Research Methods I -

Review of Related
Literature and Studies

College of Business Administration

and Accountancy
Colegio De San Juan De Letran
7 July 2006
Review of Related Literature
 Introduce the review.
 Prepare material that will convince the reader
that you have thoroughly searched and mastered
the literature related to your thesis/study.
 Review of Related Literature
 List the general topics of interest in the review of
the literature to be conducted.
Example: The Development and Testing of a Model
for the Adaptation of an Instructional System From
an American Culture to a Philippine Culture.
 Cross Cultural Education
 Cross Cultural Communication
 Models
 Testing
 Evaluation
 Review of Related Literature
 Derive the keywords to be used in the search of the
literature.
 Cross Cultural Education: Culture; Cultural Patterns;
Cultural Values; Biculturism
 Cross Cultural Communication: Language, Inter-cultural
communication; Social structure; social acceptance
 Models: Systems, Development systems, flowcharting
 Testing: cross-cultural testing, model testing
 Evaluation: Model validation
 Review of Related Literature
 Using preliminary sources, construct a bibliography
of related literature.
 When searching for relevant literature, keep, at
least, the following five selection criteria in mind:
 The recency of the articles
 The reputation of the source and author
 Inclusion of both primary and secondary sources
 Coverage for all areas your proposal has indicated in
 Inclusion of topics relevant to, but not directly on, your
topic.
Review of Related Literature
 Read and abstract the bibliography sources.
 Cover the areas indicated in your proposal.
 Read critically. Note flaws in the research
methodology or its supporting logic, facts, or
principles and consider ways in which the study
may be improved.
 Try to build your study on the existing
knowledge, i.e., review should help define that
which should be included, and delimit that which
should be excluded from your study.
Reference Lists
 Books
First-Edition Book
Eliasoph, Nina. 1998. Avoiding Politics: How
Americans Produce Apathy in Everyday Life.
New York: Cambridge University Press.

Later Edition Book

Portes, Alejandro and Ruben G. Rumbaut. 1996.
Immigrant America: A Portrait, 2nd ed. Berkley:
University of California Press
Reference Lists
 Books
Translated Books
Durkheim, Emile. 1993. The Division of Labor in
Society. Translated by George Simpson. New
York: Free Press.

Republished Book
Mason, Edward S. [1957]1994. Economic
Concentration and the Monopoly Problem:
Reprint. New York: Atheneum.
Reference Lists
 Articles from Books or Scholarly Journals
Wright, Erik Olin. 1997. “Rethinking, Once
Again, the Concept of Class Structure.” pp. 41-
72 in Reworking Class, edited by J. Hall. Ithaca:
Cornell University Press.

Pattillo-McCoy, Mary. 1998. “Church Culture as

a Strategy of Action in the Black Community.”
American Sociological Review 63:767-784.
Reference Lists
 Articles from Popular Magazines and
Newspapers
Janofsky, Michael. “Shortage of Housing
for Poor Grows in the U.S.” New York
Times (April 29, 1998), p. A14.

Nichols, John. 1998. “How Al Gore Has It

Wired.” Nation 267 (July 20, 1998):11-16.
Reference Lists
 Government Documents
U.S. Bureau of Census. 1994. Statistical
Abstract of the United States, 114th ed.
Washington DC: US Government Printing Office.
 Doctoral Dissertations and Theses
King, Andrew J. 1976. “Law and Land Use in
Chicago: A Pre-History of Modern Zoning.”
Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Sociology,
University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI.
Reference Lists
 Unpublished Papers, Policy Reports and Presented
papers
Haines, Herbert H. 1980. “Ideological Distribution and
Radical Flank Effects in Social Movements” Presented at
the annual meeting of the American Sociological
Association, August, New York City.
 Internet Sources
Grills, Steven. 1999. Review of Missing Persons: A
Critique of Personhood in the Social Science by Mary
Douglas and Steven Ney. Canadian Journal of Sociology
on line. Retrieved January 16, 1999.
http://www.alberta.ca/~cjscopy/reviews/persons.html
Review of Related Literature
 Write an outline of the related research and
literature to help you organize your data and
present it mode coherently.
 The draft should summarize each of the various
topics presented.
 The draft should have an overall summary or
synthesis of the topics.
Example: Outline
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND
STUDIES
B. Introduction
1. Major Areas of Review
a. Cross-cultural education
b. Cross-cultural communication
c. Models
d. Testing
e. Evaluation
2. Summary
 Example: Outline
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND
STUDIES
B. Details of Major Areas
1. Cross-cultural Education
a. Introduction
b. Presentation on review
c. Summary
C. Overall Summary
 Review of Related Literature
 Write the first draft of the review
 Check your review with respect to the
following questions:
 Have you demonstrated mastery of the literature
related to your topic?
 Does the review cover all areas indicated in your
proposal?
 Have you provided summaries of each of the
various topics presented?
Review of Related Literature
 Check your review with respect to the
following questions:
 Have you provided a synthesis or an overall
summary?
 Have you noted flaws in the research
methodology or supporting logic, and provided
suggestions as to how these flaws may be right?
 Are the articles you reviewed and reported
recent?
Review of Related Literature
 Check your review with respect to the
following questions:
 Have you included articles from highly respected
sources and authors?
 Have you read and reported primary as well as
secondary sources?
 Have you included reviews on topics relevant to
but not directly on, the areas of your interest?
Any areas of your review which do not appear
complete on the basis of the above questions
should now be revised.
Example 1: Partial Literature Review
This chapter briefly reviews specific factors that are
relevant to educational aspirations and/or deviant
behavior. Researchers, as well as theorists, continue to
strive for answers to such questions as, Who are juvenile
delinquents? Are these special characteristics associated
with delinquents? Do delinquents vary among themselves;
and if so, how do they differ? Although multiple predictive
variables tend to reoccur throughout much of the
research, many theorists do acknowledge that not any
one variable, or theory, exclusively explains all of
delinquent behavior. Using several current studies of
delinquency, common social factors that are associated
with delinquent behaviors are discussed. Social cultural
factors include age, gender, and ethnicity; social bond
factors include school, family, economics and religion; and
the social psychological factor includes purpose of life.
Example 1: Partial Literature Review
Social Structural Factors
Age
One of the strongest, but not inclusive,
variables used to explain delinquent
behavior is that of age. When Gottfredson
and Hirschi (1986) examined all offenders,
they found that the relationship between
crime and age is such that . . . (US
Department of Justice, 1985b:346)
Example 2: Literature Review
Much of the research discussed the role of
women in the Catholic Church since it is a current
topic of controversy with the faith. Other articles
examined and discussed the role of women in
various Protestant faiths. These topics will be
dealt with in a later section of the literature
review. Importantly, one of the articles, “Gender
and Religious Work (Heyer-Gray, 2000) went
beyond an explanation of the roles of women and
dealt with why the role of women in the church is
an important topic. . .
Research Titles
Theoretical Framework
 Based on an existing explanatory theory
or theories which may form the bases for
the researcher’s observations and
become the frame of reference by which
the conceptual framework may be derived.
 May be existing models from various
empirical researches or theories which are
applicable to the current research.
Conceptual Framework
 Defines at the least and indicates how concepts
can be measured or judged
 A collection of interrelated concepts, like a
theory, but not necessarily so well worked-out.
 Guides the research, determining what things
will be measured, and what statistical
relationships will be looked for.
 May be accompanied by symbolic
representation of a phenomenon or a diagram
usually given schematic representation using
arrows and boxes.