REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE

RRL DEFINED:
Reviewing related literature is one major activity in research that makes you examine or study again concepts or ideas related to your
research that people managed to publish in books, journals, or other reading materials in the past.

PURPOSE OF THE RRL

1. To find out the connection of your research to the current conditions or situations of the world.
2. To know more about theories or concepts underlying your research and to learn from them with respect to your own
research study.
3. To discover the relation of your research with previous research studies.
4. To obtain information on the accuracy or relevance of your research questions.
“How valid is your research problem?” – doing the RRL would validate you research problem. RRL can support and merits a research
study.
5. To familiarize yourself with technical terms related to your research. *Technical terms – discipline – exclusive terms; only
the people in the particular discipline to fully understand.

IMPORTANCE OF RELATED THEORIES OR CONCEPTS

1. What do I know about the phenomenon that I want to study?
2. What types of knowledge are available to me? (Empirical, non-empirical, tacit, intuitive, moral or ethical?)
3. What theory will best guide my teaching practices?
4. Is this theory proven through theory-linked research?
5. What other theories are relevant to this practice?
6. How can I apply these theories and findings in practice?

RRL IN QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

⮚ TRADITIONAL REVIEW – For qualitative research
*Casual; does not follow strict structure/the way you arrange RRL depends on the researchers’ want.
⮚ SYSTEMATIC REVIEW – for quantitative research also known as “Question – Driven Methodology” – process of RRL is guided
by series of questions coming from the research problem.

SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW STEPS (ASSIMILATED FROM VARIOUS AUTHORS)

1. Define the topic and audience
*for understanding / comprehension
2. Clarifying the research questions
*RRL Alignment
3. Planning the research based on your understanding of the research questions.
*e.g. paano ma plastar ang RRL: Antibiotics – it will branch out…
4. Choose the type of review you wish to write.
5. Listing criteria for considering the values of written works
✔ Topic (source should be the bounds of your topic)
✔ Type of literature (is it empirical, statistics, general figures, book or text-based?)
✔ Base it to your location (Where is the author; is it locally or nationally published?)
 ✔ Time period (not > 5 years)
6. Search and research the literature
*Professional/Academic Journal - empirical or recent
7. Take notes while reading
8. Evaluating the quality of previous research studies
9. Keep the review focused, but make it of broad interest
10. Be critical and consistent
“How can I use this one, is this relevant to my study?)
11. Find a logical structure
*Thematic RRL – (inductive) – it is important to include local and international sources
12. Make use of feedback
13. Include your own relevant research
14. Summarizing the various forms of knowledge collected.

TIPS IN CONDUCTINGCONDUCTINGG LITERATURE SEARCH

- Identify the topics and concepts that you need to incorporate into your paper.
- Specify the type of sources that you will use.
- Check for popular online database.
✔ Proquest, Science Direct, JSTOR, EBSCO, Google Scholar, Springer, Wiley, Taylor and Francis, Sage Publications.
- Use relevant words to find your desired sources.
✔ Example topic: Effects of Online Games on the Digital Literacy of Teenagers.
Key words: Online games, Digital literacy
- You may also utilize Boolean search strategies in conducting your literature search online. Boolean searching strategies use
certain keywords to limit and focus one’s online search of a certain topic. The following are some of the Boolean searching
strategies that you can use.
a) Use AND if you want to search for profiles or text that contain the terms connected by AND (e.g., university AND
colleges)
b) Use OR if you want to search for profiles or text that contain either of the terms connected by OR (e.g., university OR
colleges)
c) Use NOT if you want to exclude a particular term in your search (e.g., university NOT colleges)
d) Use quotation marks if you want to search for a specific phrase (e.g., “Top Philippine Universities”)
- When conducting literature search online, use links that are considered reliable. These are the sites that end in .gov, .mil
and .edu, for example. Sites that end in .com and .org are also acceptable as long as they are associated with recognized
companies and organizations.

SKILLS IN DRAFTING YOUR RRL

NOTE TAKING
a) Paraphrasing/Changing the structure
b) Summarizing – most difficult skill
c) Quotation – easiest; 50 Substantive words – limit of quotation words (page is included)
SYNTHESIZING – this skill involves the review of several references that talk about the same subject and consolidating them unto
one cohesive text. This can be done in two ways:
a) Microlevel Synthesis – involves the consolidation of ideas to explain a concept.
 b) Macro LevelMacrolevel Synthesis – performed when several studies are consolidated to establish a research gap and not just
to explain a concept. It also involves drawing conclusions based on the similarities and differences of the reviewed references
and studies.

MICROLEVEL SYNTHESIS STRATEGIES

1. Look into and take note of related ideas in the materials you are examining.
2. Cluster the ideas shared among the materials, determine those that are distinct, and put them in a separate list.
3. Decide on how you will arrange the ideas. Discuss first the common ideas to give a general overview of the topic. Then,
present the distinct ideas and relate them to your study.
4. Use multiple citations if some idea can be found in several sources
5. Insert the corresponding citations while writing the synthesis.
(Rollo et al., 2012; Tison, 1925; Anierdes and Villacuatro, 2017)

METAANALYSIS
A kind of review of related literature in which you re-examine and combine the results of two or more statistical studies for
coming out with a grand total indicate stronger effects of the research outcome.
HOMOGENOUS STUDIES – Similar results / similar method experimental, with same results
HETEROGENOUS STUDIES – Varying results and varying method

IN-TEXT CITATION AND REFERENCING STYLES

APA STYLE 6TH EDITION
Falchikov, N. & Boud, D. (1989). Student self-assessment in higher education: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 59 (4),
395 – 430.
MLA STYLEMLASTYLE (8TH EDITION)
Falchikov, Nancy, and David Boud. “Student Self – Assessment in Higher education: A Meta-Analysis.” Review of Educational Research,
vol. 59, no. 4, 1989, pp. 395 - 430

ASPECT APA SYSTEM MLA SYSTEM

Writing the Full summarize Full surname first,
author’s name first, then followed followed by full
by initials of the first name, and
first and middle optional initial of
name. the middle name
Writing the title of Italicized title w/ Underlined ot
the reading only the beginning italicized title with
material word capitalized all content words
(exception: capital capitalized
for every proper
noun)
Writing the Written after the Written after the
copyright date author’s name publisher’s name

Lesson 7
CONCEPTUAL AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
FRAMEWORK DEFINES
⮚ CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK – refers to a system of ideas, beliefs, assumptions, and theories that inform, support, and cater
specifically to your study.
⮚ THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK – is general frame of reference used for observation, and interpreting and generalizing findings.
This can be used in different types of studies.
Both can be in visual and narrative form.

Theoretical Conceptual
Framework Framework
SCOPE Broader in shape More focused in
as it can be used shape as it directly
in different relates to a
studies. specific study.
FOCUS OF A particular A set of related
CONTENT theory. concepts in the
study.
NUMBER OF Contains only one May combine
THEORIES theory in one different theories
framework. into one cohesive
framework.
Time OFTIMEOF Already existing Developed while
DEVELOPMENT prior to the planning and
conducted of the writing a specific
study. research.

DEVELOPING YOUR CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

1. Identify the key concepts in your study by referring to your research questions or objectives.
2. Search for existing theories that incorporate the same concepts and look into their relationship with one another.
3. Using the existing theories as guide, plot your conceptual framework using a concept map.
4. In case that there are concepts not covered by the selected theories, incorporate them into your framework because it is
necessary for your paper.

DEVELOPING YOUR THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

1. Understand the variables included in your study as well as their relationship with one another.
2. Review the existing literature related to your research topic.
3. Using the information that you have gathered from literature, look for possible theories that may potentially account for the
expected result of your research topic.
4. From these theories, select one that is most relevant to your study and can provide a blueprint for your research.
CONCEPT MAP/RESEARCH PARADIGM
Made up of varied figures: lines, circles, boxes and other marks or symbols representing your concept on these varied features of
your research – research questions. A review of related literature, research methodology, and variables, among others – a
 conceptual framework looks like a map showing the main features of a plan or project plus the relationship between or among the
features or variables in the research.

Research Problem or Topic “Improving Critical thinking through Systematic Functional Grammar”

Systematic Functional Grammar or SFG is a modern language theory which states that man’s critical thinking
increase whenever he uses language for these reasons; First, for ideational function or for knowledge acquisition;
Second, for interpersonal function or creating human relationships, and third, for textual function or for strategic
and coherent expression of ideas. In this case, the independent variables are the SFG components (ideational,
interpersonal, and textual functions) and the dependent variable is critical thinking. Here is the conceptual
framework to present the concepts underlying this study. (Ravich & Riggan 2012)

CONCEPT MAP/RESEARCH PARADIGM

Ideational Function

Interpersonal
 Systematic Textual function
Functional
Grammar

Critical thinking

TWO TYPES OF TERM DEFINITION IN RESEARCH

⮚ CONCEPTUAL DEFINITION – Lexical definition of a term, it is also the universal or general understanding of the term
regardless of discipline.
⮚ OPERATIONAL DEFINITION - making the concept or the thing meaningful by specifying the way your research should
measure such concept. It defines the basic concept through the operation used or research activity involved to measure the
concept.
GUIDELINES IN DEFINING TERMS OPERATIONALLY
1. Have a clear understanding of the concept focused on by your study before you begin defining such concept operationally.
2. Base your operational definition to the concept under study.
3. Express the operational definition in only one sentence
4. Let the operational definition explain the measurement of variables clearly
5. Construct an operational definition that other researchers can understand, assess, and repeat in other research studies.
EXAMPLE

Dengue. Conceptually. Is a mosquito-borne viral disease that has rapidly spread in all regions of the world in recent years.
Dengue virus is transmitted by female mosquitos mainly of the species Aedes aegypti and, to a lesser extent, Ae. Albopictus (World
Health Organization 2017).
Operationally, it is the phenomena causing most hospitalization and fatalities in Bacolod City, and the phenomena that need to
be resolved.