THE MWALIMU NYERERE MEMORIAL ACADEMY

FACULTY OF EDUCATION
SEMESTER-TWO: 2023/2024 ACADEMIC YEAR
BACHELOR DEGREE OF EDUCATION IN
GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
STUDENT NAMES ZUBERI ZUBERI, H.
REGISTRATION NUMBER NMA/BD.EGH/4860/22
STUDENT’S CONTACT DETAILS +255626479739
MAIL zhzuberi1@gmail.com
MODULE CODE EDU 07406
EDUCATIONAL
RESEARCH
NATURE OF WORK INDIVIDUAL WORK
SUBMISSION DATE FRIDAY 19 APRIL,2024
COURSE INSTRUCTOR DR BUKUKU

Page 1 of 3
1. The statement that literature review in any research topic is inevitable, with five points to
analyze as applied in educational research?
A literature review is a written summary of journal articles, books, and other documents that
describes the past and current state of information on the topic of your research study 1 or
referring to any authentic secondary data that has been written related to the topic of
research2. Furthermore “A literature review is a systematic, explicit and reproducible method
for identifying evaluating and interpreting the existing body of recorded work produced by
researchers, scholars and practitioners” (Fink, 1998, p.3). There are various types of literature
review like; Narrative Review, Book review essays/ Historiographical review essays,
Systematic review, Meta-analysis, Meta-synthesis and others. The literature may be, books,
journals, newspapers, research reports/dissertation, periodicals mention few. In the aspects
of education all researchers conduct a literature review as a step in the research process
therefore to neglect this is inevitable. Research topic that can be related in education aspect
including; school violence, gender bias, why poor performance, why girl students reluctant to
take science subject and so on. The following points prove the notion that “The literature
review in any research topic is inevitable as applied in educational research”:

It helps to avoid duplication of works, Researchers can identify what has already been done,
therefore a researcher can avoid to do similar works and ensure that, the new study adds
value and contributes to the existing knowledge. Plagiarism in academic works is not
recommended, therefore by conducting literature review a researcher can avoid plagiarism.
In educational research if someone wants to take a research degree, he must read previous
research degree takers’ works so as to avoid plagiarism in his work.

It helps to guide a researcher on methodology to be used in his/her research, by

understanding how previous studies were conducted, helps a researcher in selecting an
appropriate methodology for his own research for instance if a previous researcher chose
quantitative method to study the qualitative topic the result would be methodological error
that could produce irrelevant work, therefore this will alert a new researcher to ensure that
the selection of methodology is relating with the topic of study for instance in educational
research if a researcher wants to investigate about the increase of students enrollment and
the decrease of students’ performance, he is supposed to employ mixed methodology in his
research.

Is useful in hypothesis formulation, by reviewing existing literature, researchers can derive

relevant research hypotheses. This ensures that the study is informed by and contributes to
the broader academic discourse, for instance in educational research a research can predict
that the drop out of students from school is due to lack of parental care this idea is borrowed
1
John W. Creswell, Educational Research Planning, Conducting and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research: Fourth Edition,
(Garamond: Edwards Brothers Inc & Phoenix Color Corp,2012),80
2
Ahmed Lubwama, Elementary Practical Geography for Advanced Level (2015),108

Page 2 of 3
 from previous researched works, here a researcher goes to prove that is true or not, if not
he/she supposes to come up with another reasons behind the students drop out from school.

It is crucial in report writing/dissertation. The main purpose of the literature review is to

report the state of knowledge on your topic and place your proposed study in a research
context by providing an overview of past research studies, published articles, and documents
that relate to your topic3. Many researchers tend to conduct literature review because is one
among the stages in research paper as well as proposal writing, in order for their work being
educationally acceptable.

It helps a researcher to identify and fill the gaps arisen by previous researchers. Through a
literature review, researchers can identify gaps, controversies, or areas where more research
is needed. This helps in justifying the significance of the new study and contributing to the
existing body of knowledge. For example, in educational research plate tectonic theory came
to fill the gap arisen by continental drift theory.

All in all, the quality and standardize researched work does not only depend upon reading a
related literary works, but also takes a range of procedural processes start with problem
identification, literature review, hypothesis formulation, research design, data collection and
analysis as well as testing hypothesis up to recommendation and conclusion, therefore
someone being a good researcher, he supposes to read those aspects related not only in the
field of educational research but also in research as general discipline.

References
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational Research Planning, Conducting, and Qualitative Research. Garamond:
Edwards Brothers, Inc & Phoenix Color Corp .

Marguerite G, et al. (2006). METHODS IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH From Theory to Practice. Market
Street, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Pan, M. Ling. 2008. Preparing Literature Reviews: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. 3rd Ed.
Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing.

Machi, Lawrence A. & Brenda T. McEvoy. 2008. The Literature Review: Six Steps to Success. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Corwin Press

3
Marguerite G. Lodico, Methods in Educational Research from Theory to Practice (Market Street, San Francisco: John Wiley & Son,2006), 55

Page 3 of 3