Research Process 3- Literature Review

Question 1

What are the key elements for good literature searching ?

Answer 1

• Defining the key concepts and potential themes.
• Planning a search strategy, allowing enough time to search using as many sources
• Discarding irrelevant and poor quality material
• Keeping a comprehensive record of literature retrieved.
• Knowing what to look for is actually about understanding the concept, key words, opposing views and also the understanding the quality of the literature.

Question 2

What are the three steps of searching ?

Answer 2

• Write out your search as a sentence
• Identify the important words and concept
• Think about ways you could limit your search

Question 3

How can you limit your search ?

Answer 3

• Date: look at items that have been published after a certain date
• Language: wanting references only in English
• Geography: information about a specific place
• Type of publication: journal databases, articles, booked.

Question 4

What are search operators ?

Answer 4

• AND retrieves records containing both words
• OR retrieves records containing either words
• NOT retrieves your first word but not the second

Question 5

What is hand searching ?

Answer 5

• manually sourcing for literature and also includes looking at the list of references at the end of the papers

Question 6

What is grey literature ?

Answer 6

• identifying work that haven’t been published. Looking for unpublished material us a way of counteracting publication bias.

Question 7

Retrieval of methods ?

Answer 7

• Use the PRISMA method
  o Step 1: execute the strategy and using the PRISMA flow diagram and record the total number of records identified
  o Step 2: decide which records to discard
  o Step 3: read the abstract of the remaining papers and discard irrelevant papers
  o Step 4: read the remaining papers

Question 8

What is a literature review ?

Answer 8

• A literature review is not just a summary of a particular topic, but a conceptually organised synthesis of the result of a literature search.
• A literature review is an objective, thorough summary and critical analysis of the relevant available research and non-research literature on the topic being studied.

Question 9

What is the purpose of a narrative literature review ?

Answer 9

• Every research project should reflect the outcome of previous thinking and research in the chosen area
• The reader of a review not only wants to know what literature exists, but also require and informed evaluation of it.
• We must employ two sets of skills:
  o Information seeking
  o Critical appraisal skills: the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify those studies which are unbiased and valid.
• A review should be organised into useful, informative sections that present themes or identify trends.

Question 10

What are the questions to ask about the review of literature ?

Answer 10

• Will my literature review help to define my research question and the issues surrounding it?
• Have I critically analysed the literature I have used.

Question 11

Whats the difference between systematic and narrative reviews ?

Answer 11

• Systematic reviews are a form of primary research using research studies rather than participants.
• Narrative reviews provide the context for proposed research by demonstrating that the research question is worthy of study.

Question 12

What is the structure of a narrative review ?

Answer 12

Title
Abstract
Introduction and rationale
Main body of the review
Discussion
Conclusion
References