Review of Related

Literature
RRL
RRL is an important component of research
regardless of the type of research. Be it qualitative or
quantitative research, you spend time and effort in
reviewing related literature. Reviewing RRL is one
major activity in research that makes you examine or
study again concepts or ideas related to your research
that people managed to publish in book, journals, or
other reading materials in the past.
PURPOSE OF RRL
Your reason for reviewing RRL are true for both qualitative and quantitative research. You
re-examine written works related to your research for the following purposes:
1. To find out the connection of your research to the current condition or situations of
the world.
2. To know more about theories or concept underlying your research and to learn form
them with respect to your own research study.
3. To discover the relation of your research with previous research studies.
4. To obtain information on the accuracy or relevance of your research questions.
5. To familiarized yourself with technical terms related to your research.
RRL IN QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
2 basic method of RRL: (1) Traditional (2)Systematic review
Traditional is for qualitative research; systematic is for quantitative
research.
Systematic review- a question-driven methodology is used for quantitative
researchers who begin their research work by asking questionsone big
question that states the main problem of the research and a set of sub-
questions that deal with specific aspects of the research.
 Qualitative research likewise begins with research questions, but these are
open-minded and subjective questions, in contrast to quantitative questions
that aim a obtaining exact, specific, and objective answers who origin or
sources are easy to trace.(Ridley 2012,p. 189; Jesson 2011)

STEPS IN CONDUCTING A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

1. Clarifying the research questions.
2. planning the research based on your understanding of the research
questions.
3. Searching for literature.
4. Listing criteria for considering the values of written works.
5. Evaluating the quality of previous research studies.
6. Summarizing the various forms of knowledge collected.

Adopting a systematic review of RRL prevents you from being bias in

dealing with the varied form of literature. The adherence of systematic review
to scientific method makes it the apt RRL method for quantitative research
that likewise follows the scientific method of looking into truthfulness of
something. (Babie 2013; Russel 2013; Jesson 2011)
META ANALYSIS IN QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Meta-analysis- Is a kind of RRL in which you re-examine and combine the
results of two or more statistical studies for coming out with a grand total
to indicate stronger effects of the research outcome. Putting the results
together and making them appear as one result work to strengthen whatever
impacts the independent variable has on the dependent variable.
 Meta-analysis helps in guaranteeing the precision of the measuring
method used in a quantitative research. However, this merging of
statistical results is not applicable to all quantitative research studies.
You resort to meta-analysis only if the statistics that you intend to
combine come from studies having several similarities like they are
comparable in terms of research questions,research design, treatment,
measuring technique, and measurable outcome. These studies that are
apt for combination purposes are called homogenous studies.
Conversely, with a number of differences from other studies, they
are called heterogenous studies and are exempted from this type
of systematic review of RRL called meta-analysis.
The qualitative approach of narrative synthesis which is a
systematic review using written verbal language to explain or
describe test result is the appropriate RRL method for heterogenous
studies.
IN-TEXT CITATION AND REFERENCING STYLES
Having honesty, respect or courtesy to the owners of these varied
forms of knowledge as well as gratefulness for their valuable
contribution to the field, you see to it that the names of these idea
owners or authors appear in the appropriate sections of your research
paper.
Referring to authors within the main body of the paper is called
citation or in-text citation; at the end of the paper it is called
bibliography or references.
The two most commonly used referencing styles are the MLA
(Modern Language Association) and the APA (American
Psychological Association).
ASPECTS APA SYSTEM MLA SYSTEM
ASPECTS APA SYSTEM MLA SYSTEM

Writing the authors name Full surname first, then followed by Full surname first, followed by full
writing the authors nameinitialsFull
of first and middle
surname name
first, followed Fullfirst name,first,
surname and followed
optional initial of
middle
by initials of first name and by full name
name, and optional
Writing the title of the reading middle
Italicized titlename
with only the beginninginitial of the middle
Underlined name. title with all
or italicized
material Writing the title of the word capitalized (exception:
Italicized title with onlycapital content words
the Underlined capitalized
or italicized title
reading material for every properword
beginning noun)capitalized with all content words
Writing the copyright date (exception
Written after the :capital
authorsfor every capitalized.
name Written after the publishers name
proper noun)
Writing the copyright date Written after the author's Written after publisher's
name name
EXAMPLES OF APA REFERENCING STYLE
EXAMPLES OF APA REFERENCING STYLE
EXAMPLES OF APA REFERENCING STYLE
EXAMPLES OF APA REFERENCING STYLE
EXAMPLES OF APA REFERENCING STYLE
EXAMPLES OF APA REFERENCING STYLE
EXAMPLES OF APA REFERENCING STYLE
ETHICAL STANDARDS IN RRL WRITING
The ethnical way of literature writing tells you to acknowledge
the owners of borrowed ideas and put quotation marks around
copied words from books or article. Intentionally or negligently
disregarding the use of quotation marks around words copied
exactly is not only unethical but an indication of gross plagiarism as
well. Proper citation and referencing is your way of freeing
yourself from plagiarism and of avoiding people from casting
doubts on your honesty and integrity as a researcher. (Fraenbel
2012; Ransome,2011)