Literature search and review

1. UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE REVIEW ( what it is & what its purpose is)

2. FAMILIARISATION (start the review, how to do literature search, sources of

literature review)

3. DEVELOPING THE REVIEW

4. ORGANISATION & OUTLINE OF LITERATURE REVIEW (approaches, synthesis &

structure)
UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE
REVIEW
What it is
• A survey of all relevant literature to determine what is known and not
known about a particular topic.

• A critical analysis and the integration of information from a number of

sources, as well as a consideration of any gaps in the literature and
possibilities for future research (Manalo & Trafford, 2004)

• A literature review asks: What do we know - or not know about this

particular issue/ topic/ subject?
Purpose of Literature review
There are reasons for beginning a literature review before starting your research :
• To see what has and has not been investigated (research gap)

• To develop a general explanation for observed variations in a behaviour or phenomenon

• To identify potential relationships between concepts and to identify researchable hypotheses

• To learn how others have defined and measured key concepts

• To identify data sources that other researches have used

 
Purpose of Literature Review
According to Battacherjee (2012), the purpose of literature
review is threefold:
(a) To survey the current state of knowledge in your area of
inquiry
(b) Identify key theories, authors and findings in an area of
interest
(c) To identify gaps in knowledge in your area of interest
Other reasons for conducting literature
review
Bourner (1996) identifies the following reasons:
• To carry on from where others have already reached-build on
existing knowledge
• To identify researchers in your filed-researcher network
• To increase your breath of knowledge of your subject area
Reasons cont
• Develop a deeper understanding of the problem, its
context and major components
• provides some background knowledge to your
research question/s and objectives- gives a more
scholarly research
• Identify and gain insight into the theoretical
perspective of the problem and trends that have
emerged
Reasons cont.
• To enable you to position your project relative to other work
• To identify opposing views
• To demonstrate that you can access previous work in an area
• To identify information & ideas that may be relevant to your
project
• To identify research methods that may be relevant to your
study
 Reasons cont.
• Helps identify the issues surrounding the research
question (what is already known about the problem)
• Helps to identify issues and variables related to the
research topic
• Helps to identify appropriate research methodologies
and techniques
• Helps to establish a theoretical framework upon which
to base the research
• Keeping abreast of on going work in the area of interest
• Indicates that the researcher is knowledgeable about
the topic
Literature review

1 Steps in conducting a literature review

1. Identify key words 4. Skim the 50 articles
• Use them to locate materials in an • Duplicate those that are central to your topic
academic library • Determine whether an article can contribute to
• The key words emerge when identifying a your understanding of the literature
topic, or 5. Design a literature map
• From preliminary readings • Visual picture (figure) of groupings of literature
• … A literature 2. Search the library • Positioning your study within the larger body of
review means
locating and
• Search in journals (priority) research
summarizing the • Then for books on the topic 6. Make summaries of the most relevant articles
studies about a • Use computerized databases that are • Summaries combined into the final literature
topic.
• … many scholars, reviewed by social science researchers review
capture, evaluate, e.g. ERIC (Educational Resources • Include precise references to the literature using an
and summarize
the literature Information Center), EBSCO, PsycINFO, appropriate style e.g. American Psychological
Sociofile, ProQuest, Google Scholar etc. Association (APA)
3. Initially, locate 50 reports 7. Design the literature review structure
• Prioritize journals and books because they • Identify themes
are easy to locate • Organize them by importance
• Critique the literature
Literature review
2 Searching Computerized Databases
1. ERIC
• A free online digital library of education
research and information
• Sponsored by the Institute of Education
Sciences (IES) of the US Dept. Education
• www.eric.ed.gov
… there are • More than 1.2 million items indexed since 1966
techniques to • Journals, books, research syntheses,
ease the process conference papers, technical reports, and
of collecting education related materials
relevant material • Use appropriate descriptors for your topic
quickly through
databases
2. Google Scholar
• Broader search for literature across many
disciplines and sources
• Peer-reviewed papers, theses, books abstracts,
academic publishers, professional societies,
universities and other scholarly organizations
3. PubMed
• Free abstracts in the health sciences
• The database is a service of the U.S. National
Library of Medicine
• Includes over 17 million citations from MEDLINE
and life science journals
• Since 1950s
4. ProQuest
• http://proquest.com
• One of the largest online content repositories
TIPS:
• Use both the free, online literature databases and those available
through your academic library
• Search several databases,
• Use guides to terms, e.g. thesaurus
• Locate an article that is close to your topic, and look at the terms
used to describe it and use the terms in your search
• Use databases that provide access to full-text
Literature review

3 Priority for Selecting Literature Material

1. Start with broad synthesis of the literature (overviews in
encyclopedias and summaries of the literature in journal articles or
abstracts)
2. Turn to journal articles (those that report research studies, those that
are publications with a high-quality editorial board)
3. Turn to books related to the topic (start with research monographs
that summarize the scholarly literature)
… what type of 4. Search looking for recent conference papers (look for major national
literature conferences and the papers delivered at them, if possible meet
might be
reviewed and
authors of pertinent studies)
in what 5. If time permits scan the entries in Dissertations Abstracts ( select
priority? carefully because dissertations may mislead you)
6. The web also provides helpful materials for literature review (screen
articles carefully for quality)
Research process
4 A literature Map of the Research
• Organizing the literature (to make presentations to
•
• One of the first tasks
for a researcher
working with a new
topic is to organize
the literature • An Example … (place a topic in box at the top of the
• The organization
helps the audience to
understand how the
study adds to,
extends, or replicates
research already
completed.
• Write a narrative description of the literature map (for the
Procedural Justice
in Organizations
graduate committees, summarizing the literature for a Justice Perception Justice Effects Justice in Organi-
scholarly presentation or composing an article for journal Formation zation Change
publication)
Trust
Outcomes
Visual summary of the research (show how others Masterson, Lewis,
Goldman, and
Konovsky and
Pugh, 1994
researched the topic, can be shown in different ways – Taylor 2000
hierarchical structure (from top to bottom)representation
of the literature, a flowchart (from left to right) or a series Organizational
Citizenship
Organizational
Support
Behaviours
of circles (each circle showing a body of literature) ) Moorman, 1991 Moorman, Blakely,
and Niehoff, 1998
hierarchy, place broad subtopics in the boxes below the Unjust Treatment
main topic, label each box with the nature of the studies, Dailey and Kirk,
1992; Kickul, 2001;
Tepper, 2000
put references in each box to major citations, continue with
more subtopics, some branches of the chart are more Need to Study
developed than others, then draw lines to past literature Procedural Justice
and Culture
your literature would Extend)
committees or for presentation)
Literature review

1 Abstracting Studies
• A good summary / abstract
1. Mentions the problem being addressed
2. States the central purpose or focus of the study
3. Briefly states information about the sample, population, or subjects
4. Reviews key results that relate to the proposed study
• An abstract is a brief 5. Points out technical and methodological flaws in the study
review of the literature
(typically a short
paragraph) that
• Abstracting essays, opinions, typologies and syntheses of past research (these are
summarizes major not research studies)
elements to enable a
reader to understand 1. Mention the problem being addressed by the article or book
the basic features of the 2. Identify the central theme of the study
article.
• Researchers consider 3. State the major conclusions related to this theme
what material to extract 4. If the review type is methodological, mention flaws in reasoning, logic, force of
and summarize
argument and so forth
Literature review

2 Styling
1. When identifying a useful document
• Make a complete reference to the source Johe (2021), argues….
• Use appropriate style in dissertation
The price of bread… (Johe, 2021)
• Seek guidance from faculty
• The American Psychological Association (APA, 2010) is the most Johe and Nathan (2021)…
popular styling manual used in the field of education)
• Style manuals give The kids needed… (Johe & Nathan, 2021)
guidelines\ for
• There is also The Chicago Manual of Style
creating a scholarly 2. Important style considerations involve in-text, end-of-text, heading, Joe, Nathan and Krue (2021), …
style of a manuscript, and figures and tables use
The food … (Joe, Nathan & Krue, 2021)
such as a consistent • For in-text references, keep in mind the appropriate form for
format for citing types of references and pay attention to the format for multiple Johe et al. (2021), ….
references, creating citations
headings, presenting • The water … (Joe et al., 2021)
For end-of-text references, they can be alphabetized or numbered
tables and figures and
using
• The headings are ordered in a scholarly paper in terms of levels
nondiscriminatory • Refer to the manual for footnotes for their proper placement.
language. Footnotes are used less frequently in scholarly papers today
• Note that tables and figures have specific form in each style
manual
 Familiarisation/Starting the search
1. Start by using tools/search engines to look through what’s
has been written and find the information on your topic eg
Google scholar, Scopus, EBSCO, EMERALD.
2. How to do literature search?
• start by defining your research question & compile a list of
keywords or key phrases
• -think about both general terms and very specific terms for
broadening & narrowing your research
3. Enter your search into appropriate search engines-Liaise with
the librarian
• 4. identify resources-information available in a number of
formats
• Eg books, reference materials, journals, conference papers,
 Developing Literature review
Some questions to think about as you develop
your literature review:
• What is known about the subject?
• Are there any gaps in the knowledge of the subject?
• Have areas of further study been identified by other
researchers that you want to consider?
• Who are the significant research
personalities/authorities in this area of study?
 Developing Literature review
contd.
• Is there consensus about the topic?
• What aspects have generated significant debate
on the topic?
• What methods or problems were identified by
others studying in the field and how might they
impact your research?
• What is the current status of research in this
area?
• What sources of information or data were
identified that might be useful to you
Organisation and Outline of lit review

• There are many formats in which to organize a

review.
• Three of the most common are
(1) the historical format
(2) the conceptual format and
(3) the methodological format.
(1) In the historical format the review is organized
chronologically.
• is preferred when the emphasis is on the progression of
research methods or theories, or on a change in practices
over time.
• organise it in stages of how the topic has changed: the first
definitions of it, then the major time periods of change as
researchers talked about it, then how it is thought about
today
(2) second common organizational scheme is built around
concepts/themes.
(3) the literature review can be organized methodologically, as
in an empirical paper (i.e., introduction, method, results, and
discussion).
• This organizational format is often used in meta-analytic
reports.
Structure of literature review
• Write the literature review using the following structure:
1. INTRODUCTION
-main idea or argument about the literature review you are reviewing, introduce variables
in your study & highlight their significance
2. BODY-group literature according to common themes
proceed from the general, wider view of the research under review to the specific problem
3. CONCLUSION
-summarise your findings from literature review
-what does the literature provide
-where is literature lacking (gap)
-outline issues pertinent to your study
THE NATURE OF SMALL AND
MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

Thematic approach

• Definitions –Global definitions, European def,

America def, African def, Zim def
• Contributions (global, American, European, African,
Zim)
• Challenges (global, America, European, African, Zim)
• INTRODUCTION
• The purpose of this chapter is to analyse literature on
small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It starts by focusing
on the definitions of SMEs globally, contributions of SMEs
and challenges faced by SMEs worldwide. This is
succeeded by a discussion of SMEs in Europe, with the
discourse giving emphasis to issues such as definitions of
SMEs, including contributions and challenges faced by
SMEs on that continent. Thereafter, the chapter dwells on
literature on SMEs in America, discussing definitions of
SMEs, with contributions and challenges faced by SMEs
there. This is followed by the definitions of SMEs in Africa,
including contributions and challenges faced by SMEs in
Africa.
• The literature goes further to focus on the definitions of
SMEs in Zimbabwe, with contributions and challenges faced
by SMEs in the country. The chapter ends with the
conclusion made from the literature review on small and
medium enterprises, as indicated above.
• These discussions in this chapter are important because the
study is conducted within the context of the SME sector. It is
important for the researcher to understand the nature and
structure of SMEs in different environments in order to
undertake and complete the study successfully. Hence, this
chapter was dedicated to unpacking such issues regarding
SMEs globally in Europe, America, Africa and Zimbabwe.
Organisational agility
• Def
• Theory/theories
• key capabilities
• components
• benefits
• how SMEs could develop organisational agility
• INTRODUCTION
• This chapter explores literature on the nature and role of organisational
agility as a strategic intent and its contributions to business performance.
This is a literature review chapter that analyses the theory behind the
concept of organisational agility and its various sub-elements such as
technological capability, collaborative innovation, organisational learning
and internal alignment. With regard to organisational agility, issues that
are discussed include its contextualisation, key capabilities and benefits
and how SMEs could develop organisational agility in order to keep up
with change. In terms of technological capability, the chapter discusses
its conceptualisation, importance to organisations and measurement.
• With respect to collaborative innovation, the types, benefits and
associated challenges are discussed. Regarding organisational learning
and internal alignment, the chapter discusses the definitions as well
as the benefits of these concepts. As the definitions of organisational
agility and its sub-elements (technological capability, collaborative
innovation, organisational learning and internal alignment) are
discussed, a number of viewpoints are presented, followed by views
on how to create and develop these dimensions in SMEs.
Business Performance
• Def
• the theory behind the concept of business performance.
• how SMEs can create and improve their business performance
• business performance measurement
introduction
• This literature review chapter analyses the theory behind the concept of
business performance. It will look into how SMEs can create and improve
their business performance for their survival and sustainable
competitiveness. Definitions of business performance from a number of
viewpoints are presented. The concepts of business performance
measurement, balance scorecard, the importance of business performance,
as well as business performance management from different literature
studies are also addressed. The chapter ends with a discussion on business
performance management and the balanced scorecard. These concepts are
discussed since business performance is the outcome variable in this study,
which presents the need to provide adequate literature perspectives before
testing the primary data.
The chapter is divided into
(a) theoretical review of literature (review of theory/ies; and
variables/concepts in the study)
i.e SMEs, Organisational agility, Business performance

(b) empirical review of literature (review of relationships among variables; and

relevant models)
i.e - relationship between organizational agility and SME performance
-Conceptual framework
HOW TO REVIEW THE LITERATURE
Should answer the following:
• What is already known in the area?
• What is not known or what are the gaps in the existing body
of knowledge?
• What questions have remained unanswered?
• Are there any areas of professional conflict?
• What theories have been put forward relevant to your area
of research?
• What suggestions have been made for further research?
• What research strategies have been employed by previous
similar research?
STEPS IN CONDUCTING LITERATURE
REVIEW
4 steps involved:
a) Searching for the existing literature in your area of study

b) Reviewing the selected literature

c) Developing theoretical framework

d) Developing a conceptual framework

a) Searching for the existing literature
• Some idea of broad area of study
• Some idea of the problem to investigate
• Some idea of study population
• What is it about the population that you want to study
• Compile sources of information
A) Books (10-15)
-provide important information and of good quality, findings are integrated with other
research to produce a coherent body of knowledge
But material may not be up to date, not subjected to peer review
-use library catalogues
-use titles to locate a book
b) Journals
-find relevant journals
-provide up to date information and subjected to rigorous
peer review
-get as many journals as possible
-prepare a list of what you want to examine from the
journal
-select one of the journals
-start with the latest
-examine contents page to see relevance
-if relevant, proceed to read the abstract
-prepare a summary
c) Conference papers
-review papers presented at professional conferences
-provide the most recent research in the area

d) Internet
Several search engines eg google, yahoo, Wikipedia (not very credible
as they are not reviewed)
b) Reviewing the selected literature
• Read sources you have identified critically
• Done to pull together themes & issues relevant to your study
Eg Business Performance
• What does it mean?
• How is it measured?
• Different types of measures
• Importance of measuring performance
c) Developing a theoretical framework
• The problem you are investigating has its roots in certain theories
• Sort information from different sources under main themes and theories
• Variables and how they are conceptualised and measured
• Highlight agreements and disagreements among authors
• Identify unanswered questions or gaps
• Identify aspects that have a bearing on your research topic and develop a
theoretical framework
• Theoretical framework guides you and ensures focus
eg
• Literature review on the relationship between innovation and business
performance, you focus on
• Innovation-definition, theories, how it is measured, types of innovation,
factors affecting innovation, importance of innovation, barriers to
innovation etc
• Business Performance- def, theories, how is it measured, indicators,
importance of measuring perf, factors affecting performance trends etc
• The relationship between Innovation & Performance-theories that have
been put forward to explain the relationship, implications of the
relationship
d) Developing a conceptual framework
-a basis of your research problem
-stems from the theoretical framework
-focuses on themes which become the basis of your research
-The difference btwn a theoretical framework and a conceptual framework
is that the former consists of theories or issues in which your study is
embedded and the later describes the aspects you selected from the
theoretical framework to become the basis of your enquiry
-the conceptual framework grows out of the theoretical framework and
relates only and specifically to your research problem
-the conceptual framework becomes the foundation of your study
TECHNIQUES IN WRITING
• It is common to organize a literature review thematically. Thematic
reviews are organised around a topic or issue.
• Have few paragraphs that focus on a subtopic or theme
• One way that seems helpful in organizing literature reviews is the
synthesis matrix.
• The synthesis matrix is a chart that allows a researcher to sort and
categorize the different arguments presented on an issue.
• This allows you to sort and categorize the different arguments
presented on an issue.
 Good literature review
1. synthesizes the literature to be discussed
2. describes the literature to be discussed.
3. reflects the researcher’s voice
N/B: while the literature review presents others’ ideas, your voice
should be clear. In other words, you should take on an active role as
the writer.
• It is not sufficient to simply describe or summarise ideas from the
literature;
• you need to use the literature to make points or to locate your ideas
in relation to the existing body of knowledge
• You need to use your voice to:
• synthesise or integrate the literature
• comment on, or critique, the literature.
 
Author A Author B Author C Comments
/Points to
note

Strategic Helps Critical in Improves  

planning firms to be business performan

competitiv performan ce and
e ce helpful in
2009
financial
crisis
• There is a general agreement among scholars that strategic planning
improves business performance.
• (The first highlighted section synthesizes the literature, and shows
researcher’s voice , the second highlighted section describes the
literature.)
• Not only does the Author C agree that strategic planning improves
business performance, he also points out that strategic planning
assisted organisations during the 2009 financial crisis
• (The words in red synthesize the literature and and show the
researcher’s voice while those in blue describe literature.
• The existing literature ---- strongly suggests that----
• Studies have shown that ------
• Because of the methodological difficulties related to studying -------,
it is unclear whether -----
• There is evidence to suggest that ----
• Scholars appear to agree that---
• Studies on ----- are consistent with a larger body of literature----
Reporting verbs in writing literature
review
• The choice of a reporting verb depends on why you are using
the information. What role in supporting your argument does it
have? There are three basic reasons for using a reporting verb:
• to present the aim of the study you are summarising/quoting
e.g. Smith (2009) examines the relationship between diabetes
and heart disease.
• to talk about the results the author you are
summarising/quoting has found  
• e.g. Al-Mawali (2008) shows that deaths per capita in car
accidents ---
• to give the opinion of the author you are summarising/quoting  
• e.g. Marklin (2004, p. 76) argues that “the adoption of just-in-
time delivery systems was ---
The 5 C’s of writing a literature review

• According to the University of Edingburgh, the following five Cs will help:

• Cite: Keep the primary focus on the literature.
• Compare the various arguments, theories, methodologies, approaches expressed
in the literature. What do the authors agree on? Who employs similar approaches?
• Contrast the various arguments, themes, methodologies approaches and
controversies expressed in the literature. What are the major areas of
disagreement, controversy, debate?
• Critique the literature: which arguments are most persuasive, and why? Which
approaches, findings, methodologies seems most reliable, valid or appropriate, and
why?
• Connect the literature to your own area of research and investigation
Literature sources
• Primary sources are original materials upon which other research is based
• They are usually the first formal appearance of results in physical, print, or electronic
format.
• They present original thinking, report a discovery, or share new information
The following are examples of primary sources:
• Dissertations, theses
• Journal articles reporting research
• Proceedings of meetings, conferences, and symposia.
• Records of organizations and government agencies (e.g., annual reports, treaties,
constitutions, government documents).
• Survey research.
• Secondary sources
• Are not evidence, but rather commentary on and discussion of
evidence.
The following are examples of secondary sources:
• Textbooks.
• Literature reviews published as journal articles, books, or sections of
theses.
• Tertiary sources consist of information which is a distillation and
collection of primary and secondary sources.
• The following are examples of tertiary sources:
• · Indexes and bibliographies.
• · Encyclopedias and dictionaries
Overview of sections to be covered
• Introduction
• Theory/ies underpinning the study
• Variables in the study
• Relationships among variables
• Previous models
• Research gap/s identified
• Conceptual framework
• Chapter summary