Literature review- purpose, steps, procedure and sources
General Background
Literature review simply refers to the study of the already published and unpublished texts in
the similar field. The systematic and scientific research is almost impossible
without the proper and sufficient literature review. In a simple word, it is
always a bad idea to carry out the research when you have not come with the
study of sufficient materials related to it.
Literature review makes
you a perfect and credible researcher. For example if I want to carry out the
research about the hospitality and tourism in Karnali Province of Nepal, I need
to go for detail understanding from the fundamental knowledge about the
hospitality and tourism to the context based and more advance nature and
reality of it. For this I obviously need to invest a long time and effort along
with my dedication to know, learn and comprehend the subject.
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| Literature Review & Conceptual Framework |
Introduction to Literature Review
Literature review is
the entire body of published document to a specific topic or the specific topic
in a required period of time. The literature review can be useful to
re-conceptualize, diversified and contextualize the knowledge of one topic
which simply is always in the process of development and to be more advanced
and matured. Besides it ever growing nature, the literature review also
contribute the new insight and foundation for the new and innovative topics and
subject matter where it helps to generate new model and theories.
For Hart 1998 and
Cronin at al 2008, Literature Review is an objective thorough summary and
critical analysis of the relevant available literature of research and non
research work on the topic being studied.
Similar to the
Definition of Hart & Cronin, Cooper 1988 mentions more elaborated concepts,
He says the literature review includes both verbal and written reports which
are often the scholarly documents and can be found in empirical, theoretical,
critical, analytical or methodological in nature. Furthermore, it also seeks to
describe, summarize, evaluate, classify or integrate the content into the
topic.
Some people have
confusion about on literature review and academic research paper. Literature
review is just the part of the academic research but is the foundation on which
the entire research paper based on.
Purpose of Literature Review
The majority of
literature review serves the a part of primary research articles that provide
the theoretical foundation for the main study which is the subject of the
study. Regarding the purpose of the literature review, Fink (2005) describe
multiple purposes such as it presents/reads the rest of a scholarly articles.
The purpose of literature can be listed as follows"
a.
Understanding
the state of thing
The literature reviews are placed and systematically
mentioned at the very beginning of the research work it is because the readers
need to understand the up to date information of the topic from the past to
present. This certainly helps to highlight the gap and carryout the useful
research on the topic/ area.
You can take this concept like you are finding the
jigsaw puzzle and arranging/categorizing them in a proper places then finally
finds out the gap where your work can be fit. Thus main purpose of the research
is to deal/hit the topic which still has not be addressed and explored.
b.
It
evaluates the sources of materials
Literature review is not just the collection of
already published documents/texts and their summaries. It is rather the
evaluation of the materials by comparing and contrasting it with other sources.
It evaluates each and every materials on the basis of its source and writer.
They can also be used to scale the materials on how they are contributing the
topic and area of study.
Thus the main purposes of literature review is to
summarize and analyze the previous research and theories, identifies the areas
where there are controversy and a sense of competition then to highlight if any
gap to fulfill in that topic.
According to Ranjit Kumar (2014) the main function
of literature review is to make comprehend the researcher in his/her research by
providing theoretical background of the study, by helping in establishing the
links between what you are proposing to examine and what has already been
studied and finally enabling the researcher on the findings to explore how they
are contributing the existing body of knowledge in one hand and on the other it
also helps the researcher
What is the process of developing literature review?
The process of developing literature review is not
an overnight job. It should be developed in a proper order and steps. The
process is for example finding out/determining the topic then locating the
relevant literature review it may be in the library, book/online sources etc.
Once you are able to locate it they you have to obtain it. You simply get it
then read and finally review or summarize the entire body of knowledge and
information to critically analyze.
The simple and more convenient process of developing literature review begins with the specialization of topic to study and
research. However the entire process can be listed as follows:
a.
Choosing
the review topic
It is often challenging to the novice researcher and
students to choose the topic. In my personal experience also the graduate and
post graduate students seem more confusing and they really are worried about in
formulating topics because of lack of confidence at one hand on the other they
don't have sufficient literature.
b.
Finding
and choosing the appropriate articles
After finalizing the review topic, the researcher
has to find out and search the appropriate research articles to his study. In
this step, the researcher search and make a pile of all the related article to
make his study comprehensive and relevant. The articles which are conflicting
in their theoretical positions and come out with distinct outcome which finally
makes your research more comprehensible and the scope and coverage of your
study becomes wider and more convincing. In the present context, the searching
and finding the appropriate articles is based on computer data base and
internet where you can find the articles already published online.
If we talk about the sources of articles, they can
be categorized into primary and secondary sources. The first one refers to the
report and article of the researcher which has been first time or primarily
used for the review purpose whereas second one means the same report but in
summary or condense form for the understanding purpose. The terms primary and
secondary are sufficient to understand the concept here used in case of type of
sources of the review.
In the same line, review can also be categorized as
conceptual/theoretical which denotes those documents and descriptions that
describes a particular theory or concept about that topic. Finally the review
is based on views and opinion which are not based on a particular research is
termed as anecdotal and opinion based review.
Thus, a researcher has to specify and choose the
research articles related to the topic in this step.
c.
Analyzing
and Synthesizing the literature
Certainly once you finish the collection or you have
the sufficient document related to your topic then you should analyze and
synthesize them. Here analyze means to break them in to small pieces to see and
comprehend the isolated elements and aspects then synthesize them means to
rearrange them to make a complete topic or item. At this step, the researcher
has to work in a more scholar and critical way. Analyzing helps the researcher
to observe and understand the minor elements and aspects of the topic. Once
s/he is able to check all those things then the synthesizing process becomes
easier and state forward.
Researchers and scholars have different opinions and
ideas regarding how many articles and previous studies should be dealt and
consulted in a proper and standard review. We can simply suggest based on the
majority of scholars and academicians that 6 to 12 previous studies/research
work would be sufficient if they are trustable and standard sources.
More importantly it is recommended to ask some
specific questions or making a check list to confirm the standard and coverage
of the texts and materials used in the literature review.
d.
Organizing
the Review
One of the key steps of the entire process of
developing adequate literature review based on your capacity and experience of
organizing skills of your wiring and the information. It means there should be
proper introduction and conclusion with no conflicting ideas in between. The
entire concept should be well introduced, described, exemplified and so on.
In general, organizing the review or the writing
indicates three part in systematic order. There is the introduction of your
review which should be based on a brief overview of your topic or problem of
the study. The introduction is not only presenting the main topic, but it also
should make a statement which indicates the status of knowledge in the area of
research. The researcher should consider the 3 main aspects while drafting the
introduction part of the review.
a. Define or identify
the general topic to provide a context for reviewing the literature
b. To identify a
specific problem, identify overall trends, conflicts in theory, methodology,
evidence, and conclusions, or gaps in research and scholarship.
c. The researcher has
to establish the purpose for reviewing the literature or point of view
d. S/he explains the
criteria used to select and evaluate the literature; explain what it's scope is
and forecast the organization or sequence of the review.
Thus finally the
researcher has to summarize the main points and needs to identify his stands on
the areal of the research.
Types of Literature Review
Literature review can
be broadly categorized into two types based on the nature of the
materials/literature.
a. A
survey of research article:
It
can be a survey of research articles in which the researcher collects, studies,
analyzes and summarizes the subject matter.
b. A conceptual review:
It is a review in which the researches finds out all the related concepts and theories on the basis of which s/he put forward his arguments to the topic.
The more detail understanding about the nature and
type of the literature review is analyzed in advance and more levels of research.
There are four aspects determine on which type of
review is striving by the researcher.
a.
Speed (dependent on research area)
b.
Methodological detail (No methods)
c.
Risk of bias (High risk of bias)
d.
Comprehensiveness (Dependent on author)
Based on these aspects, the literature review is
also categorized as
a.
Narrative Review
b.
Critically Appraised Topic
c.
Scoping Review
d.
Rapid Review
e.
Systematic Review/Meta Analysis
According to Grant & Booth 2009, the review based
on time duration can be conducted in a following ways:
1-4 Weeks= Traditional Narrative Review
2-8 Weeks= Scoping Review
2-6 Months=Rapid Review
8-24 Months= Systematic Review
What is conceptual framework?
The term conceptual framework is related to the overall blend of the related literature review to
guide the present research to the proper way. It doesn't guide but also govern
the entire research process. The conceptual framework in the most of the
research is presented immediately after the literature review.
Various scholars are
found interested to explain and clarify the concept of conceptual framework. According
to Imenda, 2014, it is the end result of bringing together a number of related
concepts to explain and give a broader understanding of the phenomenon under
research.
By giving an inquiry a
framework that organizes the currents of thought that give it emphasis and
direction, insight is attained (Rallis & Rossman, 2012). This suggests that
a conceptual framework is a summary of many findings from the literature
sources regarding the research that have been examined, outlining the research
agenda for better comprehension of the research aims.
Conceptual framework
represents the guiding mechanism which is derived from the centre of theories
and key findings discussed in the literature review. Mainly to define and
direction of the study conceptual framework is established or formulated. The
key of related topics, the trending phrases and the conclusions help in
generating the ideas.
To clarify the concept
of conceptual frame work Thomas 2012 says conceptual framework is the birth
from the sufficient and relevant literature review. More importantly, it is
flourished from in between the conflicting and controversial ideas and agenda.
Another important thing is it provides coherence to the researcher thought.
How to construct an effective conceptual framework?
As I have already discussed
that conceptual framework is based on the findings and summary of all the
relevant literature review, it is either in descriptive/narrative from or
schematic/diagram form. It deals with all the related factors and elements
which have the impacts on the research topic/subject matter. For example if we
want to see the relationship between the Management Education and Entrepreneur
Intents. The conceptual framework of this topic can be presented in a diagram. This conceptual framework is used in one of my research works.
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| [A Conceptual Framework] |
Thus, the conceptual framework
is derived from the review of the related literature and it gives birth to the theoretical
and conceptual framework.
What is theoretical framework?
The theoretical
framework serves as the thesis's main supporting assumption. It is a network of
relationships between variables that has been rationally constructed, defined,
and elaborated using methods like interviews, observations, and literature
surveys. These variables are deemed relevant to the problem situation (p.73).
Whatever the case a
good theoretical review identifies five basic components should be incorporated.
For example: all the variables considered relevant to the study be clearly
identified, there should be the clear and proper discussion on how two or more
variables are related with each other. Additionally, if the nature of the
variables and their relationship to one another can be hypothesized based on
the results of prior research, then it should be indicated in the discussions
whether the associations would be positive or negative. The researcher
expectation on the relationship of the variables should also be defined that
why s/he expects that type of relation and nature of the variables.
Theoretical framework should also clearly present the
schematic diagram so that the researcher can visualize the theorized
relationships.
[Schematic Diagram]
(The Diagram: Independent & Dependent Variables)
Conclusion
Concluding the idea,
creating literature review and formulating conceptual framework is always plays
the significant role in the entire research process. The researcher should not
do rush and hurry at this step and aspects of the research. Literature review
gives the detail understanding about the topic along with the related factors
and elements of the topic and after the review of the related literature, the researcher
formulate the conceptual framework which suggests and helps in regulating the
research to achieve the objectives of the research.
Conceptual framework
gets the theory and understanding from the related literature then contextualize
and specify that theory and understanding to move ahead for the accomplishment
of the goals/objectives.
References
Timilsena (2022). A platform for discussion to University Students- Business Research Methodology
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