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This literature review project aims to integrate and critique previous scholarly work on research outcomes, methods, theories, and applications. It will build bridges between related topics, identify central issues, and draw overall conclusions to direct future research. The review will also present theories offered to explain phenomena, compare theories, and assess their power and consistency with known relations.
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EDN 500: Literature Review ProjectfromIntegrating Research A Guide for Literature Reviews Harris M. Cooper
Definitions of Literature Reviews: 1 • Introduction to reports of new primary data/research (or detailed independent work) • Independent reviews: • Research outcomes, methods, theories, applications • Integrate previous scholarly work • Critique previous scholarly work • Build bridges between related topics • Identify central issues
Definitions of Literature Reviews: 2 • Integrative Reviews: • Summarize/synthesize past research • Draw overall conclusions from separate studies on similar topic/focus/hypotheses • Present current state of knowledge • Highlight important issues still unresolved • Bring to the fore previous work “lost” in present • Direct future research • Theoretical Reviews • Present theories offered to explain particular phenomena • Compare theories across basic considerations (breadth; internal consistency; predictive potential) • Some description of exemplary “critical” research • Assessment of theoretical “power” and consistency with known relations • Perhaps reformulations/integrations across theories
Integrative Literature Review: 5 Stages • 1. Problem Formation • 2. Data Collection • 3. Data evaluation • 4. Analysis/Interpretation • 5. Presentation of Results • (Written Product)
Integrative Literature Review: 5 Stages • 1. Problem Formation • Variables involved in the inquiry given both abstract and concrete (operationalized) definitions • Decide what distinguishes relevant from irrelevant material • Goal: Establish a “working” statement/question to be addressed through the review process
Integrative Literature Review: 5 Stages • 2. Data Collection • Identifying the “resources” relevant to the review focus/problem • Comprehensive (if not exhaustive) • Expectations of generalization from selected materials to broader populations represented by studies
Integrative Literature Review: 5 Stages • 3. Data evaluation • Critical judgments of quality/appropriateness of each “element” under consideration as to relevance, importance with respect to all other “elements” • Degree of “contamination” with respect to entire data set
Integrative Literature Review: 5 Stages • 4. Analysis/Interpretation • Synthesis of separate data “elements” into unified statement/s about focus/problem • Determination of systematic patterns, themes, consistencies across data set
Integrative Literature Review: 5 Stages • 5. Presentation of Results • Creation of public document describing results of review process
Integrative Literature Review:Research Review Coding Sheet • Systematic structure for collecting data • Citation information • Design/methodology: Type of study • Variables considered • Use of control/comparison group/s • Tools used • Sample/subject characteristics • Study outcomes/results • Interpretations with respect to research purpose/s • Low vs High Inference Coding: Fact vs Interpretation
Integrative Literature ReviewBasic Format: 4 Sections • Introduction • Sets stage for empirical results to follow • Conceptual presentation of focus/problem • Statement of Significance • Carefully “contextualize” problem under review • Grounded in theory or practice • Debated/contested concepts/issues
Integrative Literature ReviewBasic Format: 4 Sections • Methods • Describe operationally how the review inquiry was conducted: 6 Sets of Questions • 1. Details of search • 2. Criteria for relevance: Inclusion vs exclusion • 3. Prototypical methodologies described • 4. How independent hypothesis tests identified • Individual vs multiple tests in given research • 5. Characteristics of primary research studies used • Reference to coding sheet data • 6. Statistical conventions selected and applied
Integrative Literature ReviewBasic Format: 4 Sections • Results • Summary descriptions of the literature; synthesis/cumulative findings reported • Evidence for any/all overall inferences to be presented • 5 Sections • 1. Total number of relevant tested hypotheses • Broad overview of statistical outcomes; complements the “qualitative” presentation of Methods Section • Representativeness of design/methods • 2-5. Various statistical aspects of quantitative research
Integrative Literature ReviewBasic Format: 4 Sections • Discussion • Present summary of major results of review • Interpret the “effects” identified by research • Links to past/previous reviews known (typically introductions to empirical work under review) • How is current work different; how/what does it contribute • Links to theoretical issues, concerns, context identified in introduction • Discussion of generality and limitations of review results • Goal: Make suggestions about substantive interpretations of relationships, patterns, resolutions of controversies, potential future applications (empirical; other)
