CEH 513: Research Methods

Department of Civil Engineering

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Lecture Notes by: Emmanuel A. Donkor

Lecture Notes Set 3: LITERATURE REVIEW

Goals
• Purpose: To enable students improve their skills on doing a
literature review

• Objectives: By the end of this session, you should be able to…

• Explain the purpose of a literature review for a study
• Outline the steps required in conducting a literature review
• Use a computerized database to search for literature on a topic
• Use a bibliographic management software to
• create a repository of accessed studies
• generate a bibliography and a report
• Cite articles in a written report

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CONTENTS
• Nature and Purpose of Literature Review
• Main Tasks
• Required Tools
• Structuring and Writing the Review

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1. NATURE AND PURPOSE OF LIT REV.

A piece of writing that summarizes the essentials of studies

conducted on a topic—research problems, purpose of study,
methods used, results obtained, conclusions drawn, and
recommendations made

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Location and Uses of a Literature Review
• The literature Review can be used to..
• Introduction: Define the main research problem/question, when writing
the introduction to a study

• Related Studies: Documents previous studies related to the topic, in

order to identify research needs

• Methods: Justify the choice of elements in the research

design…selection of study units, method for data collection and
analysis

• Discussion: Compare results with previous studies, when discussing

results

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2. TASKS
• Obtain the literature

• Summarize the literature

• Synthesize the literature

• Write the review

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Process Steps
1. Choose a topic (subject matter of research) e.g transportation economics;
2. Identify key words e.g cost modeling; demand forecasting; pricing; financial
modeling
3. Identify computerized databases used in your field (see tools)
4. Select a bibliographic management software (see tools)
5. Use the key words to search for literature, limiting initial search to journal
articles and books (demonstrate)
6. Save files/titles in bibliographic management software (demonstrate)
7. Skim abstracts of articles and eliminate those that do not meet your needs
8. Create a literature map, showing groupings of the literature under selected
themes/groups
9. Draft summaries of the most important studies
10. Write your literature review, structuring it under themes and showing how your
study adds to (or fits into) the literature

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3. TOOLS FOR THE TASK
1. Computerized databases
• For Engineers: —Compendex
—Engineering Village (hosted by Elsivier)
—Civil Engineering Abstracts
—Transportation Research
• General: —Web of Science
—Scopus
—ProQuest
2. Bibliographic management software (or databases)
—Zotero
—RefWorks
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4. STRUCTURING & WRITING THE REVIEW

• Here, you look at the overlap between studies, in order to

compare, contrast and recognize patterns. This will help you
towards your synthesis of the literature.
• This synthesis should…
• identify the key contributions in the field,
• recognize the main debates and theoretical positions,
• categorize studies by themes/approaches literature map
• point out gaps in knowledge and weaknesses in theoretical or empirical
positions, and
• above all state the ways in which your own contribution fits into the
picture.

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Structuring the Review--Literature Map
A literature Map provides a snapshot of the literature so you can
glean the state of the art on a topic, and hence identify research
gaps for positioning your research

See: sample journal article

Lord, D., & Mannering, F. (2010). The statistical analysis of crash-frequency
data: A review and assessment of methodological alternatives.
Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 44(5), 291–305.

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Abstracting/Summarizing Studies
• Contents of an abstract and where to find them in a report
• The research Problem examined by the study---Introduction
• The Purpose/focus of the study---Introduction
• Summary of the method used (making statements about the study units,
where applicable)---Materials and Methods
• Summary of the Results obtained---Results
• The Conclusions---Discussion/conclusion
• The Recommendations---Discussion/conclusions
• NOTE: These are normally available from factual (not descriptive) abstracts

• When necessary, critique the study by describing/outlining its flaws in

method

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Sample Factual Abstract
Neuropathic foot ulceration is a major medical and economic problem
among diabetic patients, and the traditional treatment involves bed rest with
complete freedom from weight bearing. We have investigated the use of
walking plaster casts in the management of seven diabetic patients with
long-standing, chronic foot ulcers. Although all ulcers healed in a median
time of six weeks, this therapy was not without side effects. We conclude
that casting is a useful therapy for neuropathic ulcers, although several clinic
visits, including cast removal and foot inspection, are necessary to avoid
potential side effects caused by the casting of insensitive feet.

Source: Boulton et. al (1986). Use of Plaster Casts in the Management of Diabetic Neuropathic Foot
Ulcers. Diabetics Care, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp 149

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SAMPLE ABSTRATC:
The Statistical Analysis of Crash Frequency Data: A review and assessment of
methodological alternatives

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Writing the Review

See: sample journal article

Lord, D., & Mannering, F. (2010). The statistical analysis of crash-

frequency data: A review and assessment of methodological
alternatives. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice,
44(5), 291–305.

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Workshop:
Analysis of Previous RTEP Students’ Abstracts
• Research question:
To what extent do previous Abstracts written by students in the RTEP program
reflect the components of a factual abstract?
• To answer the question, do the following:
1. Read your assigned Abstract
2. Identify and write down the following components from the abstract
• The Problem
• The Purpose
• The Design/Method
• The Results
• The Conclusions
• The Recommendations
3. On a scale of 0-5 (0 being none, 5 being excellent), rate the extent to which
each of the above components are reflected in the abstract
4. Sum up your score: minimum value = 0, maximum = 30
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