2 SRM (Literature Review) Flashcards
LITERATURE VS. DATA
✓Data is empirical – factual information about the real
world.
✓Starting with data = inductive.
✓Literature is about theory, analysis and interpretation
of data.
✓Starting with theory = deductive.
❖Primary vs. secondary data:
➢ Primary – data collected by you for this
specific project.
✓Field research.
➢ Secondary – data collected by
someone else for some other purposes.
✓Desk research.
✓Internal – within the organization you are studying.
✓External.
❖Types and sources of secondary data:
Internal – generated by the organization you are studying
➢Previous research
➢Organizational archives & records
➢Meeting minutes
External – gathered by those outside of the organization
➢Official statistics and records of the government
-Census
-Department of statistics
-Public records of various governmental agencies
➢Unofficial statistics
-Commercial research organizations
-Academic research
➢Public opinion polls
➢Mass media
➢Private records
❖Purposes of using secondary data:
➢Fact-finding
✓Identification of unit of analysis’ behaviour for a selected
topic
✓Trend analysis
✓Triangulation
➢Model building
✓Specifying relationships between variables – building
and testing hypotheses.
SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS – Techniques:
Data Mining:
Explanation: Data mining is a technique used in secondary data analysis where researchers selectively extract and analyze specific portions of a larger database.
Elaboration:
Verification of Hypotheses: Researchers can use data mining to test hypotheses by identifying relevant subsets of data and exploring patterns or relationships within those subsets.
Discovery of Patterns/Relationships: Data mining allows for the discovery of hidden patterns or relationships that may not be immediately apparent in the entire dataset. This can lead to new insights and knowledge.
Data Fusion:
Explanation: Data fusion involves integrating information from multiple sources or datasets to create a comprehensive and enriched dataset.
Elaboration:
Integration of Diverse Data: Researchers merge data from different sources, combining them to create a more complete and nuanced understanding of the research problem.
Enhancing Data Quality: By bringing together information from various datasets, data fusion can improve the overall quality of the data, filling gaps and providing a more holistic view.
❖Why is there an expansion of the use secondary
data rather than/ in addition to primary data (I)?
➢Conceptual-substantive reasons
✓ It may be the only data available for
researching certain topics.
✓ Allows for greater scope and depth than a
single primary data research project can
provide.
-Historical context.
-Change.
-Comparative purposes.
✓Methodological reasons
➢Replication.
➢Longitudinal research design/ follow-up.
➢Improve your understanding, definitions and
measurement of variables and constructs,
formulation of hypotheses, interpretation of
findings.
➢Improve size and representativeness of the
sample → generalizability.
➢Triangulation.
✓Economic reasons
➢Primary research is costly and time-
consuming.
➢Secondary data may be sufficient to
answer your research question.
❖Potential limitations of secondary data
✓Only approximate fit:
➢Operationalization of variables/constructs (e.g.
job satisfaction – how employee reports feeling
about their job vs. whether s/he reports a
sense of achievement vs. what can be
observed in workplace behaviour).
➢Sample size, design, representativeness.
➢Question wording and sequence.
➢Interview schedules and techniques.
➢Setup of experiments.
✓Methodological issues
➢Insufficient information about collection and/or
production methods → hard to determine
potential sources of bias, errors, problems with
internal or external validity.
➢Question of authenticity in the case of qualitative
data (diaries, letters, autobiographies,
✓ Access issues
➢Finding its existence and location.
➢Gaining access.
3 levels of access to organizational data:
- Physical access
❖Gatekeeper/broker
➢Lack of perceived value of your offer for
the work of the business/organization.
➢Potential sensitivity of the topic &
concerns with confidentiality.
➢Perceptions about your credibility and
competence.
➢Overruling from above. - Continuity
➢ Iterative process
*Location
*Participants - Cognitive access – full information needed to
answer the RQ
➢ Acceptance
➢ Voluntary consent
➢ Full disclosure
➢ Representative sample
❖Internet as the source of secondary data:
➢Concerns:
✓ Quality issues
➢Bias.
➢Sloppiness.
➢Quality control: check for references and
whether up-to-date; triangulate.
✓ Selection
The purpose of the literature review:
➢ To not “invent the wheel” – 1st step in your
research is to familiarize yourself with what is
already known on this topic.
➢ To build on others’ research.
➢ To locate yourself within the field of knowledge.
➢ To find gaps in the body of knowledge that your
research can claim to fill.
➢ To help you define your variables/constructs.
➢ To help you formulate your hypotheses for testing.
➢ To help you refine your methodology.
➢ To compare your findings with something.
APA Heading styles
1st level - centered (capitalized, bold)
2nd level - + left aligned
3rd level - + italic
4th level - not italic, text begins on same line, period. ->
5th level - + italic
PLAGIARISM and instances of plagiarism
❖Presenting others’ work and ideas as your own.
❖Instances of plagiarism:
✓Quoting sentences/phrases verbatim without proper
attribution.
✓Quoting verbatim and pretending to paraphrase with
attribution and without quotation marks.
✓Cosmetically paraphrasing by just changing a few words.
✓Paraphrasing without proper attribution.
✓Failing to acknowledge the input of AI.
✓Using visual material (graphs, tables) without proper
attribution.
✓ E.g. more than 8 words without proper attribution is a violation of
the copyright law in USA.
❖Disproportionately using other people’s
words in your text is also unacceptable, even
if you attribute them all properly!
➢Up to 5-10% of your text paraphrasing other
people’s ideas is acceptable, but you should try to
mostly synthesize each idea from several sources.
➢A couple direct quotes of no more than a couple
lines is acceptable.
➢Longer quotes should be avoided, but if necessary, limited.
Bibliography rules
Author sumame, lnítial(s) (Year). Title (ed.). Publísher location: Publisher
For book - title italicized
For chapter - not italicized
Author surname, inltlal (S). (year) Article title. Journal title, Volume Number{lssue or part number. optional), page numbers. DOI or Retrieved from URL
Articles - article title not italicized
Journal title - italicized
