LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature Review
• A literature review is a step-by-step process that
involves the identification of published and
unpublished work from secondary data sources on the
topic of interest, the evaluation of this work in relation
to the problem, and the documentation of this work.
• Literature review ensures that no important variables
are overlooked in the process of defining the problem.
A good literature review provides the foundation for
developing a comprehensive theoretical framework
from which hypotheses can be developed for testing.
 A good literature review ensures that
• i) Important variables that are likely to influence
the problem situation are not left out of the
study
• ii) Literature survey helps the development of the
theoretical framework and hypothesis for testing.
i.e. we get an idea as to which variables are
important , and how they should be investigated
to solve the problem
• iii) The problem statement can be made with
precision and clarity
 A good literature review ensures that
• iv) Testability and replicability of the findings
of the current research are enhanced
• v) One does not run the risk of “reinventing
the wheel”, i.e. wasting effort on trying to
rediscover something that is already known
• vi) The problem investigated is perceived by
the scientific community as relevant and
significant.
 Conducting literature review:
• The first step of the literature review involves the
identification of the various published and unpublished
materials .
• Data sources: The quality of a literature review depends on
a cautious selection and reading of books, academic and
professional journals, reports, theses, conference
proceedings, newspapers etc. These can provide us with
real world information about market, industries, or
companies.
• Textbooks: offer a good starting point from which to find
more detailed sources such as journal articles, theses and
unpublished manuscripts. They tend to be less up-to-date
than journals.
 Conducting literature review:
• Journals: both academic and professional journals are
important sources of up-to-date information. Articles
in academic journals have generally been peer-
reviewed - this means that the articles have been
subject to scrutiny of experts in the same field before
being accepted for publication. Review articles
summarise previous research finding to inform the
reader of the state of existing research. Review articles
are very useful because they provide an overview of all
the important research in a specific area.
• Articles in professional journals are a valuable source
of recent developments in the field and of facts and
figures.
 Conducting literature review:
• Theses: PhD thesis often contain an exhaustive review of
the literature in a specific area.
• Conference proceedings: Conference proceedings can be
useful in providing the latest research, or research that has
not yet been published. This information is quite valuable
since it is upto date.
• Unpublished manuscripts: This is an information source
that is not officially released by an individual, publishing
house, or other company. These may include papers
accepted for publication but still “in press”, data from an
unpublished study, letters, manuscripts in preparation, and
personal communications.
 Conducting literature review:
• Reports: Government departments and
corporations carry out a large amount of
research. Their published findings provide a
useful source of specific market, industry, or
company information.
• Newspapers: Newspapers provide up to date
business information. They are useful source of
specific market, industry, or company
information. But we should note that opinions in
newspapers are not always unbiased.
 Conducting literature review:
• The internet: The amount of information that can be
found on the World Wide Web is enormous. We can
search for books, journals and journal articles and
conference proceedings, as well as for specialised data
such as company publications and reports. Search
engines such Google and Yahoo! also gives relevant
information. Google Scholar which can be accessed
from the Google homepage, helps us to identify
academic literature, such as peer-reviewed papers,
theses, books, abstracts and articles from academic
publishers, universities, and other scholarly
organisations.