CHAPTER 4

The critical literature review

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this chapter is to introduce you to the process of carrying out a literature review. The chapter
Begins with a definition of the critical literature review, followed by a discussion of its functions. Then it
will Explain that a critical 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published And unpublished work from secondary data sources on the topic of interest, the evaluation of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. Finally, this chapter will discuss
two pitfalls you have To be aware of when you document the literature review: misrepresenting others
and plagiarism. To be able to generate viable alternatives for effective decision making you have to
become an expert on your Topic. A second review of the literature, or critical literature review, is
therefore essential in most research projects. A literature review is “the selection of available documents
(both published and unpublished) on the topic, Which contain information, ideas, data and evidence
written from a particular standpoint to fulfill certain aims Or express certain views on the nature of the
topic and how it is to be investigated, and the effective evaluation of These documents in relation to the
research being proposed” (Hart, 1998 , p. 13).

HOW TO APPROACH THE LITERATURE REVIEW

The first step of a literature review involves the identification of the various published and unpublished
materials That are available on the topic of interest, and gaining access to these.

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academic and professional journals, reports, theses, conference proceedings, unpublished
manuscripts, and the like. Academic books And journals are, in general, the most useful sources
of information. However, other sources such as professional Journals, reports, and even
newspapers may also be valuable because they can provide you with specific, real World
information about markets, industries, or companies.
Textbooks
Textbooks are a useful source of theory in a specific area. An advantage of textbooks is that they
can cover a Broad range of topics. What’s more, textbooks can cover a topic much more
thoroughly than articles can. Hence, textbooks offer a good starting point from which to find
more detailed sources such as journal articles, theses, and unpublished manuscripts. A
downside of textbooks is that they tend to be less up to date

Than journals
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 the scrutiny of Experts in the same field before being accepted
for publication. Review articles (that may or may not contain a Meta‐analysis: a type of data
analysis in which the results of several studies are combined and analyzed as if they Were the
results of one large study) summarize previous research findings 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. Research articles are reports of empirical research,
describing one or a few related studies. The Conceptual background section of a research article
provides a compact overview of relevant literature. Research Articles also provide a detailed
description of the purpose of the study, the method(s) used, and the results of The study.
Theses

PhD theses often contain an exhaustive review of the literature in a specific area. Most PhD
theses include several empirical chapters. These chapters often have the same structure and
characteristics as academic journal articles. Note that not every empirical chapter of a thesis is
eventually published in an academic journal.

Conference proceedings
Conference proceedings can be useful in providing the latest research, or research that has not
(yet) been published. Conference proceedings are very up to date, and for this reason this
information source is quite valuable if you are working in a relatively new area or domain. Not
every manuscript presented at a conference is eventually published in an academic journal;
hence you must critically assess the quality of this information source.
Unpublished manuscripts
The APA defines an unpublished manuscript as any information source that is not “officially”
released by an individual, publishing house, or other company. Examples of unpublished
manuscripts may include papers accepted for publication but still “in press,” data from an
unpublished study, letters, manuscripts in preparation,
and personal communications (including e‐mails). Unpublished manuscripts are often very up to
date.

Reports
Government departments and corporations commission or 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 a useful source of specific
market, industry, or company information. Note that opinions in newspapers are not always
unbiased.

The Internet
The amount of information that can be found on the World Wide Web is enormous. You can
search for (the details of) books, journals and journal articles, and conference proceedings, as
well as for specialized data such as company publications and reports. The number of
newspapers, magazines, and journals that is available electronically is enormous. Note that the
Internet is unregulated and unmonitored. Moreover, developing an Internet page is easy and
cheap. For this reason, the Internet provides exceptional challenges in determining the
usefulness and reliability of information. A source that may help you to assess the quality of
online information is Cooke (2001). You can also find useful information on the Internet itself;
several universities have developed useful guidelines to assess the quality of information found
online (check, for instance,
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html).

Searching for literature

Previously, one had to manually go through several bibliographical indexes that are compiled
periodically, listing the journals, books, and other sources in which published work in the area of
interest could be found. With modern technology, locating sources where the topics of interest
have been published has become much easier. Almost every library today has computer online
systems to locate published information. Computerized databases provide a number of
advantages .

You will benefit from spending some time on becoming familiar with the online resources that
your library provides. Most libraries have the following electronic resources at their disposal:
● Electronic journals. Your library is probably subscribed to journals that are published or made
available online. Discover which journals are provided online by your library.
● Full‐text databases. Full‐text databases provide the full text of the article. Find out which full‐
text databases are provided by your library.
● Bibliographic databases. Bibliographic databases display only the bibliographic citations; that
is, the name of the author, the title of the article (or book), source of publication, year, volume,
and page numbers. These contain the same information as can be found in the Bibliographic
Index books in libraries, which are periodically updated, and include articles published in
periodicals, newspapers, books, and so on. Some useful indexes are provided in the appendix to
this chapter.
● Abstract databases. Abstract databases also provide an abstract or summary of articles. They
do not provide the full text of an article or manuscript.

Evaluating the literature

Accessing the online system and searching for literature in the area of interest will provide a
comprehensive bibliography on the subject. Because the search for literature can sometimes
provide as many as 100 or more results, you will have to carefully select relevant books and
articles. A glance at the titles of the articles or books will indicate which of them may be
pertinent and which others are likely to be peripheral to the contemplated study. The abstract
of an article usually provides an overview of the study purpose, general research strategy,
findings, and conclusions. A good abstract thus provides you with enough information to help
you to decide whether an article is relevant for your study. An article’s introduction also
provides an overview of the problem addressed by the research and specific research
objectives. The introduction often ends with a summary of the research questions that guide
the study. The problem statement, research questions, and/or the research objectives give you
a feel for what the researcher is studying and thus for the relevance of the article to your study.
In a similar fashion, the table of contents and the first chapter of a book may help you to assess
the relevance of the book. A good literature review needs to include references to the key
studies in the field. For this reason, articles and books that are often cited by others must be
included in your literature review, even if these articles and books were written 30 or even 40
years ago. Of course, more recent work should also be incorporated in your literature survey,
since recent work will build on a broader and more up‐to‐date stream of literature than older
work.

● Is the main research question or problem statement presented in a clear and analytical way?
● Is the relevance of the research question made transparent?
● Does this study build directly upon previous research?

● Will the study make a contribution to the field?

● Is there a theory that guides the research?
● Is the theory described relevant and is it explained in an understandable, structured, and
convincing manner?
● Are the methods used in the study explained in a clear manner (description of methods)?

● Is the choice of certain methods motivated in a convincing way (justification of methods)?

● Is the sample appropriate?
● Are the research design and/or the questionnaire appropriate for this study?
● Are the measures of the variables valid and reliable?

● Has the author used the appropriate quantitative and/or qualitative techniques?
● Do the conclusions result from the findings of the study?
● Do the conclusions give a clear answer to the main research question?
● Has the author considered the limitations of the study?

● Has the author presented the limitations in the article?

Documenting the literature review

As stated earlier, the purpose of the literature review is to help the researcher to build on the
work of others and to make informed decisions during the various stages of the research
project. A review of the literature identifies and highlights relevant themes and documents
significant findings, frameworks, and/or instruments from earlier