Research Methods for Business

The Critical Literature Review

 ?What Is a Literature Review
• 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documents (both published and unpublished)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).
 ?What Is a Literature Review
• A written summary of the literature
• Describes past and current information
and research
• Organized into topics
• Reports the literature based on themes or
individual studies
• Documents a need for a proposed study
 Functions Literature Review
• Research builds on existing knowledge
• Look at a problem from a specific angle
• Find out what variables are important to consider
• Introduce relevant terminology/provide definitions
• Provide arguments for the relationships variables
• Testability and replicability are enhanced.
• Research findings are related to findings of others.
Literature Review in a Quantitative Study

• Justifies the importance of the research

problem at the beginning of the study
• Supports the theory or explanation used in
the study
• Foreshadows the purpose and research
questions
• Provides an explanation for the results in
other studies and in the theoretical prediction
at the end of the study
Literature Review in a Qualitative Study

• Documents the importance of the research

problem at the beginning of the study
• Does not foreshadow the research
questions (which are broad in scope to
encourage participants to provide their
own views)
• Is used to compare and contrast findings
with other studies at the end of the study
 The Process of Conducting
a Literature Review
• Identify key terms
• Locate literature
• Critically evaluate and select the literature
• Organize the literature
• Write a review
 Data sources
• Textbooks
• Academic and professional journals
• Theses
• Conference proceedings
• Unpublished manuscripts
• Reports of government departments and
corporations
• Newspapers
• The Internet
 Searching for literature
• Most libraries have the following electronic
resources at their disposal:
– Electronic journals
– Full-text databases
– Bibliographic databases
– Abstract databases
 Evaluating the literature
• Titles
• Abstract
• Table of contents/first chapter book
• Number of citations
Documenting the Literature Review
• Literature review introduces
– Subject study
– Highlights the problem
– Summarizes work done so far