Research Methods II
The Literature Review
A Cherokee elder sitting with his grandchildren told them, "In every life there
is a terrible fight - -a fight between two wolves. One is evil: he is fear, anger,
envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment and deceit. The other is good:
joy, serenity, humility, confidence, generosity, truth, gentleness, and
compassion."
A child asked, "Grandfather, which wolf will win?“ The elder looked him in
the eye. "The one you feed."
Game Plan

Exercise: Research Ideas/Research Questions /
Hypothesis

The Literature Review

Break

Literature Review Exercise

Using the Writing Center
Research Ideas/Topics

Get in groups of 3 and
discuss:



What appeals to you in
projects you have done?
What do you dislike about
projects you have
completed?
Individually write on 1
piece of flip chart paper
your top 2 research
topics/ideas
1. Topic 1
2. Topic 2
Your flip chart paper
should look like this!!
Research Question Exercise
Individually create 1 research question for
your top 2 topics
 Consider:






Problem-oriented
Analytical (versus descriptive)
Interesting and significant
Amenable to analysis
Feasible
Peer Feedback
Each of you will be given 7 sticky notes.
Go around the room and look at the topics
and questions, and write on your sticky
note feedback for 7 of the questions.
 Be specific in your feedback….make sure
they can use the feedback

What is an hypothesis?
A proposition that is empirically testable
 Example: Increasing flex time options
increases quality of life
 Need to concretely define concepts (e.g.,
quality of life (QOLI) )
 Hypothesis testing can lead to support or
refutation of a theory

Attributes of a good hypothesis
Stated in declarative form
 Posits a relationship between variables
 Reflects a theory or body of literature
 Is brief and to the point
 Is testable

Examples of Hypothesis
Publicly traded firms will have higher
growth rates than privately held firms
 State-owned firms will have a greater
share of the domestic market than publicly
traded or privately held firms
 Job satisfaction will be positively related to
organizational citizenship behaviors

The literature review in the thesis
process
Formulate and clarify your
research question
Chapter 1
Review the Literature/Theory
Chapter 2
Formulate your research
design
Chapter 3
Answering research question
Sampling
Measurement
Analyze your data
Chapter 4
Qualitative Methods
Quantitative Methods
Write your Results and
Discussion
Chapter 5
The Literature Review

Literature review – gather existing wisdom
to shed light on something that has
captured your interest
Literature review – why do one anyway?



Provides a framework for establishing the importance of
your study, as well as a benchmark for comparing the
results of your study with other findings
Traces the underlying assumptions behind the research
question & “grounds” the study
Relates your study to a larger ongoing dialogue about the
topic



Share existing knowledge, identify and fill in gaps, extend
prior knowledge
Tells you what we currently know and helps you make
predictions about what might happen next
Source for methodology, instruments, etc…
How to capture, evaluate and summarize the literature in
four “easy” steps
Adapted from Creswell (2003)

Step 1: Begin your inquiry with a
question and a working title


What is the relationship between perceptions
of organizational fairness and individual
performance? Title: Multiple dimensions of
organizational justice and individual
performance
Step 2: Create a literature map of
the topics and sub-topics for your
review


Outlines, circles, boxes, a tree …
Create a “need to study” branch
Literature Maps

Leadership Lit review
Inputs (Scientific
and technological
information)
Project Teams
Project leader roles
And behaviors
Research Topics
Outputs:
New products&
processes
Mapping techniques
The search – a.k.a. “how to avoid
drowning in the literature”

Step 3: Use the keywords and begin your search




Research studies, books, conceptual articles, thought
pieces – all provide frameworks for thinking about your
topics
Start with most recent broad summaries, annual reviews,
journal articles, then books
The magic number is…?
Step 4: Summarize and “grow” your map



Read abstracts, skim content, “will this help my
understanding?”
If relevant add to your literature map
Draft summaries – include precise references in a list
for your thesis

mention problem, state purpose of study, key information about
sample, review key results, point out flaws in study
Ways to organize literature as you are
researching
Author/date
Theory/standpoint
Evidence
Argument
Or
Author/date
Sample
DVs
IVs
Findings
Evaluating the relevance and value of
literature to your research
Relevance
 Recency? Has it been
superseded?
 Are the research questions
sufficiently close to yours?
 Have you seen references
to this item in other items
that were useful?
 Does this support or refute
your arguments? (For
either—it will probably be
worth reading!)
Value
 Does the item appear
to be biased?
 What are the
methodological
omissions? (Still may
be valuable)
 Does the item provide
guidance for future
research?
Trawling and Mining for information
Trawling
Broad based
search for
books and
articles
Selecting
possibly
relevant items
Mining
Focused Search
Reading,
analyzing and
discriminating
between items
Trawling
Broad based
search for
more specific
literature
Mining
Focusing
Analyzing and
categorizing
contents
Specifying and
Integrating
History of the topic
Key works and authors
Debates and arguments
Methodology
Theories and concepts
Findings
Critiques
Integrating and
synthesizing
contents
The role of theory in grounding your
research

What is theory?



Interrelated set of constructs formed into
propositions, or hypothesis that specify the
relationship among variables (Testable
implications)
Examples: Theory of consumer behavior,
Transformational leadership theory, Job
characteristics theory
Theory develops as explanation to
advance knowledge in particular fields.
What makes a good theory?

Theories that can explain more aspects of
a phenomenon with fewer assumptions
are better than other theories


E.g., demand and supply explain price and
quantity movements for a change in a variety
of factors---income, advertising, population,
etc
Theories with realistic assumptions

E.g., assuming that college tuition will never
rise is not a realistic assumption
For example: Job characteristics theory
Core job
Dimensions
Critical
Psychological
States
Skill variety
Task Identity
Task
Significance
Experienced
Meaningfulness
of the work
Autonomy
Experienced
responsibility for
outcomes
of the work
Feedback
Knowledge of
the actual
results of the
work activities
Employee growthneed strength
Personal
and work
Outcomes
High internal
work motivation
High-quality
work
performance
High satisfaction
with the work
Low
absenteeism
and turnover
In most quantitative studies…
Theory is tested – or verified.
 Theory is the framework for the entire
study…an organizing model.

Performance
Ticket Price
Price of Parking
# of Pro-bowl
players
Competitive
Balance
NFL Attendance
Income of
Metropolitan area
# of sports
Teams in city
Age of stadium
Climate Survey Model
Climate Survey Modeling
Theory is NOT
References
 Data
 List of variables
 Diagrams
 Hypothesis or predictions

The Process of Reviewing
General euphoria and excitement
 Puzzlement
 Buried
 Muddling through
 Time goes by
 Patterns emerge
 Discrimination

Words of Experience:
A good lit review reviews the relevant
literature in an interesting narrative.
 It starts with broad brush strokes and
narrows the focus down to the research
topic at hand. For example – a study on
NFL attendance may begin by reviewing
the studies on attendance at
entertainment events and other sports
before reviewing the work on NFL
attendance.

Words of Experience (cont)
A good lit review will emphasize the points
that other studies contribute to the state
of knowledge while omitting the irrelevant
details.
 Finally the lit review concludes by pointing
out the niche in the literature that the
existing study will fulfill.

Common Problems in Writing




Using too many quotes
Reporting everything s/he knows in a particular
area
Thinks of chapter as an annotated bibliography
rather than an analytical piece of work
Remember to:

Describe briefly the history of your topic



Identify key landmark studies (methodologies used and
arguments made)
Show the major issues or practical problems to identify
the gap you intend to look at with your research
Aim to show what contribution your research will make
to the literature….TELL THE STORY!!!
Helpful Hints






Get every detail about the article/book when you
FIRST read it. (publisher, author, page numbers,
year of publication….)
Use Turabian format from the beginning (e.g.,
use Refworks)
Develop a system for organizing
Read the original articles
Scan textbooks for an overview
STOP reading when you notice redundancy in the
material
Literature Review Exercise


Get into your groups (next slide)
Discuss the framework the authors used for the
published review and the student review you
read.




What was the purpose of the review?
What was useful about this?
What did you like? What could be improved?
Write down 3 “lessons learned”/”key points” your
group came up with about doing literature
reviews.
Group
1
2
3
Homework
Reading
Assignments
4
5
6
7
Name
Sarah
Zeke
Luke
Ramsey
David
Russ
Nicholas
Jackson
Treye
Sam
Tim
Borge
Ben
Parker
Alice
Tristan
Chase
Kelly
Brian
Jeff M
Annie
Alex
John
Nate
Ian
Eddie
Jarrell
Allison
Jeff Z
Kristen
Student Lit review
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
4
3
2
1
4
3
Published Lit review
4
3
2
1
3
2
1
4
2
4
3
1
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
3
4
1
2
2
4
3
1
2
1
Administration
Please pick up lit review assignment
 Sign up for presentation times next
Monday. (You will need to present at 1
time and listen to 1 other. You can decide
which group you want to listen to.)
 Remember to bring your research
question presentation on a memory
stick!!!
