Purpose of literature review Dr.Chandana Kasturiarachchi

Purpose of Literature
Review ?
(Research Methodology)
By
Dr. Chandana Kasturi Arachchi
(PhD, MPhil, PGDE, Dip. in Eng., B.Sc. Business Admin., Cert. in Leadership, HETC)
chacmb@gmail.com 0094 702845514
Dr. C. Kasturiarachchi -chacmb@gmail.com 1

Activity
What is the purpose of literature
review ?

•The literature review begin before a research problem
is finalized and continues until the report in finished.
•The literature review is vital part of the entire research
process.

•Literature Review
•Bring clarity and focus to your research problem
•Improve your methodology
•Broaden your knowledge base in your research area
•Contextualize your findings

Bring clarity and focus to your research problem
➢gives the idea you wish to investigate
➢helps you to understand the subject area
➢helps you to understand the relationship
between your research problem and the
body of knowledge in the area.

Improve your methodology
•A literature review explains you the
methodologies to answers research questions.
•➢ You will be better positioned to select a
methodology.
•➢ It helps you to increase your confidence in
the methodology.

Broaden your knowledge base in your research area
• Ensure you to read widely
• -You can get more method for your work from other
researchers that is the key for you to open the warehouse of
knowledge related to your study.
• -It enables you to be more professional with the researching
work.
•It helps you to fulfill the expectation that you are an expert
when you undertake a research project for a higher degree.

Contextualize your findings
• - It is to put your research in the context which make your
research more understandable compare to what are
already exist.
•-Improve your researched result by comparing with what
other have found. (Discussion)
• -Bring a better record to existing body of knowledge.
•-Choose the better result from others work if you have the
worse one.

Procedure for Reviewing the Literature
➢Find out the specific problem that you want to deal with by
narrowing down your broad area of interest.
➢The review should be focused around your research
problem.

Activity
What are the basic steps of
LR?

steps
1. Search for existing literature in your area of
study
2. Review the literature selected
3. Develop a theoretical framework
4. Develop a conceptual framework

1. Search for existing literature
It require you to have at least some idea of your research
problem to set boundary for your search and to search
effectively.
There are sources that you can use to prepare a bibliography,
books, data bases and journals.

• 2. Review the literature selected
• Get main points from books and articles that are identified as
useful.
• Build up a framework of themes, put the information where it
logically belongs under each one of the themes so far developed.
• -Note whether the knowledge relevant to your theoretical
framework has been confirmed beyond doubt.

Functions of Literature Review
•It provides a theoretical background to your study.
•It helps you establish the links between what you are
proposing to examine and what has already been
studied.
•It enables you to show how your findings have
contributed to the existing body of knowledge in your
profession.
•It helps you to integrate your research findings into the
existing body of knowledge.

Functions of Literature
• -Note the theories put forward, the criticism of these and
their basis, the methodologies adopted (study design,
sample size and its characteristics, measurement criticisms,
etc.) and the criticisms of them.
• -Examine to what extent the findings can be generalized to
other situations.

•-Notice where there are significant differences of
opinion among researchers and give your opinion
about the validity of these differences.
•-Discover the areas in which little of nothing is
known – the gaps that exist in the body of
knowledge.

Activity
What do you mean by
theoretical framework of a
study ?

3. Develop a theoretical framework
•Theoretical Framework as a Guide in a Research
Study The theoretical framework plays an important
role in guiding the entire process of the research study.
•It introduces and describes the theory that explains
why the research problem under study exists.

3. Develop a theoretical framework (con.)
•It helps the researcher see clearly the variables of the
study;
•It can provide the researcher with a general
framework for data analysis;
•It is essential in preparing a research proposal using
descriptive and experimental methods

•3. Develop a theoretical framework (con.)
••Review the literature that relevant to your research
topic.
••You should sort out the information, as mentioned
earlier, within this framework.
••Use these aspects as a basis for developing your
theoretical framework.

•4. Develop a conceptual framework
••Conceptual framework represent ways of
thinking about a problem.
••It stems from the theoretical and concentrates,
usually, on one section of that theoretical
framework which becomes the basis of your study

Activity
What do you mean by
conceptual framework of a
study ?

4. Develop a conceptual framework (con.)
•Keeps research on track
•Provides clear links from the literature to the research
goals and questions.
•Helps the researcher to see clearly the variables of
the study
•Clarifies concepts and propose relationships among
concepts

Activity
What are the functions of LR
?

(a) Distinguishing what has been done from what needs to
be done;
(b) Discovering important variables relevant to the topic;
(c) Synthesizing and gaining a new perspective;
(d) Identifying relationships between ideas and practices;
(e) Establishing the context of the topic or problem;
(f) Rationalizing the significance of the problem;

(g) Enhancing and acquiring the subject vocabulary;
(h) Understanding the structure of the subject;
(i) Relating ideas and theory to applications
(j) Identifying the main methodologies and research
techniques that have been used; and
(k) Placing the research in a historical context to show
familiarity with state-of the- art developments.

REVIEWING EXTRACTS OF LITERATURE
REVIEW (LR)
• REVIEWING EXTRACTS OF LITERATURE REVIEW (LR)
• Often in doing LR, a fundamental step is to take a look at the
historical background that is related to your research.
• While examining the history, it is likely that you are also on the
lookout for developments that are unresolved.
• Thus, in your narrative, you are likely to identify milestone progress
in the field and, where appropriate, may consider on some debates
that could have arisen due to differing opinions about approaches or
definitions.
• This is likely to lead to insights about gaps that can be researched.

REVIEWING EXTRACTS OF LITERATURE
REVIEW (LR)
•Historical Background
•Contemporary Context
•Theoretical Underpinnings
•Definitions of Terminology
•The Need for Extension of Previous Work
•Identifying the Problem to be Investigated

•LITERATURE REVIEW (LR) IN
RELATION TO DIFFERENT
SECTIONS OF THE THESIS

Steps
• literature reviewed helps in almost every step of the thesis
development.
• Chapter 2 usually remains a complete focus on LR,
• in Chapter 1, building up the background.
• in Chapter 3, the methodology adopted.
• In Chapter 4, the discussion.
• in Chapter 5 when recommendations are made

Activity
What are the weaknesses of
LR ?

WEAKNESSES IN LITERATURE REVIEW (LR)
• lacks a writers’ voice (who did what or who found out
what).
• justify, comment, evaluate or suggest, aside from summarizing
what is read.
• the inability of the writer to show discrimination in what
ought to be included and what ought to be excluded.
• The writer must exercise caution as to what is considered
relevant LR material

• Writers sometimes fail to provide meaningful headings and
subheadings for effective signposting to indicate an effective
organizational structure.
• The reviewer is naturally concerned if the writer has not made
such inclusions.
• material that is outdated.
• Insufficient coverage.
• Reliability of sources.
• primary sources will miss out.
• misinterpretations

PRACTICE IN SENTENCE
CONSTRUCTION IN
WRITING LITERATURE
REVIEW (LR)

•some language expressions that characterize
the writing of LR.
•Johnson (2015) argues that,
•Davidson (2016) develops the claim,
•A closer look at the data,

Debate
1. There has been an inconclusive debate about whether ___.
Discussion
2. In this study, the question under discussion is ___.
Evidence
3. These results provide confirmatory evidence that ___.
Ground
4. Nimal’s views are grounded on the assumption that ___.
Issue
5. In the present study, the issue under scrutiny ___.
Literature
6. There is a rapidly growing literature on globalization, which indicates that ___.
View
7. There have been dissenters to the view that Skinner,s method is ___.

Sourcing for
Information

• By the end of the topic, you should be able to:
• 1. Use the OUM digital library and online resources to
search for relevant information;
•2. Evaluate information sources critically and efficiently;
• 3. Organize information resources; and
• 4. Use the APA citation style.

•Library of Open University Malaysia (OUM),
•Online Information Sources
•https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_academic_data
bases_and_search_engines
•Using Boolean Expressions

A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF INFORMATION SOURCES

• Which Online Site is Reliable
• What is the Author’s Credential?
• How Often has the Author been Cited?
•What is the Date of the Publication?
• With Reference to Books, is There Any New Edition or
Revision?
• Who is the Publisher?
• Is the Source You are Looking for a Primary or
Secondary Source?

• EFFICIENT EVALUATION OF THE CONTENT OF SOURCES
As a postgraduate student, you would have much to read
but not much time to read everything assigned to you.
So, how can you manage this task in an efficient manner?
If it is an article, you can gloss through the abstract to find out
if that is the article which you are interested to read.
• scan through the synopsis or the table of contents of the book.
• Conclusions, Recommendations

• According to the researcher’s need you can decide what should be reviewed.
• Abstract
• Table of content
• Introduction 01st Chapter
• 02nd chapter
• 03rd Chapter
• 04th Chapter
• Final Chapter
• List of reference

(a) Does the content include facts that are well supported with evidence
or does it contain only subjective opinions?
(b) Does the content update previous studies?
(c) Is the content well-researched?
(d) Is the language used free from emotionally-charged words and
biases?
(e) Is the content well organized and the ideas clearly written for easy
comprehension?

Dr. C. Kasturiarachchi 61
oseducation8@gmail.com
070 284 55 14

Purpose of literature review Dr.Chandana Kasturiarachchi

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