Chapter 2

Literature Review
Concept of Literature Review

A literature review is the comprehensive and analytical study of the

books , past studies and articles related to the research issues for
getting ideas about methodology and research gaps.
Importance of Literature Review

• Identifying research topic: finds out the untouched area or areas of

contradiction
• Developing ideas to collect data: gives idea that how similar nature
of researches was collected data
• Knowing methods of data analysis: gives idea of most permanent
tool for analysis in given set of data
• Know the research design: Gets idea about appropriate design
• Assessing the success of various research design: evaluate the result
of various research designs that help to find out success of various
research designs.
Purpose and Functions of Literature Review

• To know the research conducted in the chosen field

• To identify the gap
• To develop theoretical framework
• To develop research design
• To update on current issues
• To know the methods of data analysis
• To know the research design
• To assess the success of various research designs
Sources of Literature Review

• Books
• Research articles
• Abstracts
• Reports
• Dissertation
• Directories
• The internet
Phases in Literature Review

• Identifying the relevant sources: helps to know the source of

appropriate materials
• Obtaining literatures: Helps to get the literatures available
• Reading: researcher should select materials, find the related facts and
note down the required information.
• Extracting the relevant information: Taking information that are useful
to the study
• Evaluating the contents of the literatures: Materials collected are to be
evaluated so as to find out the prominent materials
• Writing up the literature review: Managing the materials in proper
format.
Evaluating the Literature

• Accuracy: Check the accuracy based on the nature of the study

• Author: Prominent author or not
• Publisher : Prominent publisher or not
• Scope: Scope of the previous study and your study differs or not
• Style
• Use of methodology:
• Illustrations, tables and diagrams
• Update information.
Qualities of a Good Literature Review

• Fact information: should have correct name of author, date of

publication and the findings.
• Note: write down the objectives and the major findings
• Evidence : Must be supported by evidence
• Evaluation: evaluate every material
• Use of appropriate words:
• Reference list: must contain the reference list covering all used
materials
Meta Analysis

The term Meta Analysis refers to an analysis of analysis. Generally in

traditional literature review researchers searched information from
variety of sources including in-house and out-house documents
(internet, libraries),, etc.
Purposes of Meta Analysis

• To establish statistical significance with studies that have conflicting

results.
• To develop a more correct estimate of effect magnitude.
• To provide a more complex analysis related to harm, safety, benefits,
etc.
• To examine sub-groups with individual members that are not
statistically significant.
Process/Steps in Meta Analysis
• Identifying the relevant variables: find out the variables that are to
be analyzed under study
• Locating the relevant research: locate all the literature whether they
are in-house or out-house
• Conducting meta analysis
a. Comparing study: can compare with the methods and findings of
different studies
b. Combining studies: Related studies are to be combined and draw
the results.