Dr.

Gurcharan Singh
Professor
School of Management Studies
Punjabi University Patiala
 Meaning

 The Literature review is a vital part of the research process. You
will gain important insights, knowledge, and awareness; you are
setting the stage for a better-designed study and can improve your
chances of obtaining significant results. Therefore, it is worth the
time and effort to do it right!

 Reviewing the literature involves:

 locating
 analysing
 synthesizing
 interpreting

 previous research and documents (periodicals, books, abstracts,

etc.) related to your study area.
What is a literature review

 academic requirements
 critical discussion and summary of statistical
literature
 Every statement in a literature review must be
supported either by a reference to published
statistical literature
 you can state a theorem, but you do not have to
present a proof of the theorem.
 Overall function
(aim/purpose)

 To provide a justification of the proposed research
project, indicating how it will be different to that
which has been published

 To develop an argument or case for the study based

on the literature reviewed
 Main functions

 To review what has been (or partly been)
researched/written
 To critique this literature
 To identify a gap, a problem, a need in the research
literature
 To provide a rationale for doing the proposed study
 To inform the design and methodology of the
proposed study
 Subsidiary functions

 Review published literature
 Identify the relevant theories
 Identify the research in the field
 Summarise the literature (theory & research)
 Synthesize the literature (theory & research)
 Critique the literature

 Identify the arguments for theories/ideas
 Identify the arguments against theories/ideas
Assess/weigh up the value of research claims
 Assess/weigh up the value of research design &
method
 Identify limitations in previous research
 Identify literature gaps

 Determine where the gap in knowledge lies
 Determine where the gap in research lies Identify
what areas have only been partially researched
 Inform proposed
research

 Provide a rationale (importance/significance) for
proposed research
 Provide a direction/plan for proposed research
 Provide a clear focus for research question(s) Provide
guidance for an appropriate design & methodology
 Provide background/context for proposed research
 why is it necessary

 In your literature search you will:
 discover what statistical knowledge exists related to
you research topic
 increase your statistical knowledge in your research
area
 Find gaps (and possibly errors) in published research
 generate new original ideas
 avoid duplicating results of other statisticians
 justify the relevance of your proposed research
 why is it necessary

 Student/Researcher is aware of the wide range of research
in theory and methodology related to the proposed
research topic
 Student/Researcher has an deep understanding of the
published statistical research related to the topic of the
dissertation
 Student/Researcher can communicate this under- standing
of the statistical literature and its relationship to the
proposed research
 It should support the originality and relevance for the
Ph.D. / and research problem
 Importance of Review of
Literature

 It describes how the proposed research is related to
prior research in statistics.
 It shows the originality and relevance of your
research problem. Specially, your research is
different from other researchers;
 It justifies your proposed methodology.
 It demonstrates your preparedness to complete the
research.
An Outline for Preparing a
Literature Review

 Generate a list of references:
 Make a preliminary list of statistical literature that is
relevant to your research topic
 Now you have to `procure' (get copies of) the
literature on the list
 Other references, may take time to get
 Make sure you keep notes of all details needed for the
Bibliography that will appear at the end of your
proposal and dissertation
 Keeping detailed notes will save you a lot of time.
An Outline for Preparing a
Literature Review

 Reading the literature:
 Once you have a preliminary list of references, you now
have to read this material
 You must realize that not every reference will contain
material that is relevant to your research problem
 While you are reading, keep notes about the assumptions
made and the important results
 Try to determine the methodology used by the author
 Think critically about the content
 What is the author trying to say?
 Is it relevant to my research? Is yes, then why is it relevant?
 What is original about the methodology used by the author
An Outline for Preparing a
Literature Review

 Update your list of references:
 Find other references you will need to read
 Specially, you will follow references from one
publication to another publication until you have a
thorough background knowledge on a topic or
subtopic
 You should ask “Have I accessed the most recent and
relevant literature?" through-out the proposal and
dissertation process.
An Outline for Preparing a
Literature Review

 Presentation:
 As you continue to read, you will be generating more and more
notes
 For each item, make a list of references that are related to that
item. These references will be either `general' or ‘specialized'.
 General references (e.g., textbooks) can provide useful
information on the research area (such as response surface
methodology (RSM), survey sampling (SS), statistical quality
control (SQC)) and on a more focused research area.
 General references, however, are not very useful or provide
very little information on your research topic. For example, you
will find very little, if any, information about space-filling
designs in textbooks. That is why you need references that
`specialize" on that topic.
An Outline for Preparing a
Literature Review

 After you have collected the information from general
texts, you must now provide detailed information that
focuses on your research topic and research problem.
This information will come from the specialized
references.
 The specialized references enable you to show that a
gap exists in the literature and that your research will
fill the gap
 Formats of Literature
Review

 The Literature review can be organized in a number of
formats. Three of the most common are:
 Historical Format -- Where the review is organized
chronologically. This is preferred when focus is on the
progression of research methods or theories, or a change
in practice over time.
 Conceptual Format -- Review is organized according to
relevant concepts and/or theories.
 Methodological Format -- Where literature review
structure mimics that of an empirical paper (introduction,
method, results, etc.). Most often used in meta-analytic
reports.
 Examples

 The first section identifies the literature that explains the
relationship between motivational research and the study
of willingness to communicate. For decades, Gardner's
(1972, 1980, 1985) social psychological approach to
motivation was dominant until a situated educational
approach (offered, for example, by Crookes and Schmidt
1991; Dornyei 1994; Oxford and Shearin 1994) was called
for in the period of motivation renaissance during the
1990s (Dornyei 2001). The study of willingness to
communicate represents an aspect of a trend moving in
this direction.
 Examples

 Brown (1990) noted that children under the age of two were unaffected by
the separation of their parents.
 Lee (1990) stated that even children as young as eight months old were
disturbed by the separation of their parents.
 Brown (1990). argued that children under the age of two were unaffected
by the separation of their parents. Lee (1990), however, con tended that
even children as young as eight months old were disturbed by the
separation of their parents.
 Brown (1990) claimed that children under the age of two were unaffected
by the separation of their parents, but Lee's (1990) research established that
even children as young as eight months old were disturbed by such an
event.
 Graham (1987) suggested that television viewing of more than three hours
per night adversely affects marital relations.
 Graham (1987) asserted that television viewing of more than three hours
per night adversely affects marital relations.
 Few Questions

 Purpose
 What are the goals of this study?
 What is the problem or issue at hand?
 What assumptions, if any, are important to note?
 What are its limitations?
 What practices will it influence?
 Why do the authors want to conduct it?
 Why should we care about the results?
 Why is the study worth doing?
 Few Questions

 Conceptual Context
 What is going on?
 What theories, conceptual frameworks, literature, and
experience will guide the study?
 What studies have been done in the past?
 Have the important terms been defined?
 Research Questions
 What is trying to be understood?
 What is not known about the phenomena being studied?
 What questions will the research attempt to answer?
 Few Questions

 Methods
 What will actually be done?
 Has the methodology been described in detail and is it
complete?
 How will observations be made?
 What approaches and techniques will be used?
 Why was the research site selected?
 How will interviews be convened?
 Validity
 How might the study be wrong?
 What are the plausible explanations?
 What is the researcher's relationship to the study group?
 Why should the results be believed?
 Few Questions

 Findings
 What was actually discovered or determined?
 Where should future research focus?
 Is the report clearly written?
 Is the report logically organized?
 Does the tone of the report display an unbiased,
impartial scientific attitude?
 Are the conclusions significant?
 Are the conclusions relevant to the problem?
 Are the conclusions described clearly?
Thanks
