How to conduct an effective Literature Review TEQIP Short Term Course on Research Skills and Methods 19 th - 21 st February 2016 Ashish Garg IIT Kanpur ashishg@iitk.ac.in
Bibliography • “A Gentle Guide to Research Methods” by Gordon Rugg and Marian Petre, McGraw Hill • Many other on-line articles 2
What is “Literature Review”? • C. Hart (1998) “Doing a literature review: Releasing the social science research imagination”, London, UK, Sage Publications. – The use of knowledge/ideas/approaches in the literature • To correctly iden8fy the problem (if vaguely known beforehand) • To jus8fy the par8cular approach taken to the topic • To assess the selec8on of methods used, and • To understand that the research to be done contributes something new – Quality of the review means appropriate breadth and depth, rigor and consistency, clarity and brevity, and effec8ve analysis and synthesis 3
What is “Literature Review”? • J. Shaw, System, 23(3), 325-335 (1995). – Process of the review should “explain how one piece of research builds on another”. • Webster and Watson, MIS Quarterly, 26 (2), 13-23 (2002) – An effec8ve literature review creates a firm founda8on for advancing knowledge. It facilitates theory development, closes areas where a plethora of research exists, and uncovers areas where research is needed. 4
Literature Review • An effective literature review should include the following characteristics: a) Methodologically analyze and synthesize quality literature, b) Provide a firm founda8on to a research topic c) Provide a firm founda8on to the selec8on of research methodology d) Demonstrate that the proposed research contributes something new to the overall body of knowledge or advances the research field’s knowledge-base. • Helps you to create a good impression on the supervisor that you do understand the state of the art in your chosen field J 5
Stages of Literature Review 2. PROCESSING i. Knowledge of the Literature ii. Understanding of the Literature iii. Applica8on 1. INPUT 3. OUTPUT iv. Analysis v. Synthesis vi. Evalua8on Quality of input (Source and Search tools) 6
Knowing and Understanding the Literature Example: One is doing a literature review on “CO 2 emission and global warming” Case-I It has been showed in various studies that CO2 emission leads to increase in the global mean earth temperature (ABC et al, DEF et al…). Case - II It has been showed in various studies that CO2 emission leads to increase in the global mean earth temperature. For example, ABC et al. conducted a detailed study and found that CO2 emissions lead to an increased of 2-5 degrees in the mean temperatures depending on the loca8on and level of pollu8on. In another study, BEF et al. showed that the increase in the mean temperature was between 1-2 degrees and the devia8on was also dependent on the local mean temperatures at a specific loca8on. BETTER 7
Application • Typically a two step two-step process – Iden8fy the major concepts or topics or subtopics relevant to the subject under considera8on, and – Place the cita8on in the correct category of concept. Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3 Concept M ArKcle 1 X ArKcle 2 X X ArKcle 3 X ArKcle N X X 8
Analysis • Analyze the data – Understand hypotheses – Understand models used or experimental condi8ons used – Make connec8ons – Compare and contrast – Find out strong points and loopholes – ….. 9
Analysis: An Example Informing Science Journal, 9, 181 (2006) Case – I Data mining is the analyzing and interpreta8on of large amounts of informa8on. Through analyzing vast amounts of data it is possible to find paeerns, rela8onships and from these discoveries it is possible to make correla8ons (Chen & Liu, 2005). Why it would be of any interest or value to find paeerns and rela8onships in order to make correla8ons? Case II Data mining is a process of discovering new knowledge by using sta8s8cal analysis to iden8fy previously unsuspected paeerns and clustering in large data sets (Chen & Liu, 2005). 10
Synthesis and Evaluation • Bringing out something new out of the literature review – Iden8fica8on of unsolved problems or issues – Problems in the models or experimental designs used in past – A new idea – Provide recommenda8ons and conclusions 11
Synthesis: Example Example CO2 emission is believed to be responsible for increase in the global mean temperatures. The problem is associated with emissions due to coal burning, biomass burning, vehicular pollu8on and other human ac8vi8es. However there are studies which contradict this view and suggest that global warming has no rela8on to the atmospheric CO2 levels. Example √ Beeer Various human ac8vi8es related to burning of hydrocarbons lead to CO2 emissions in the atmosphere which are widely believed to be responsible for increase in the global mean temperatures. At the same 8me, there are studies which contradict this view and suggest that global warming has no rela8on to the atmospheric CO2 levels. It would thus be interes8ng to examine this in detail by modeling the data as well as by carrying out experiments as well as data collec8on in areas which have experienced large increase in the CO2 levels due to industrializa8on and find out why these discrepancies occur. 12
How do you actually do it? • Exploit the power of web in a positive way • Rely on refereed articles published in scholarly journals, not just on some news items or random articles • There is a method to it. 13
Method • Specify your research question. – It is tricky, should not be too narrow or too broad – Learn by experience – Example: How to search for informa8on related to global warming by using key words • Global warming • Global warming and pollu8on • Global warming and air pollu8on • Global warming and air pollu8on and carbon di-oxide • …………… 14
Use of Bibliographic Databases • Identify ones which are of your use – Web of Science (or ISI web of knowledge) – Scopus – Google Scholar • Build a tentative list of terms that you would use for search • Narrow your search • Refine your search 15
Further work • Thorough reading of the papers/articles – Forward and backward search • Read critically, make observations of the salient points and create summaries • Compile the information, compare and contrast • Go back to step-1 if needed • Determine what is done, what is the relevance and the importance of the work done, what are the missing links and the remaining challenges on the topic you have chosen. 16
Important aspects • An effective and quality literature review is based upon a concept-centric approach rather than chronological or author-centric approach – J. Webster & R.T. Watson, MIS Quarterly, 26(2), 13-23, 2002. • Authors of literature reviews are at risk for producing mind-numbing lists of citations and findings that resemble a phone book – impressive case, lots of numbers, but not much plot. – D.J. Bem, Psychological Bulle8n, 118(2), 172- 177, 1995. 17
Output of a literature review Structure of an argument Hart, C. (1998). Doing a literature review: Releasing the social science research imagina5on. London, UK: Sage Publica8ons. 18
Key points • Literature review is not a one time thing. – It is a con8nuous and cyclic process that one may need to go back and forth 8ll the end. • Important to comment upon the comparisons between numerical and experimental studies. • Reasons/arguments must be constructed to explain the disagreements/discrepancies like some of the assumptions made in numerical/ theoretical studies are not at all only partly met in experiments. • Conversely, experimental error analysis must be performed to ascertain whether the differences are significant or well within the error band. 19
Writing a literature review • A difficult task to write a good review • Unlike an introductory chapter in a thesis or report, a literature review is usually more comprehensive and elaborate and is well- supported by the evidence. • Topics are usually covered in substantial detail and supported by references to research 20
Structure of a literature review • Various methods of writing a literature review • One can either go by the authors or by the topic – Usually, second approach is beeer than the first 21
Process of writing the literature review • Read and understand the articles – Understand the purpose, assump8ons & hypotheses made and the claims made in the form of results and analysis • Organization of the topics – Synthesize the informa8on in the form of notes, take references • Create a set of topics and sub-topics • Iden8fy key references for each topic – Create a story in the mind 22
Process of writing the literature review • Jot down a framework in the document – For example, make a list of various sec8ons • Introduc8on of the area • Statement of the problem • Topic and sub-topic wise list of sec8ons • Provide a discussion • Provide an account of what needs to be done • Summary and outlook • References • Fill in the details • Read it thoroughly and get rid of the mistakes – Pay special aeen8on to factual mistakes, spelling mistakes, assump8ons and claims 23
Reading the articles 24
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