Research in Coaching and Mentoring��Module leader: Dr Sylwia Ciuk

Literature Reviews

Session 2

2017

Literature in a research project

1. Research topic – draw on literature
2. Literature Review - Systematic description and critical evaluation of literature (writings on your topic)
3. Methodology – refer to methodologies used in the literature
4. Research findings (usually lit takes a back seat here)
5. Discussion and Conclusion – consider findings in the light of existing literature
6. References list

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Use of literature review

Demonstrate awareness of current state of knowledge in a subject

Use to inform your research design:

• How have concepts been defined and operationalised?
• What research approaches, strategies and data collection techniques can be used
• Further refine your research questions/objectives
• Develop hypotheses or theoretical propositions (for quantitative studies)

“…a systematic and thorough search of all types of published literature in order to identify as many items as possible that are relevant to a particular topic.”

(Gash, S. 1999, Effective literature searching for research. 2nd ed., London: Gower. )

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But is it only that? Search is only the beginning – the review is a creative act

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In applied social sciences, an extensive argument, which evaluates relevant theories and findings, locates your study, indicating clearly where it is going and how it will contribute.

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The Importance of the Literature Review

Literature review

Process requiring mapping (identifying, cataloguing and categorising) and critically assessing existing intellectual territory – so as to identify/ specify a research question and in responding to it, develop existing knowledge further. Development linked to gaps.

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D’Silva and Denyer (2009)

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Broad focus (look at everything, but read selectively & deeply)

Specific focus (executive coaching, manager as coach, voluntary mentoring, career coaching)

Content area (female executives, middle managers in the private sector, mentoring young offenders, graduate careers)

Discipline-based perspectives on specific focus and content (sociology, psychology, education, management etc)

Discipline based debates and issues (theories of self, theories of command and control, equality debates etc.)

Ethical issues relating to the life/work of those being researched

Social and cultural issues relating to the life/work of those being researched

(list adapted from Schostak, J. (2002) Understanding, designing and Conducting Qualitative Research in Education, Buckingham: Open University Press)

Identifying literature for the review

Literature searches – Levels of ‘closeness’ to data

Secondary: books, newspapers, journals… look for refereed (peer reviewed) journal articles, literature reviews (Academy of Management Review, Harvard Business Review, IJEBCM)

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Primary: data collected by yourself

Literature searches

Too much?

Refine keywords,

parameters

Identify refereed

publications

Too little?

Expand keywords,

parameters

Snowballing

How to effectively look for sources?

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Protocol driven search

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• Electronic database search (key words)
• Hand search (selected key journals)

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Snowballing search

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• Reference tracking
• Citation tracking
• Similar papers tracking

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Other

Greenhalgh (2005)

When performing the review:

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• Start by searching scholarly books and journals;
• Begin with the most recent articles you can find and work back, using their reference lists to guide you;
• Keep track of relevant articles (EndNote; Spreadsheet);
• Don’t be discouraged if work on the topic is already underway;
• If there is very little literature in your area look wider - explore other disciplines such as healthcare; mentoring; human resources etc.

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Create categories:

• Separate the papers into some sort of logical order;
• Maybe write your review according to this categorisation.
• (chronological, sector, genre, discipline)

Performing a literature review

Internet can be an extremely useful tool when doing a literature search

but 

no substitute for a thorough and comprehensive literature search.

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Remember :-

•  not everything is available in full text on the Internet
•  there is little quality control
•  pages, and whole sites, move / disappear without warning
• be sure to record the date you access pages and include it in your references

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Using the Internet for Literature Searching 1

• Who is the author? Is a name given?
• Are qualifications given and other information such as position?
• Is there a way to contact the author?
• Have you heard of the author? Has he/she written elsewhere on this topic?
• Has the article been published in an academic book or journal
• Who is the sponsor of the website?
• Is the author affiliated with a reputable institution or organisation?
• Does the information reflect the view of the organisation or only of the author?
• Check the URL (.ac.uk; .gov.uk; .edu may be reliable, .com less so)

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Using the Internet for Literature Searching 2

�Using the Internet for Literature Searching 3�

• Is the web site current? Is it dated?
• Is the date of the most recent update given?
• Is the information factual, not opinion?
• Is the source of the information clearly stated (original research material, secondary material borrowed from elsewhere?)
• Does the material have substance and depth?
• Are arguments based on strong evidence and good logic?
• Is the author’s view impartial and objective?
• Is the site free of errors in spelling or grammar and other signs of carelessness in its presentation of the material?

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Be very careful to check your sources when doing your literature review:

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• Many trade magazines are not peer reviewed.
• Professional conferences and journals often have each article reviewed by multiple people before it is even recommended for publication.
• The Internet can be a good source of information. It is also full of pseudo-science and poor research.
• Make sure you verify the claims of any documentation that has not been peer reviewed by other professionals.

Literature Search Pitfalls

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• Keep a live list of key words & phrases
• Identify your main search tools and sources

(Google, Google Scholar, Library Catalogues, COPAC etc)

• Become familiar with advanced search techniques on search engines such as Google
• Search for journal articles, conference papers, theses, books, reports and statistics
• Keep careful records right from the start of your search
• Remember the interlibrary loans service
• Don’t disregard serendipity (browsing, surfing)
• Remember that the literature search is a process rather than a product
• If you need help, ask the librarian

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�Top tips for literature searching

Recording literature searches

• Full bibliographical details (see Harvard referencing)
• Annotation:

Summary of content (empirical basis, theoretical framework(s), currency)

• Cross-referencing (how does it relate to other writings on the topic)
• Media:
• Index cards?
• Electronic?

Keeping Records

• Author
• Date
• Title of journal article or book chapter
• Title of book or journal (and editor if appropriate)
• City and publisher
• Page numbers/volume (particularly page numbers of any quotations you will use)
• Brief notes of why the text is useful to you

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EndNote or Excel?

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Keeping Records of the Literature

Use Harvard referencing;

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In the text use “Clutterbuck (1985) suggests …”

NOT “In his book, Everyone Needs a Mentor, David Clutterbuck points out ….” – There are 11 words here and still no date!

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Citing Web Resources;

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Tillman, H.N. (March, 2003) Evaluating Quality on the Net, http://www.hopetillman.com/findqual.html (accessed 25 November 2007).

Harvard Referencing

Why review the literature?

What has been done and what needs to be done?

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Discovering important variables relevant to the topic (quantitative studies)

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Synthesising and gaining a new perspective

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Identifying relationships between ideas and practice

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Exploring the context of a topic or problem

Why review?

Establishing the significance of a problem

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Gaining the subject vocabulary

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Understanding the structure of the subject

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Relating ideas and theory to applications

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Identifying main methods used in research in the topic

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Place the research into historical context – state of the art developments

Criteria for a good lit review

Breadth:

• Key academic theories in your area
• Methodologies (used and neglected)
• Key findings
• Currency

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Evaluation:

• What contradictions?
• Deficiencies – substantive or methodological

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Relevance:

• How your research relates to literature
• Justification by referencing other authors

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What makes a good lit review, continued

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A clear line of argument

Purposefully/ strategically written

Depth

Novel way of putting ideas together

Mapping/ ‘narrating’ the terrain

Sheds insight into the author’s position in relation to the existing body of work

Clearly defines key concepts, provides justification for the choices made

Shows awareness of the different debates in the literature, disagreements between authors, without causing confusion in the reader

Offers a framework for the subsequent research

Differentiates between the various types of work undertaken – it is careful about aligning itself (uncritically) with the prescriptive/ normative literature

It discusses both theoretical and empirical insights from the existing body of work

It is well written

Some questions the review can answer

What are the key sources?

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What are the key theories, concepts, ideas?

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What are the major issues and debates?

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What are the political standpoints?

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Which main questions have been tackled?

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How is knowledge in the topic organised?

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How have approaches to these questions increased our understanding?

Common weaknesses in literature reviews

Bullet-point statement – lack of thinking, evaluation

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Too many long direct quotes – where is your understanding?

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Describing what authors have said, e.g. one paragraph on Carroll, one on Frederick – lack of synthesis

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Relevance to your research – how does it inform your research question, research design

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“Research has shown..”, “Many authors have argued that..” – need to specify (references)

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Relying on other authors’ interpretation – go back to original text

Contribution to the dissertation

Your ability to construct a “map” of the literature

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Show familiarity with the subject area

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Show acquisition of your knowledge based on which you can evaluate previous research

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Your ability to justify a new approach to a well-worn topic area (if that’s the case)

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Development of skills – info handling and classification

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Demonstrate your powers of analysis (before the reader gets to your results)

What is a key source?

An item, usually published, which has an important effect on subsequent work in that topic

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Development of a technique or method which others have replicated/followed

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An item that has been used across several disciplines/several problems

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Identified through analysing bibliographies and citations.

Referencing – be full and accurate!

Scholarship – relation to existing body of knowledge (interpret results and build arguments

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Reasonableness of methods and justification for strong argument

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Source of your ideas – reader can check up

Quotations

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How:

Harvard (author/date)

Quotations from literature

In inverted commas, author/date/page number

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Use judiciously and not too often

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Good way to start off chapter

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Make a particularly strong point

References

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Gash, S. (1999), Effective literature searching for research. 2nd ed., London: Gower.

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Schostak, J. (2002) Understanding, designing and Conducting Qualitative Research in Education, Buckingham: Open University Press

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Tillman, H.N. (March, 2003) Evaluating Quality on the Net, http://www.hopetillman.com/findqual.html (accessed 14 October 2009).

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Useful:

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Ramdhani, A., Ramdhani, M. A., & Amin, A. S. (2014). Writing a Literature Review Research Paper: A step-by-step approach. International Journal of Basic and Applied Science, 1(3), 47-56.

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Fink, A. (2014). Conducting research literature reviews: from the Internet to paper. Sage Publications.