Literature Review in Research

Session 10: Literature Review in Research

Total Session Time: 120 minutes + 240 minutes Assignment

Prerequisites

 None

Learning Tasks

By the end of this session students are expected to be able to:

Resources Needed

 Flip charts, marker pens, and masking tape

 Black/white board and chalk/whiteboard markers

 Computer and LCD Projector

SESSION OVERVIEW

Activity/

Step Time Content

Method

Introduction, Learning Tasks

1 05 minutes Presentation

Presentation

2 15 minutes Reasons for Reviewing Available Literature

Buzzing

Presentation Identification of Resources that are Available

3 10 minutes

Brainstorming for Carrying out Literature Review.

Presentation Summarizing Important Information Obtained

4 55 minutes

Lecture discussion from Index Cards

5 20 minutes Presentation Review of Literature Pertaining to Research

Topic

6 05 minutes Presentation Key Points

7 05 minutes Presentation Evaluation

8 05 minutes Presentation Individual Assignment

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PST 06210 Operational Research NTA Level 6 Semester 2 Facilitator Guide 80

SESSION CONTENTS

STEP1: Presentation of Session Title and Learning Tasks (5 minutes)

READ or ASK students to read the learning tasks and clarify

ASK students if they have any questions before continuing

STEP 2: Reasons for Reviewing Available Literature (15 minutes)

Activity: Small Group Discussion (5 minutes)

DIVIDE students into small manageable groups

ASK students to discuss on the following question

 What are the reasons for reviewing literature?

ALLOW students to discuss for 2 minutes

ALLOW few groups to present and the rest to add points not mentioned

CLARIFY and SUMMARIZE by using the contents below

doing a summary about previous studies on the topic.

of others without adding new contributions.

because scientific research is cumulative.

o This involves determining what has been done and what still needs to be done, and

examining what books and professional journals have already revealed in your area

or country, or in other areas/countries with similar problems/context.

study. This may assist you in refining your statement of the problem.

used in your study.

needed.

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STEP 3: Identification of Resources that are Available for Carrying Out

Literature Review (10 minutes)

Activity: Buzzing (5 minutes)

ASK students to pair up and buzz on the following question for 2 minutes

ALLOW few pairs to respond and let other pairs to add on points not mentioned

WRITE their response on the flip chart/board

CLARIFY and SUMMARIZE by using the content below

 Resources that are available for carrying out literature review include:

o People (individuals or groups, organizations)

o Publications (books which compile research information, journals (hard or electronic

copies)

o Unpublished information [grey literature) e.g. Dissertation, research reports not in

journals, computer data base

o Supervisors and fellow students

 Sources could be at different levels of administrative system

o Community level, district and regional levels and provincial level

o National levels – e.g. national libraries, Ministries of Health, central statistics, etc.

o International levels – UNICEF, WHO, USAID, etc.; including computerized search

for international literature

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Sources of Information at Various Levels of Administrative System

SN Administrative level Example of resource

1 • Opinions, beliefs of key informants (through

Community and district

interviews), in addition to written sources

or provincial levels

statistics, registers

reports, etc.

2. National Level • Articles from national journals, books identified

during literature searches at university and other

national libraries, WHO, UNICEF libraries, etc.

archival records, library or congress collections

central statistical offices

Non-governmental organizations

IDRC, USAID, UNICEF, WHO);

(from national library or international

institutions).

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STEP 4: Summarizing Important Information Obtained from Index Cards

(55 minutes)

 Strategy 1: What to do with identified information

o Read through

o Summarize the content relevant to your study (use index card)

Note pertinent information

 Title of article

 Author

 Title of Journal/Book, Page, Year, etc (see later)

 Aim of study

 Methodology

 Major findings

 Utility of information

 Write the literature review section

 Prepare list of references

 Strategy 2: What to do with identified information

o Organize in groups of related information/themes

Africa-Tanzania

o Write coherently using your own words (be writing not citing); use past tense

o Cite sources properly using recommended style

 Writing a Literature Review

o Organize your notes in groups of related statements according to which aspect of the

problem they touch upon (e.g., community factors, service factors, etc.).

o Use your problem analysis diagram as a framework (and adapt the diagram in turn as

you find more literature).

o Decide in which order you want to discuss the various issues.

 Where Do You Put Which Information?

o Some literature can be used to describe the local context (district, region, country) or

problem.

o All facts mentioned need a source, except some general and well known statements.

o For the description of the selected problem, use all available raw or published

literature.

o Literature from other countries or regions may be used to illustrate your point.

 If these sources are many, you may have a separate section on international

literature.

o More complex studies using theoretical models should have a separate section

discussing

these models, which could come after the section of statement of the problem.

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PST 06210 Operational Research NTA Level 6 Semester 2 Facilitator Guide 84

o When drafting the background section or the statement of the problem, usually do not

describe sources one by one. Instead, write a coherent discussion in your own words,

using all relevant literature linked to each other.

o It is possible to cite several sources for one statement. Reference all the literature

referred to in your review.

o At the end of your paper, list your references in order, using the format described

above.

o In research proposals, the references come before the annexes.

o Select one style of references (such as Vancouver, Harvard, etc.) and use it

consistently for citations and reference lists in your proposal.

 Bias in Literature

o Bias: A distortion of the available information in such a way that it reflects opinions

or conclusions which do not represent the real situation.

o Understanding the various types of bias helps to be critical of the existing literature.

o If you have reservations about certain references or if you find conflicting opinions in

the literature, then discuss these openly and critically. Such a critical attitude may

help you to avoid biases in your study.

o Common types of bias in literature include:

 Playing down controversies and differences in one's own study results.

 Restricting references to those that support the point of view of the author.

 Drawing far reaching conclusions from preliminary or shaky research results or

making sweeping generalizations from just one case or small study.

STEP 5: Review of Literature Pertaining to Research Topic (20 minutes)

Review of literature pertaining to research topic avoiding the following:

 Plagiarism (pretending information is yours) is defined as:

o An object (language, words, text, diagram, graphs, ideas)

o which has been taken from a source (books, journals, internet, not just text)

o by an agent (person, student, academician)

o without adequate acknowledgement of sources

o with or without intention to deceive

 Bias in literature review

o Suppressing/omitting controversies/ conflicting opinion or differences

o Using author supportive references only

o Over concluding/ generalisation from inadequate data – one case or small study or

poor design

 Such types of bias may have serious ethical implication (may affect people‘s health; take

researcher to court)

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STEP 6: Key Points (05 minutes)

 Literature review or search is ―a systematic and thorough search of all types of published

literature in order to identify as many items as possible that are relevant to a particular

topic‖

 Resources that are available for carrying out such a review are people, publications,

unpublished information, supervisors and fellow students

STEP 7: Evaluation (5 minutes)

STEP 8: Individual assignment (5 minutes)

Activity: Take Home Individual Assignment (5minutes)

ASK individual students to work on the following Assignment

ALLOCATE time for students to do the assignments and submit

REFER students to recommended reference

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PST 06210 Operational Research NTA Level 6 Semester 2 Facilitator Guide 86

References

References

Hardon A, Boonmongkon P, and Streefland P. et al (editors)(2001). Applied Health research,

Anthropology of health and health care (3rd Ed.): Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Het

Spinhuis Publishers,

Kothari C.R (1985). Research Methodology – Methods and techniques, (2nd ed): New Delhi,

India: Wiley Eastern Limited

Varkevisser, C. M, Pathmanathan, I and Brownlee, A (1991). Designing and Conducting

Health Systems Research Projects, Vol. 2 Part I.:Ottawa, Canada: IDRC

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PST 06210 Operational Research NTA Level 6 Semester 2 Facilitator Guide 87

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