RESEARCH METHODS

Lesson 4

LITERATURE REVIEW

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Session overview
• Session objectives • Literature review
• Sources of literature • Referencing

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 Session Objectives

The session aim at making the participants to be

able to:

– Identify, discuss and evaluate literature.

– Cite, quote and reference the literature they

would have reviewed using the Harvard
System.

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 What is literature review

• An examination of the researches

that have been conducted.

• Selection of available documents on

the topic which contain information,
ideas, data and evidence on issues in
question.

• Effective evaluation of documents in

relation to the research being
proposed (Hart, 1988)

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 Importance of literature review
• To demonstrate your scholarly ability to identify
relevant information and to outline existing knowledge.

• To identify gap of knowledge (create research space

for your work!).

• To evaluate and synthesize the information in line with

the concepts that you have set for yourself for the
research.

• To gain methodological insight.

• To justify your study and substantiate your findings.

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Some questions that can be answered
by reviewing literature

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 How can you go about it?
• Start from your research problem.

• Identify and locate appropriate information.

• Read and critically evaluate the information that

you locate.

• File and store your readings and notes.

• Plan, organize and write critically about the

literature that you located.

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Some possible ways of structuring literature
review
1. Chronological organisation
– Ordered according to historic or development context.

2. The ‘classic’ study organisation

– Outline of major studies regarded as significant (benchmarks) in
your study area

3. Topical or thematic organisation

– Research organised into categories or conceptual subjects for your
topic

4. Inverted pyramid organisation

– Starting with broad literature, then narrowing down to specific
studies which focus on the question/s at hand

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 Discussing and evaluating the
literature
• Critically examine the literature
– Don’t just list what you have located.
– link it to your research question.
– Demonstrate how it supports or extends the topic
or existing knowledge in your subject area.
– Can also provide the strengths, weaknesses or
omission of the literature.
– Always make deductions from the literature
presented.

NB: language used should often be evaluative and

demonstrate your perspective of the literature in
relation to your research problem.
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 Discussing and evaluating the
literature
• Make your ‘voice’ clear.

• ‘How’ is, honestly, a difficult question – rather it is

easy for your voice to be easily lost.
– (examples given in the next slides may be of
help)

• Important:
– Your theoretical view should be clearly stated
and your critical evaluation of literature are a
part of this.
– Your language must indicate your own or other
writers’ attitude towards the research problem.
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 E.G Literature Review on role of bridging
programs
Author
Bridging programs are a common and successful stressing
strategy for improving educational opportunities and diversity
subsequent success for disadvantaged students in the of
USA (Tripodi 1994), UK (Davies & Parry 1993), New literature
Zealand (James 1994) and Australia (Postle, Clarke &
Bull 1997). In the USA these tend to be intensive
summer programs offered prior to enrolment for ‘at
risk' ‘minority' students; while for the UK, New Zealand
and Australia they tend to be pre-enrolment programs
that facilitate access to higher education by mainly
mature students who lack conventional entry
qualifications, generally because of a background of
disadvantage. A distinction will be drawn here to
smaller scale ‘bridging programs' that address only Signs of
very specific aspects of preparedness, for example, good
bridging mathematics programs for enhancing the discussion
maths skills of students entering technical fields. and
Although these often represent important equity evaluation
initiatives, their tight focus and relatively short duration 11
serve to distinguish them from the broader and more
 E.G Literature Review on role of bridging
programs...
In an extensive study of the Scottish Wider Access (SWAP) Programs,
Munn, Johnstone and Robinson (1994:73) noted that such access
programs have been “remarkably successful in attracting traditionally
under-represented groups in higher education”. The need for bridging
programs as an access pathway for Australian higher education is
demonstrated by a consideration of retention rates to grade 12. Although
secondary school completion rates significantly improved during the 1980s
- with 35% completing high school by 1980, rising to 55% by 1989
(Williams et al. 1993) and rising to nearly 80% during the 1990s. It is not
surprising that a high proportion of students enrolled in enabling programs
are first members of their families to attempt tertiary study and frequently
members of disadvantaged groups- such as the socio-economically
disadvantaged, and people living in rural and geographically isolated areas
(Williams et al. 1993; Bull & Clarke 1998). Birrell & Dobson (1997:49)
reported that; “information on the class characteristics and financial
support of commencing Monash students indicates that students from
Author
moderate to low income families will face increasing difficulties in
trying to
accessing university places”. This, coupled with the easing off of high
make their
school completion rates that has been observed during the last half of the
voice
1990s, could mean that there will be an increasing need for enabling
heard
programs in the future to address the inadequate preparedness of an
increasing number of the current crops of school leavers. of this paper. 12
 E.G Literature Review on role of bridging
As well programs...
as providing a physical access pathway for educationally
disadvantaged students, bridging programs have been proven to
be effective in improving future student retention and success. It is
well documented that educationally disadvantaged students
entering undergraduate programs from tertiary preparation courses
typically perform as well as or better than their peers entering
through other pathways (Beasley 1997; Lewis 1994; Tripodi 1994;
Wisker, Brennan & Zeitlyn 1990). Ramsay et al. (1996) reported
that the basis for attrition of indigenous students at the University
of South Australia relate strongly to factors that can be addressed
in enabling programs - ‘uncertainty as to expectations in lectures
and tutorials', ‘poor organisation of time', ‘difficulties with transition
into university', and ‘a lack of prerequisite knowledge and basic
skills'. These findings were supported by Bourke, Burden & Moore
(1996) who also identified ‘isolation' and ‘motivational problems' as
major reasons for student withdrawal that may be addressed
through participation in enabling programs. These authors noted
that some study within 12 months of university entry greatly
reduced the risk of attrition for indigenous students. In accordance
with these observations, Ramsay et al. (1996) reported that
indigenous students entering higher education study through
enabling programs often had higher success rates and lower 13
attrition than indigenous students entering through other
Example 2:

Question: Identify the authors voice?

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Example of bad literature review

(Simmons, 2004).

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Some ways of integrating another author’s ideas into your
own document

• The author: argues, asserts, reasons, describes,

states

• The author argues: unconvincingly, logically, well,

subjectively

• The evidence is: complete, limited, accurate, unconnected

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 Theoretical/Conceptual Framework
 A framework is simply the structure of the idea or concept
and how it is put together.
 A theoretical framework is a conceptual model of how one
theorises or makes logical sense of the relationships
among the several factors that have been identified as
important to the research problem.
– It involves identifying the network of relationships among the
variables considered important to the study of the problem.
 Theory flows logically from literature review.
 A theoretical framework guides your research,
determining what things you will measure, and what
statistical relationships you will look for.
 From theoretical framework, testable hypotheses can be
developed to examine whether the theory formulated is
valid or not in a particular situation.

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 Use of Theoretical Framework
 Variables considered relevant to the study should be clearly
identified and labelled in the discussions.

 The discussions should state how two or more variables are

related to one another. This should be done for the important
relationships that are theorised to exist among variables.

 If the nature and direction of the relationships can be theorised

on the basis of the findings from previous research, then
indicate as to whether the relationships would be positive or
negative.

 There should be a clear explanation of why we would expect

these relationships to exist. The argument could be drawn from
previous research.

 A schematic diagram of the theoretical framework should be

given so that the reader can see and easily comprehend the
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theorised relationships.
Citation and quotations using the Harvard
System
• Use the surname only and the publication date.
• If more authors (sources) are cited on the idea, use
semi-colon between them.
• Be consistent on your use of present or past tense
(both can be used).
• If quotation is < 3 lines long, use quotation marks &
integrate it into the text.
• If its > 3 lines long, indent the quotation & you can use
different line spacing or different font size (no quotation
marks used).
 The reference for direct quotes must include the page #
after the date, the two being separated by a colon (Dube,
2006:88).
• Where words have been left out, put 3 dots (e.g. “…
personal savings are the best form of wealth creation”).
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Frequently asked questions on Harvard
System

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Frequently asked questions on Harvard
System

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Frequently asked questions on Harvard
System

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Referencing

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Referencing

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Difference between Bibliography and
References

• Both can be used, but references are more superior.

• Bibliography shows sources (books, journals etc) you

have read and got some ideas from but are not
necessarily cited in your study.

• References on the other hand, are sources you have

directly or indirectly quoted in your study.

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Bibliography
• Ferfolja, T. and Burnett, L. (2002), “Getting Started on your Literature
Review”, The Learning Centre, UNSW

• Hart, C. (1998), Doing a literature review: Releasing the social science

research imagination, London, Sage.

• Hyland, K. (1999), “Disciplinary discourses: Writer stance in research

articles”, In C. Candlin & K. Hyland (eds) Writing: Texts, processes and
practices, London: Longman.

• Madsen, D. (1992), Successful dissertations and theses: A guide to

graduate student research from proposal to completion, San Fancisco,
Jossey-Bass.

• University of South Australia (2002), “Referencing using the Havard

Author-Date System”, Learning and Teaching Unit
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