1. 2 Planning A Research Study
Neuman and Robson Ch. 4 and 5:
Reviewing the Scholarly Literature and Planning a Study

2. Content Choosing a Research topic Reviewing the Literature
Writing a Literature Review
Citation and Referencing
Working Effectively

3. Choosing a Research Problem
Where do problems come from?
Practical problems in the field
The literature in the field
Personal interest

4. Example of a Problem
Broad research problem in a broad general way is as follows: “Why is productivity in Japan so much higher than in UK”?
What sort of productivity is being referred to?
With what industries the same is related?
With what period of time the productivity is being talked about?
Rethinking and narrowing down the question to:
“What factors were responsible for the higher labour productivity of Japan’s manufacturing industries during the decade 1971 to 1980 relative to UK manufacturing industries?”
Further rethinking and rephrasing
“To what extent did labour productivity in 1971 to 1980 in Japan exceed that of UK in respect of 15 selected manufacturing industries? What factors were responsible for the productivity differentials between the two countries by industries?”

5. Feasibility of Study Feasibility is contingent on many factors:
Length of time to do the study
Ethical constraints
Cooperation of others
Cost of conducting the research
Researcher’s own skills

6. Questions to be answered in a literature review:
What do we already know in the immediate area concerned?
What are the characteristics of the key concepts or the main factors or variables?
What are the relationships between these key concepts, factors or variables?
What are the existing theories?
Where are the inconsistencies/shortcomings in our knowledge and understanding?
What views need to be (further) tested?
What evidence is lacking, inconclusive, contradictory or too limited?
Why study (further) the research problem?
What contribution can the present study be expected to make?
What research designs or methods seem unsatisfactory?

7. Tips: Remember the purpose Read with a purpose Write with a purpose
Always put citations into your writing immediately
Keep a bibliographic file

8. The Literature Review

9. Organization of this lecture
The Literature Review:
Purposes of the Literature Review
The Literature Review Process
Search Aids, Key Words, Reading, & Notes
Writing the Literature Review
Referencing

10. Why have a Literature Review?
To create new knowledge
must first know current knowledge about subject
Use knowledge and insights of others
draw on elements of prior research
Lit Review task
learn as much as you can from the efforts and work of others
need to read published “scientific literature”.

11. Purposes of Literature Review
Central purpose
to allow researcher (and reader) to understand literature
This includes the strengths and weaknesses!
Research problem is focus of literature review
But literature may be related to the research project in several ways
through the research problem,
the research objectives,
the conceptual framework, (a tool to organise ideas)
the methods and procedures which might be used

12. Purposes of Literature Review
Prior research is relevant if it
addresses a similar problem or
had similar objectives
Important to know how others did their research (methods and procedures)
can suggest what is likely to work for you
Studies can be relevant for both their similarities and differences
the differences are especially important in methods and procedures

13. Critical Reading
Reviewing academic literature is not the same as just reading it!
You need to think about the ideas, the research methods, how the data was collected, and how the findings have been interpreted.
This is what we mean by Critical Reading
As you study (read) there are several questions which you should keep in mind. So what are they?

14. Critical Reading For any given piece of work:
Is there a theoretical framework?
If so, what is it and how does it fit into this topic?
Does the work provide links to other work in the topic?
Is there an empirical aspect to the work?
If so, what is its basis?
Does the work relate to a specific social group?
Does it relate to a particular place?
How applicable might it be outside the latter two?
How old is the work?
Is it still valid?

15. Critical Reading
What does the previous research tell us about this topic?
What does it not tell us?
What are the key weaknesses in terms of theory, methods and data?

16. Critical Reading
Critical readers also infer what the text, as a whole, means, based on their analyses.
The goals of critical reading are therefore:
To recognise an author’s purpose.
To understand tone and persuasive elements.
To recognise bias by the author(s)—has the author not reported all the research or written the article so a particular view emerges as dominant which in actual fact may not be so dominant.

17. Specific purposes, functions and benefits of a literature review
Prevents duplication of work already done
Some duplication is OK, but complete duplication is wasteful
Identify new areas for research
suggest how new research can contribute to field
Provides ideas for:
Good ways to handle potential problems
Types of Research Techniques to use
Good sources of data
Novel approaches for your research

18. Specific purposes, functions and benefits of a literature review
Helps develop insights on design of your study
shows what has/hasn’t been previously successful
May reveal conceptual insights into the problem
and/or suggest possible hypotheses for your own study
Formal literature review is necessary for academic research
But less so for research in industry
Avoids unneeded duplication, repeating the mistakes of others and inefficient research

19. The Literature Review Process
Lit Review should include “scientific literature”.
Literature which has been peer reviewed
professional journals, formal research reports, university-affiliated bulletins, reports and monographs
publications by research foundations and international organizations
Peer reviewed research may contain errors
But the peer review process aims to ensure accuracy and correctness

20. The Literature Review Process
“Popular” publications should not generally be included
eg. Newspapers, news magazines, or industry or popular publications.
Even well respected publications, such as the Wall Street Journal, or The Economist are not generally appropriate sources for a literature review.
(However, these sources may be useful to the researcher as background information during problem formulation)
The literature review is intended to provide an overview and summary of prior reliable knowledge.

21. Using Library for Research
Library access is important for research
access to specialized literature
necessary to carry out scientific research
Ability to locate and obtain required literature
Research libraries can access literature from other libraries
in electronic form or via interlibrary loans

22. Other Tips for your Literature Search
Check current issues of major journals for relevant literature
May not yet have been indexed by indexing services
Dissertation abstracts (Masters, PhD) can also be useful
Google and Google Scholar are increasingly important

23. Key Word Searches Individual words/phrases relating to study topic
Picking good key words is important
too narrow, risk overlook relevant literature
too broad, risk spend time finding/reviewing literature that may be off topic
Best practice
start with broad key words
then narrow to a more confined list

24. Key Word Searches Defining key words may be difficult
there are no specific guidelines
Focus on key words and phrases
that define the topic
relevant to problem, objectives, conceptual framework and methods or procedures
Helpful to review prior research for
analytical techniques or specific issues of focus
these techniques or issues should be key words

25. Tips for Reading Time saving tips
Read the most recent publications first
This means that you get:
to focus on current knowledge
a useful guide/summary of earlier research
Time saving tips
read the abstract or summary
then decide whether article is relevant
When reading full articles the main purpose is
to identify and describe relevance of study to your research

26. Note taking is vital (don’t take shortcuts)
Keep a complete citation of each source
Nothing worse than trying to track down a paper
Keep written notes as you read each paper
don’t rely on memory, you’ll forget too much
it may feel like this is slowing you down
but it will save you time in long term
Be thorough and systematic in keeping notes
note problem, objectives, methods, findings and conclusions of papers
Note questions, shortcomings or problems
Do it on paper or with laptop – no golden rule

27. Writing the Literature Review
A Lit review need organization
There should be a thread running through it
should not be a series of unconnected summaries of studies
should be a synthesis of previous relevant literature
Start with an outline of what you want to say
then go into the fine detail
Make sure to include a standard beginning/end
an introduction section
a short summary that brings all the main points together

28. Writing the Literature Review
Subheads are best way to organize the literature review
Greatly assist the reader in understanding your points
Usually subheads are subject-matter topics
logically group studies with a similar focus
Lit review should summarize, analyze, compare and contrast the literature reviewed
A limited amount of quotations can be useful
It is not normal to include graphs or tables in a lit review

29. Writing the Literature Review
Include the economic foundations literature related to your topic area
Conceptual thinking, analytical procedures, and the progression of research
put your planned work in perspective
Read and reference the original sources
Don’t rely on someone else’s summary of a paper as a short cut

30. Referencing Referencing can appear throughout a thesis/research report
but most frequent referencing is in lit review section
Why includes references at all?
Assign credit to author for an idea, concept or result
Provide supporting/contrary evidence for own views
Provide a convenient route for the reader to find more information about issues discussed

31. Referencing
Giving credit for thoughts, ideas, efforts and contributions of others is an important ethical issue.
Plagiarism is failure to give credit for an idea or research result to its originator
Presenting someone else’s words or ideas as your own can hurt your professional standing
Proper referencing and credit for other’s work,
show you are aware of state of knowledge in subject area
are familiar with the work of leaders in the field

32. Referencing Styles No single standard referencing style
vary with type of publication
Parenthetical referencing is most common
author’s last name, year of publication, and sometimes the page number. eg. (Ethridge, 2004, p.122)
these appear in the main text of the paper
Papers typically end with a Reference List
Complete reference for the references cited in the main text appear in a list
eg. Ethridge, Don. (2004). Research methodology in applied economics. Ames, IA: Blackwell Publ.
Usually the references appear in alphabetical order

33. Referencing Styles The number in parentheses style
numbers replace the authors name and publication date
eg. (1) , (2) , (3) , (4) etc in main text
a numbered References list then appear at end of paper
So which style should you use?
Normally refer to style used by own University or publisher for the journal you are submitting to
Referencing of internet sources is not properly standardised
Complicated by fact that some hypertext links change/die
include the full web address and date of access of website

34. Working Effectively

35. Research Training
Most economic social science MSc/PhD degrees require a written dissertation
Requirements can vary from one place to the next
Important to know what your own institution requires
word limit
format / presentation
abstract
referencing system
deadline !!!!!!!! 38

36. The Research Supervisor
Supervisor is selected/allocated to a student
note supervisor’s own fields of research interest
help you to identify useful research areas
Supervisor is experienced in research process
can help you through the research process
Good idea to follow their advice/ suggestions
usually based on lessons the supervisor has learned
given in your best interests in hope that it will make life easier for you

37. Managing time and resources
Work out a timetable
start and finish dates for every stage of research
Find out about the resources available – if any –
for travel expenses, stationery, photocopying, postage costs, recording and transcription equipment
What software available to analyse your data
Be aware that some software can be expensive to license 40

38. Identifying research questions
Start thinking about your research early on
Totally open-ended research is risky
Research questions help to focus your literature searches, data collection, analysis and writing.
Ensure research questions has a clear economic or social scientific angle 41

39. Steps in selecting research questions

40. Checklist for a research proposal
What is the topic; what are the objectives?
What are your research questions?
What does the literature say?
How will you collect the data?
Why are these methods appropriate?
What resources will you need?
What is the timetable?
What problems do you foresee?
Are there any ethical problems?
How will you analyse the data?

41. Important stuff you should not forget
Research Diary
Keep a research diary or log book of what you have done and when
Research Records
Keep records of sample recruitment / response rates
Some thing can take more time than you might think
Allow time for data collection/processing/analysis
Learning Software
Familiarize yourself with technical computer software packages
Begin coding as soon as you have some data 44