Reviewing the Literature Chapter 4 Reviewing the Literature John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to: Define what it means to review the literature and explain its importance List the differences in a literature review for quantitative and qualitative research Identify the five steps in conducting a literature review Write a literature review John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

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 your proposed study John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

Literature Review in a Quantitative Study Documents the importance of the research problem at the beginning of the study Supports the theory or explanation used in the study Foreshadows the research questions Provides an explanation for the results in other studies and in the theoretical prediction at the end of the study John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

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 with other studies at the end of the study John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

The Process of Conducting a Literature Review Identify key terms Locate literature Critically evaluate and select the literature Organize the literature Write a review John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

Identifying Key Terms Write a preliminary “working title” for the project and select two or three key words that capture the essence of the project Pose a short general research question that you would like to answer in the study Look in a thesaurus of terms to find words that match your topic Scan the contents in your library stacks and the table of contents of educational journals John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

Priority/Value of Sources for Searching the Literature Summaries Journals, indexes, databases Early stage literature (e.g., Web studies) John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

Databases Used in Educational Research ERIC PsycINFO Sociofile Social Science Citation Index Dissertation Abstracts Others: PubMed John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

Critically Evaluate and Select the Literature Is it a good, accurate source? National journal? Reviewed source? Research study? John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

Critically Evaluate and Select the Literature (cont’d) Is the source worthy of inclusion? Topic relevance: Is the literature on the same topic as your proposed study? Individual and site relevance: Does the literature examine the same individuals and sites you want to study? Problem relevance: Does the literature examine the same research problem as you propose in your study? Accessibility relevance: Is the literature available in your library or can it be downloaded from a Web site? John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

Organize the Literature: Abstracting Studies Contents of abstracts vary for research study and essay. The structure is essentially same for quantitative and qualitative research studies: Research problem Research questions/hypotheses Data collection procedures Results/findings John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

Sample Hierarchical Literature Map The Need for Teaching Programs to Be Culturally Responsive Bennett, 1995; Eastman, Smith, 1991; Grant 1994; Noel, 1995 Study Abroad Programs U.S. Programs Personal Insights of Preservice Teachers Friesen, Kang McDougall, 1995; Mahan, Stachowski, 1991 Possible Improvements Martin, Rohrlich , 1991; Stachowski, 1991 Personal Insights of Preservice Teachers Cockrell, Placier, Cockrell, Middleton, 1999; Goodwin, 1997; Kea, Bacon, 1999 Attitudes Toward Study Abroad King, Young,1994 Conventional Programs Colville-Hall, Macdonald, Smollen, 1995; Rodriguez, Sjostrom, 1995; Vavrus, 1994 Need for Further Study: Non-English Speaking Cultures Question: Do short-term study abroad programs in non-English speaking cultures help create cultural responsiveness in preservice teachers? Cross-Cultural Programs Cooper, Beare, Thorman, 1990; Larke, Wiseman, Bradley, 1990 Predominately English Speaking Cultures Mahan, Stachowski, 1990; Quinn, Barr, McKay, Jarchow, Powell, 1995; Vall, Tennison, 1992

Organize the Literature: Constructing a Literature Map Identify key terms for the topic and put them at the top of the map Sort studies into topical areas or “families of studies” Provide a label for each box which will become a heading for the review John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

Organize the Literature: Constructing a Literature Map (cont’d) Develop the map on as many levels as possible Draw a box toward the bottom of the figure that says “my proposed study” Draw lines connecting the proposed study with other branches of the literature John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

Circular Literature Map Need for Further Study: Non-English Speaking Cultures Question: “Do short term study abroad programs in non-English speaking cultures help create cultural responsiveness in preservice teachers? U.S. Programs Study Abroad Programs Personal Insights of Preservice Teachers (Cockrell, Placier, Cockrell, Milleton, 1999 Attitudes Toward Study Abroad (King, Young 1994) Personal Insights of Preservice Teachers (Friesen, Kang, McDougall, 1995) Conventional Programs Colville-Hall, Macdonald, Smolen, 1995) Predominately English Speaking Cultures (Mahan, Stachowski, 1990) Cross-Cultural Programs (Cooper, Beare, Thorman, 1990) John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

Writing a Literature Review Use consistent style manual approach End-of-text references Within-text references Headings Tables/figures John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

Writing a Literature Review: Types of Reviews Thematic review Literature documents the theme identified by researcher No study discussed in detail Study-by-study review Detailed review of each study Studies grouped by themes Summaries linked by transitional sentences and organized under subheadings John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition