Review of Literature

Welcome…..

Presented by

Aseem.B,

Assistant Professor,

SP Fort College of Nursing,

Thiruvananthapuram

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

• Review of Literature is a key step in research

process . It refers to an extensive ,exhaustive and systematic

examination of publications relevant to the research

project .

• Nursing research may be considered a continuing

process in which knowledge gained from earlier studies is an

integral part of research in general Before any research can

be started whether it is a single study or an extended

project , a literature review of previous studies and

experiences related to the proposed investigation should be

done.

Definition 1) A literature review is an objective , through

summary & critical analysis of the relevants available in research and non- research literature on the topic being studied .

2) According to S.K Sharma ( 2005)Literature review is defined as a board ,

comprehensive , in depth systematic and critical review of scholarly published printed or audiovisual materials and personal communications .

Objective/ Purpose of literature review

o Describe the relationship of each study to other research studies under consideration .

o Identify new ways to interpret and shed light on any gaps in previous research .

o Point a way forward for further research o See what has and has not been investigated . o Develop General explanation for observer variations

in a behavior or phenomenon. o Identify potential relationship between concepts and

to identify researchable hypothesis .o Learn how others have identified and measured key

concepts.

o Develop alternative research projects .o Identify data sources that other researchers have

used.o Determine how well theory & research are

developed in the study .o Find out information already exists in your field

of research. o Identify gaps in literature .

o Find other people working in your field .o Identify major similar works .o Identify main methodologies and research techniques o Show relationship between previous studies and

theories .o Provide a context for a research .o Justify the research .o ensure the research has n’t been done before ( or that it

is not just a

“ replication study”.o Enable the researcher to learn from previous theory on

the subject . o Help refine , refocus or even change the topic .

Importance of Review of Literature

• Review of literature provide a handy guide to a particular topic. For professionals , they are useful reports that keep them up to date with what is current in the field.

• Literature reviews also provide a solid background for a research study. Comprehensive knowledge of the literature of the field is essential to most research studies .

The importance includes

o Identification of a research problem and development or refinement of research question .

o Generation of useful research question or projects / activities for the discipline .

o Discovery of unanswered questions about subjects, concepts or problems.

o Development of hypothesis to be tested in a research study .

o Identification of suitable design and data collection methods for a research study .

o Helps in planning the methodology for the present research study .

o It also helps in development of research instruments

Sources of Literature Review Mainly Two –

1. Primary Sources

2. Secondary Sources

1) Primary sources are :- the reports of the studies written by researcher who conducted them. A primary source is written by a person who developed the theory or conducted the research or the description of an investigation written by the person who conducted it .

eg : Nursing research articles

2) Secondary sources are :- secondary source research documents are description of studies prepared by someone other than the original researcher. They are written by people other than the individuals who developed the theory or conducted the research.

eg : A literature review on patient experiences in the ICU ( AJN)

Main Sources

Main Sources

Resources of literature

review

Books

Journals

Conference papers

Electronic data baseMagazines

& News papers

Research reports

Encyclopedia & Dictionary

Theses

Nursing Magazines

Thesis example

1) Electronic sources

Electronic literature sources through web may be very useful – but sometimes it can be time consuming and unpredictable because there are many websites and web pages that can lead to information overload & confusion . General literature research can be conducted through search engines like yahoo , Google , etc , however , the most relevant nursing data bases are .

Cumulative index to Nsg & Allied Health literature MEDLINE Pub med , Registry of Nsg research Dissertation abstracts online Online Journals

2)Printed sources : - Printed sources are also used

for literature review . Printed research summary may be located from published abstracts such as Nsg research abstract , psychological Abstracts, Dissertation Abstract international etc .

3) Journals o National Nsg Journals o International Nsg Journals

Find out ???? Names of National Journals

This is the definitive research tool for Nursing and allied Health professionals .

The cinahl database is an extremely important electronic database for nurse .

It covers references to virtually all English language nursing & allied health journals , as well as books , book chapters , nursing dissertation & selected conference proceedings in nursing & allied health fields .

(Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health

Literature)

• The cinahl database includes materials dating from 1982 to the present and contains more than 1 million records in addition to providing bibliographic information for locating references .

• Cinahl provides abstract of most citation , supplementary information such as names of data collection instruments is available for many records in the database . Documents of interest can typically be ordered electronically . Cinahl can be accessed online or by CD- Rom , either directly through a commercial vendor .

Front page of CINAHL

With cinahl complete users get fast and easy access to top Nsg & allied health Journals , evidence – based care sheets & quick lessons. It providers broad content coverage including over 50 Nsg specialties , speech and language pathology , Nutrition , general health & medicine & more .

In addition, cinahl provides access to health care books , Nsg dissertations , selected conference proceeding standard s, of practia audiovisuals & book chapters. full text material includes to journals as well as legal cases , clinical innovations , critical paths , research instruments & clinical trials.

Cochrane review • Cochrane reviews are systematic review of

primary research in human health care and health policy and are internationally recognized as the highest standard in evidence -based health care .

• They investigate the effects of interventions for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation . They also assess the accuracy of a diagnostic test for a given condition in a specific patient group and setting.

Cochrane review is a scientific investigations in itself , with a pre-planned methods, section and assembly of original studies as their subject.

Evidence based health care are scientific methods used to determine which drugs and procedure are best for treating disease? Each systematic review address a clearly formulated question.

Eg :- Can antibiotic help in alleviating the symptoms of a sore throat ?

Elements of written literature

1. Introduction

2. Body

3. Conclusion

1) Writing introduction

Following steps for writing introduction .

Define or identify the general topic or area of concern ,

thus providing appropriate context for reviewing the literature

.

Point out over all trends in what has been published

about the topic or conflicts in theory , methodology , evidence

, & conclusion or gaps in research and scholarship , or a

single problem or new perspective of immediate interest .

.

2) Writing the body

Measures need to be undertaken while writing the body of literature.

o Group research studies & other types of literature ( reviews , theoretical articles , case studies ) .

o Summarize individual studies or articles .o Assist the reader with strong umbrella sentence

at the beginning of paragraphs , signpost through out & brief, ‘so what ‘ summary sentences at intermediate points in the reviews to aid in understanding comparisons & analysis .

3) Writing the Conclusion

Points to be taken care :-o Summarize major contributions of significant studies

and articles to the body of knowledge under review , maintaining the focus established in the introduction .

o Evaluate the current ‘state of the art’ for the body of knowledge reviewed , pointing out the major methodological flaws or gaps in research , in consistencies in theory & finding the areas or issues pertaining to future study .

LOCATING RELEVANT LITERATURE FOR A RESEARCH REVIEW

CRITIQUE/EVALUATE STUDIES

SEARCH USING

KEYWORDS IN DATA BASE

RETRIVE POTENTIAL SOURCES

FROM THE DATA SEARCH

SCREEN SOURCES FOR

APPROPRIATENESS

READ SOURCE MATERIALS

FORMULATE & REFINE

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY

QUESTIONS

ABSTRACT INFORMATION

FROM THE STUDIES

ANALYZE & INTEGRATE

INFORMATION

SYNTHESIS / CRITICAL

SUMMARY

Steps of Literature Review

1. stage I – Annotated bibliography.

2. “ II – Thematic organization .

3. “ III – More Reading .

4. “ IV – Write individual selections.

Bibliography → thematic organization → more reading →write individual sections → integrate sections .

There are many ways to approach a literature review depending on its purpose

a) Stage I – Annotated bibliography : -

At this stage , researchers read articles , books & other types of literature related to the topic of research & write a brief synopsis of each review . After going through the reading list, researchers will have an annotation of each source of related literature . Later annotations are likely to include more reference of other work since previous readings will be available to compare , list at this point the important goal is to get accurate critical summarization of individual works.

Example for writing annotated bibliography

b) Stage II – Thematic organization

At this stage , researchers try to find common themes of research topic & organize the literature under these themes , subthemes or categories . Here researchers try to organize literature under themes , which relate to each other & are arranged in a chronological manner. Further more researchers try to establish coherence between themes & literature discussed under these themes.

Organize / arrange based on the themes and subthemes

Organize based on themes sub themes and category

c) Stage III – More Readings

Based on the knowledge gained through primary

reading , researchers have a better understanding about the

research topic & literature selected to it.

At this stage the researchers try to discover specific

literature materials relevant to the field of study or research

methodologies which are more relevant for their research.

They integrate the new readings in to their literature

review draft , recognize themes and read more as

appropriate .

More reading..

More Readings

d) Stage IV – Write Individual Sections

At this stage , researchers start writing the literature under

each thematic section by using previously collected drafts or

annotations .

Here they organize the related articles under each theme by

ensuring that every article is related to each other . For each

thematic section , draft annotations are used to write a section

which discuss pertinent to future study .

conclude by providing some insight in to the relationship

between central topic of the literature review & larger area of

study such as discipline , a scientific endower , or a profession

Stage V – integrate sections

In this section researchers have list of the thematic sections and they tie them together with an introduction , conclusion and some additions and revisions in the sections to show how they are relate to each other and to the overall theme .

POINTS TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LITERATURE REVIEW :-

The following points are to be considered when assessing , analyzing and writing a literature review .

1. Be specific & be succinct.

2. Be selective

3. Focus of current topics

4. Ensure evidence for claims

5. Focus on sources of evidences .

6.Reference citation .

7. Organization of literature review .

8. Refering original source .

9. Avoid abbreviations .

10. Simple & accurate sentence structure

I wish you a great success…