1. Literature review - a narrative interpretative criticism of the existing research
1. A summary and synthesis of relevant literature on a research problem
2. A critique of the status of knowledge on a carefully defined topic
3. Sources
1. Print - professional journals, reports, scholarly books and monographs, government documents, and dissertations
2. Electronic resources - internet sites, on-line journals, etc.
2. Functions of a literature review
1. General purpose: to relate previous research to the current problem being investigated
2. Specific purposes
1. Define and limit the problem
1. Develop familiarity with the topic
2. Limit the research to a subtopic within the larger body of knowledge
2. Place the study in historical perspective
1. Analysis of the way in which the study relates to the existing knowledge
3. Avoid replication
1. Awareness of prior studies so as to avoid unneeded replication
2. Replication is reasonable if it is needed to verify prior results, investigate results that failed to be significant, or relate the problem to a specific site
4. Select methods and measures
1. Knowledge of and insight into specific research designs for investigating a problem
2. Awareness of specific instruments, sampling procedures, and data analyses
5. Relate the findings to the knowledge of a topic and suggest future research needs
1. Relating prior research to what is known places the current study in perspective
2. This knowledge allows the researcher to focus the problem on what is not known
6. Develop research hypotheses (quantitative research)
1. Suggestions for specific research hypotheses
3. General steps to reviewing the literature
1. Analyze the problem statement
2. Search and read the secondary literature
1. Secondary literature represents a summary, review, or discussion of the original research of others
2. Provides an overview of the topic, albeit from the perspectives of the authors and not necessarily the researcher
3. Sources
3. Select the appropriate index for a database (e.g., Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), Education Index, PsycINFO, etc.)
4. Transform the problem statement into search language through the use of descriptor terms
5. Conduct a search
1. Manual
2. Computerized
6. Read the primary literature
1. Primary literature represents articles that report original research
2. Sources
7. Organize notes
8. Write the review
3. Sources for a literature review
1. Secondary literature - reviews of prior research and syntheses of theoretical and empirical studies
1. Quarterly and annual reviews
2. Scholarly books and monographs
3. Encyclopedias
4. Reviews, handbooks, yearbooks, etc.
5. Other specialized references (e.g., other social science disciplines)
6. ERIC resources
2. Primary literature - original research or writings by a researcher or theorist
1. ERIC
1. Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE) - information related to articles compiled form approximately 800 educational journals and periodicals
1. Subject and author index
2. Abstracts of the articles
3. Index of the journal contents
4. Relevant information (e.g., author(s), title, journal, date of publication, number of pages, etc.)
2. Resources in Education (RIE) - information related to research reports not published in journals (e.g., conference papers; project reports; evaluations reports; federal, state, and local agency documents; etc.)
2. Education Index - bibliographic information
3. PsychINFO - bibliographic information related to references for psychology and related disciplines
4. Selected abstracts and indexes in subjects related to education (e.g., Psychological Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, etc.)
5. Government documents indexes
6. Dissertations and theses
7. Citation indexes
8. Smithsonian Science Information Exchange (SSIE)
4. Steps for conducting a computerized search
1. Analyze the problem
1. Narrow the focus of the study
2. Identify key ideas, issues, and terms that represent the focus of the study
2. Determine the type of search
1. Preliminary
1. Purpose is to refine the problem
2. Uses a limited number of references with broad descriptor terms
2. Exhaustive
1. Purpose is to focus on all of the research on the specific problem
2. Uses extensive number of references with numerous descriptors and combinations of them
3. Computerized
3. Select indexes from primary literature
1. Choice of the index is based on the relevance of the citations
1. ERIC is the most widely used database
2. See Table 4.3, p. 84 for other databases
4. Select descriptors and terms
1. Identify the most important terms in the problem
2. Identify the keyword descriptors using the ERIC Thesaurus
1. Limitations of the print version
2. ERIC Search Wizard - electronic version located at the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation
3. Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms
5. Conduct the computerized search
1. Search option fields
1. Limiting the search in specific ways (e.g., authors, titles, dates, etc.)
2. Forms of words (exact, most, some, etc.)
3. Number of results per page
4. Format for displaying the results (e.g., title only, title and notes, etc.)
2. Searching using descriptors (i.e., key terms) and logical connectors
1. The purpose of the search is to limit the results to a reasonable number of entries that directly address the problem
2. Using OR and AND
1. OR broadens the search by including all titles under both descriptors (i.e., the sum of the number of titles for the first descriptor and the number of titles for the second descriptor)
2. AND narrows the search by including only titles that contain both the first and second descriptors
3. Example
1. Searching with classroom assessment produced 363 titles
2. Searching with middle school produced 11,075 titles
3. Searching with classroom assessment OR middle school produced 11,429 titles
4. Searching with classroom assessment AND middle school produced 9 titles
6. Analyze the search results
1. Three levels of information
1. Title and ERIC accession number
1. EJ prefix represents a CIJE entry (i.e., a journal entry)
2. ED prefix represents a RIE entry (i.e, a document entry)
2. Bibliographic information and all descriptors for the entry
3. Abstract
2. Examining each source
1. Read the information and mark the entries of particular relevance or interest
2. Print the information from the "marked" entries
7. Locate the references
1. University and local libraries
2. Inter-library loan
3. Reprints from journals and authors
4. Personal libraries (e.g., professors, experts in the field, etc.)
8. Read, abstract, and organize the references
1. Scan the article to ensure its relevance
2. Read the relevant articles
3. Take notes using index cards in electronic or printed form
1. Bibliographic information
2. Summary of the research problem
3. Identification of the variables
4. Identification of the subjects, instruments, and procedures
5. Summary of the results and conclusions
6. Record important quotes, weaknesses, relevance to the problem, etc.
5. Presentation of literature reviews in quantitative research
1. Three sections
1. Introduction states the purpose and scope of the review
2. Criticism of the literature discusses the strengths and limitations of the knowledge related to the problem
3. Summary states the status of the knowledge on the topic, identifies the gaps in this knowledge, and relates the study to this knowledge base
2. Organize the studies in a manner that provides insight into the problem and the rationale for the study (e.g., chronology, variables, designs and methods, relevance, etc.)
6. Presentation of the literature review in qualitative research
1. Due to the emergent nature of qualitative research designs, qualitative researchers locate and criticize most of the literature during data collection and analysis
2. Preliminary review
1. Represents possible conceptual frameworks for phrasing foreshadowed problems
2. Phenomenological studies use the review to justify the need for an in-depth descriptive study using a qualitative approach
3. Historical and legal studies use the review to contrast the proposed focus with prior research to justify the need for the study
3. Continuous review and criticism
1. Enables the researcher to understand that which is being observed
2. Enables the researcher to understand the context (i.e., literal and figurative) within which the research in being conducted
4. Alternative organizational schemes
1. Separate discussions
2. Integrated discussion and text
7. Meta-analysis literature reviews
1. Meta-analysis is a review procedure that uses sophisticated statistical procedures to summarize the results of prior independent studies
2. Process
1. Problem formulation - identifying the specific questions and hypotheses being researched
2. Data collection - accessing the entire "population" of relevant studies
3. Data evaluation - considering the relevance of the data from each study based on the methodological quality of it
4. Data analysis and interpretation
5. Public presentation
3. Strengths and limitations
1. Subjective nature of including methodologically adequate studies
2. Concerns related to combining results from studies that differ in design, concept, and operation
3. Differing results across meta-analyses
4. Possibility of discouraging further research on a particular topic
8. Standards of adequacy
1. Selection of the literature
1. Is the purpose of the review indicated?
2. Are the parameters of the review reasonable?
3. Is primary literature emphasized and secondary literature used selectively?
4. Are recent developments in the problem emphasized?
5. Is the literature selected relevant to the problem?
6. Are complete bibliographic data provided?
2. Criticism of the literature
1. Is the review organized by topics or ideas?
2. Is the review organized logically?
3. Are major studies or theories discussed in detail and minor studies with similar limitations or results discussed as a group?
4. Is there adequate criticism of the design and methodology of important studies so that the reader can draw conclusions?
5. Are studies compared and contrasted and conflicting or inconclusive results noted?
6. Is the relevance of each reference to the problem explicit?
3. Summary and interpretation - See the Literature Review Assignment
1. Does the summary provide an overall interpretation and understanding of our knowledge of the problem?
2. Do the implications provide theoretical or empirical justification for the specific research questions or hypotheses to follow?
3. Do the methodological implications provide a rational for the design to follow?

Original outline prepared for Allyn and Bacon by Jeffrey Oescher

E-Mail Jeffrey Oescher