices or applications- can help establish a practical need not currently being met.
Goal • to integrate and generalize findings across units, treatments, outcomes, and settings; to resolve a debate within a field; or to bridge the languageused across fields. • to critically analyzeprevious research, identify central issues, or explicate a line of argument within a field.
Perspective • In qualitative research, review authors often decide to reveal pre-existing biases and accepting it • In quantitative primary research, authors can attempt to take a neutral perspective and present the review findings as fact.
Coverage • Exhaustive review- every available piece of research on a certain topic, published or unpublished. • Exhaustive review with selective citation-only articles published in journals, but not conference papers; with a theoretical reasoning • Representative sample- entire population of articles from one sample. • Purposive sample - only the central or pivotal articles in a field.
Organization • Historical format • the review is organized chronologically. • preferred when the emphasis is on the progression of research methods or theories, or on a change in practices over time. Conceptual format - built around concepts. Methodological format - organized methodologically, as in an empirical paper (i.e., introduction, method, results, and discussion)
Audience • (Specialized/ General Scholars, Practitioners, general public) • Primary audience - supervisor and reviewers of the dissertation • Secondary audience - scholars within the field that the dissertation relates to • Avoid writing the dissertation literature review for a general, non-academic audience.
Studies may be summarized as… • Narrative reviews • Systematic review articles • Meta-analyses of published data • Pooled re-analyses (meta-analyses with individual data).
Narrative reviews ….. • provide a broad overview of a specific topic • each study is described separately in a few sentences or a paragraph • a good way of rapidly obtaining current information on a given topic. • the articles included are selected subjectively and unsystematically
Systematic review…. • studies considered—after the application of previously defined inclusion and exclusion criteria • Extract relevant information systematically from the publications. • Analyzethe methodological quality of the included publications and to investigate the reasons for any differences between the results in the different studies. • The results of each study are presented and analyzed according to defined criteria, such as study design and mode of recruitment.
Meta-analysis…. • Same as systematic review • In addition, the results are quantitatively summarized using statistical methods and pooled effect estimates are calculated . • is most often used to assess the clinical effectiveness of healthcare interventions; • combining data from two or more randomised control trials.
Pooled re-analyses • is a quantitative compilation of original data from individual studies for combined analysis. • The authors of each study included in the analysis provide individual data • These are then compiled in a combined database and analyzedaccording to standard criteria fixed in advance.
Quantitative Literature Reviews • Narrative reviews • Meta-analytic reviews.
Qualitative Literature Reviews When a body of literature is primarily qualitative, or contains a mixture of uantitativeand qualitative results, it may be necessary to conduct a qualitative review, either alone or as a complement to a quantitative review.
Ogawa and Malen’s method Step 1: Create an audit trail. Step 2. Define the focus of the review. Step 3: Search for relevant literature. Step 4: Classify the documents. Step 5: Create summary databases. Step 6: Identify constructs and hypothesized causal linkages Step 7: Search for contrary findings and rival interpretations. Step 8: Use colleagues or informants to corroborate findings.
The phenomenological method • Step 1: Bracketing • Step 2: Collecting data. • Step 3: Identifying meaningful statemen • Step 4. Giving meaning. • Step 5. Thick, rich description.
