Different Types of Literature Review

Discuss types of literature review, sources of information in literature review and the process of conducting literature review?

Literature Review

According to the royal literature fund, literature review is a search and evaluation of the available literature in a given subject or a chosen topic area. It documents the state of the art with respect to the subject or the topic one is writing about. Literature review surveys the literature material in the chosen area of study and critically analyses the information gathered by identifying the gaps in the current knowledge synthesizing the information in that literature into a summary and presenting the literature in an organized way.

• Narrative/Traditional Literature Reviews

These Critique the literature and summarize the body of the whole document. Also, they draw conclusions about the topic and identify gaps or inconstancies in a body of knowledge. Consequently, the narrative versions can also assist in identifying gaps in research by helping to define and also refine research questions.

• Systematic Quantitative Literature Review

According to Catherine Pickering, an academic staff member of Griffith University, the method requires more rigorous and well defined approaches compared to most other types. It’s comprehensive and details the time frame within which the literature was selected:

It can be divided into two:

1. Meta-analysis
2. Meta- synthesis
3. Meta-Analysis

This is where Patterns and relationships are detected and conclusions are drawn .Its associated with deductive research approach.

Meta synthesis

Based on non-statistical techniques, these methods integrate, evaluate, and interpret findings of multiple qualitative research studies .Meta synthesis literature review is conducted usually when following inductive research approach.

• Argumentative Literature Review

It examines literature selectively in order to support in favor of or against an argument, deeply embedded assumption or philosophical problem already established in the literature.

• Integrative Literature Review Reviews

The above method Critiques and synthesizes secondary data about research topic in an integrated way such that new framework and perspectives on the topic are generated .If the research does not involve primary data collection and analysis, then the option will be to use integrative literature review

• Theoretical Literature Review

It focuses in the pool of theory that has accumulated in regard to an issue, concept, theory or phenomena. Usually it plays an instrumental role in establishing what theories already exist, the relationship between them, to what degree the existing theories have been investigated, developing new hypothesis to be tested.

• Historical Review

The focus is of examining research for a period of time, often starting with the first time an issue, concept, theory or phenomena emerged in the literature then tracing its evolution within the scholarship of discipline .The purpose is to place research in a historical context to show familiarity with the state of the art developments and identify the likely direction for the future research.

• Scoping Literature Review

Scoping reviews are quite similar to Systematic literature reviews though the key distinction being that there are no restrictions on the materials resourced. The purpose of the scoping review is finding the materials on the topic. When undertaking a scoping review, it is important to systematize your search strategies to ensure you can replicate your searches and to attend to any gaps that appear in the results.

Sources of Information in Literature Review

• Primary Sourses

This is an original piece of work on which other research is based on. This presents the native thought processes, reports a discovery or share new information.

Results in physical, print or electronic format are the first formal appearance.

Characteristics

• Primary sources have high level of details.
• Primary sources require little time to publish.

Examples of primary sources of information.

1. Literary creation e.g. Novel, short stories, Poems etc.
2. Artifacts e.g. coins, plant specimens, Furniture, tools, clothing.
3. Audio recordings e.g. radio programs
4. Diaries
5. Internet communication on emails
6. Interviews e.g. oral histories, telephone, emails
7. Letters
8. Newspapers articles written at that time.
9. Journal articles published in peer –reviewed publications.
10. Original Documents e.g. Birth certificate, will marriage license
11. Photographs.
12. Meeting proceedings, conferences and symposiums.
13. Speeches
14. Survey Research e.g. market survey or public opinion polls.
15. Video recording.
16. Website.
17. Records of organizations, Government agencies e.g. annual reports, constitution etc.

• Secondary Sources

Secondary sources are stories written after the fact with the benefit of the occurrence.

They are explanations and assessments of primary sources.

They bear no evidence, only that they describe and report on evidence.

Characteristics of secondary sources.

1. They bear ordinary level of details.
2. They require little more time to publish.

Examples of secondary sources.

1. Bibliographies (also considered tertiary).
2. Biographical works.
3. Commentaries, criticisms.
4. Dictionaries, Encyclopedias (also considered tertiary).
5. Histories.
6. Literary criticism such as Journal articles.
7. Magazine and newspaper articles.
8. Monographs, other than fiction and autobiography.
9. Textbooks (also considered tertiary).
10. Web sites (also considered primary).

• Tertiary Sources

This is information which is refined and accumulated from primary and secondary sources.

Characteristics of Tertiary sources.

• The detail level is low.
• They require a lot of time to publish.

Examples of tertiary sources of information.

1. Almanacs.
2. Bibliographies (also considered secondary).
3. Chronologies.
4. Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (also considered secondary).
5. Directories.
6. Fact books.
7. Guidebooks.
8. Indexes, abstracts, bibliographies used to locate primary and secondary sources.
9. Manuals.
10. Textbooks (also be secondary)

The Process of Conducting a Literature Review

According to Wikipedia, literature review also narrative review is a scholarly paper which includes the current knowledge including substantive findings, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to a particular topic.
Research process consists of series of steps necessary to effectively carry out research and the desired sequencing of these steps.

1. Choose a topic. This means defining a research question. The researcher should single out the problem he wants to study, the research question not too broad or too narrow, write down terms that are related to the question, discuss the question with the supervisor.
2. Wide literature survey on the scope of review. This is from abstracting and indexing journals and published or unpublished bibliographies, academic journals, conference proceedings, government reports and books.
3. Development of working hypotheses. Hypothesis is tentative assumption made in order to draw out and test its logical or empirical consequences. The role of the hypothesis is to guide the researcher by delimiting the area of research and to keep him on the right track.
4. Preparing the research design. Stating the conceptual structure within which research would be conducted.
5. Determining sample design. At this stage the researcher develops a definite plan determined before any data are actually collected for obtaining a sample from a given population
6. Collecting the data. In context of money costs, time and other resources at the disposal of the researcher, data are collected by observation, through personal interview, through telephone interviews, by mailing of questionnaires or through schedules.
7. Execution of the project. The researcher should see that the project is executed in a systematic manner and in time and that the data to be collected is adequate and dependable.
8. Analysis of data using tabulation and then drawing statistical inferences.
9. Hypothesis-testing. At this the researcher is in a position to test the hypotheses, if any, he had formulated earlier. If the researcher had no hypotheses to start with, generalizations established on the basis of data may be stated as hypotheses to be tested by subsequent researches in times to come
10. Generalizations and interpretation: If a hypothesis is tested and upheld several times, it may be possible for the researcher to arrive at generalization but if the researcher had no hypothesis to start with, he might seek to explain his findings on the basis of some theory.
11. Preparation of the report or the thesis with three parts:

• a. The preliminary pages.
• b. The main text.
• c. Summing up.

References

1. Martyn Shuttle worth (Sep 16, 2009). What is a Literature Review? Retrieved Jul 18, 2018 from Explorable.com:
   https://explorable.com/what-is-a-literature-review
2. Source: Grant, M. J., ; Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information ; Libraries Journal, 26(2), 91-108.
   http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x
3. De Souza, M. T., da Silva, M. D., ; de Carvalho, R. (2010). Integrative review: What is it? How to do it? Einstein (16794508), 8(1), 102-106.
4. Forward, L., ; Hobby, L. (2002). A practical guide to conducting a systematic review. Nursing Times, 98(2), 36-37.
5. Baglione, L. (2012). Writing a Research Paper in Political Science. Thousand Oaks, California: CQ Press.
6. Systematic Literature Reviews for Education
   https://libraryguides.griffith.edu.au/c.php?g=45
7. Literature review sources retrieved from https://research-methodology.net/research-methodology/literature-review-sources/.
8. Comparative Literature: Primary, secondary ; tertiary sources by Yale university library as retrieved from https://guides.library.yale.edu/complit.
9. FLORIDA A;M UNIVERSITY. Retrieved from library.famu.edu
   Literature review Retrieved from https;//libguides.uwf.edu
10. Literature review Retrieved from https;//libguides.uwf.edu