IMPORTANCE OF REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction
A literature review surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and by so doing, providing a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works. Literature reviews are designed to provide an overview of sources you have explored while researching a particular topic and to demonstrate to your readers how research fits into the larger field of study. Review of Literature Literature
A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area, and sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period. A literature review can be just a simple summary of the sources, but it usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis. A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information. It might give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations. Or it might trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates. And depending on the situation, the literature review may evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant. A literature review is a select analysis of existing research which is relevant to researcher’s topic, showing how it relates to researcher investigation. It explains and justifies how researcher’s investigation may help answer some of the questions or gaps in this area of research. A literature review is not a straightforward summary of everything you have read on the topic and it is not a chronological description of what was discovered in researcher’s field. researcher’s field. A longer literature review may have headings to help group the relevant research into themes or topics. This gives a focus to your analysis, as you can group similar studies together and compare and contrast their approaches, any weaknesses or strengths in their methods, and their findings. One common way to approach a literature review is to start out broad and then become more specific. Think of it as an inverted triangle.
Broad Issues Studies which overlap researcher’s study
Studies that are directly related to researcher’s study
First briefly explain the broad issues related to researcher’s investigation; researcher doesn’t need to write much about this, just demonstrate that researcher is aware of the breadth of researcher’s subject. Then narrow researcher’s focus to deal with the studies that overlap with current research. Finally, sharpen in on any research which is directl y related to specific investigation. Proportionally spend most time discussing those studies which have most direct relevance to researcher’s research.
Purpose of a Review of literature
To establish a theoretical framework for the topic / subject area
To define key terms, definitions and terminology
To identify studies, models, case studies etc supporting your topic
To define / establish the area of study, ie research topic.
Place each work in the context of its contribution to the understanding of the research problem being studied,
Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration,
Identify new ways to interpret, and shed light on any gaps in previous research,
Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies,
Point the way in fulfilling a need for additional research, and
Locate researcher’s research within the context of existing literature.
Types of Literature Reviews Argumentative Review This form examines literature selectively in order to support or refute an argument, deeply imbedded assumption, or philosophical problem already established in the literature. The purpose is to develop a body of literature that establishes a contrarian viewpoint. Given the value-laden nature of some social science research [e.g., educational reform; immigration control], argumentative approaches to analyzing the literature can be a legitimate and important form of discourse. However, note that they can also introduce problems of bias when they are used to make summary claims of the sort found in systematic reviews. Integrative Review Considered a form of research, that reviews, critiques, and synthesizes representative literature on a topic in an integrated way such that new frameworks and perspectives on the topic are generated. The body of literature includes all studies that address related or identical
hypotheses. A well-done integrative review meets the same standards as primary research in regard to clarity, rigor, and replication. Historical Review Few things rest in isolation from historical precedent. Historical reviews are focused on examining research throughout a period of time; often starting with the first time an issue, concept, theory, phenomena emerged in the literature, then tracing its evolution within the scholarship of a discipline. The purpose is to place research in a historical context to show familiarity with state-of-the-art developments and to identify the likely directions for future research. Methodological Review A review does not always focus on what someone said [content], but how they said it [method of analysis]. This approach provides a framework of understanding at different levels (i.e. those of theory, substantive fields, research approaches and data collection and analysis techniques), enables researchers to draw on a wide variety of knowledge ranging from the conceptual level to practical documents for use in fieldwork in the areas of ontological and epistemological consideration, quantitative and qualitative integration, sampling, interviewing, data collection and data analysis, and helps highlight many ethical issues which we should be aware of and consider as we go through our study. Systematic Review This form consists of an overview of existing evidence pertinent to a clearly formulated research question, which uses pre-specified and standardized methods to identify and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect, report, and analyse data from the studies that are included in the review. Typically it focuses on a very specific empirical question, often posed in a cause-and-effect form, such as "To what extent does A contribute to B?" Theoretical Review The purpose of this form is to concretely examine the corpus of theory that has accumulated in regard to an issue, concept, theory, phenomena. The theoretical literature review help establish what theories already exist, the relationships between them, to what degree the exist ing theories have been investigated, and to develop new hypotheses to be tested. Often this form is used to help establish a lack of appropriate theories or reveal that current theories are inadequate for explaining new or emerging research problems. The unit of analysis can focus on a theoretical concept or a whole theory or framework.
How to Organize Literature Review? Chronological of Events If review follows the chronological method, researcher could write about the materials according to when they were published. This approach should only be followed if a clear path
of research building on previous research can be identified and that these trends follow a clear chronological order of development. By Publication Order the collected sources by publication chronology, then, only if the order demonstrates a more important trend. Thematic (“conceptual categories”) Thematic reviews of literature are organized around a topic or issue, rather than the progression of time. However, progression of time may still be an important factor in a thematic review. The only difference here between a "chronological" and a "thematic" approach is what is emphasized the most. The authentic thematic reviews tend to break away from chronological order. A review organized in this manner would shift between time periods within each section according to the point made. Methodological A methodological approach focuses on the methods utilized by the researcher. A methodological scope will influence either the types of documents in the review or the way in which these documents are discussed.
Importance of the Review of Literature
The important facts about Review literature are to build knowledge and identify research methodologies and seminal works in research field, to help focus and refine research question by articulating the knowledge gap, and to provide the intellectual context for the work and situate it within the field. Another important reason is to learn how research findings are discussed and presented in researcher’s discipline area. Conclusion
A researcher should collect many literatures in order to get thorough understanding of his research topic. Review of literature helps researcher to find out the gap, so that he could continue his research with the base of collected literatures. Above all, review of literature refines the researcher’s study. Hence review of literature is so important in Social science field. The collected review of literatures will always present other author’s views, so the res earcher should not forget to mention his views in order to justify the researcher’s topic.
Bibliography http://libguides.usc.edu/content.php?pid=83009&sid=615851
https://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/literature-reviews/ http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/studyadvice/StudyResources/Essays/sta-startinglitreview.aspx
https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu../content/2_AssessmentTasks/assess_tuts/lit_review_LL/purpose.html http://www.ask.com/question/importance-of-literature-review
