The

Literature
Review
William Oduro
FRNR, CANR,KNUST
November, 2012
1
 The Literature
Review
The review of the literature is
defined as a broad,
comprehensive, in-depth,
systematic, and critical review
of scholarly publications,
unpublished scholarly print
materials, audiovisual materials,
and personal communications
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 The Literature
The Review
review of the literature is traditionally
considered a systematic and critical
review of the most important published
scholarly literature on a particular topic.
Scholarly literature refer to published and
unpublished data based literature and
conceptual literature materials found in
print and non print forms
Data based literature reports of
completed research
Conceptual research reports of
theories, concepts 3
Research, Education And
Practice
Research

Review of
Literature

Educatio Practice
n

Theory

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 Purposes of
Literature Review
The overall purpose of literature review is
to discover knowledge
Research purposes of literature
review:
1. Determines an appropriate research
design/method (instruments, data
collection and analysis methods) for
answering the research question
2. Determines the need for replication of
a well designed study or refinement of
a study
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 Purposes of
Non Literature Review
Research purposes of literature
review:
1. Determines what is known about a
subject, concept or problem
2. Determines gaps, consistencies &
inconsistencies about a subject, concept
or problem
3. Discovers unanswered questions about
a subject, concept or problem
4. Describes strengths & weaknesses of
designs, methods of inquiry and 6
 Purposes of
Literature Review
Non Research purposes of literature review:
5. Discovers conceptual traditions used to
examine problems
6. Generates useful research questions or
projects/activities for the discipline
7. Promotes development of protocols &
policies related to e.g. nursing practice
8. Uncovers a new practice intervention, or
gains support for changing a practice
intervention
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 Research & Non
Research Purposes
Whether a nurse is developing a
research study, a curriculum,
or a patient protocol, s/he
should base that project on a
critical review of the literature

The difference lies in the

type of outcome produced 8
 Review in Quantitative
Research
Theoretical framework
The literature defines concepts and terms in
relation to the study
Problem statement and hypotheses
The literature review helps to determine what
is known and not known; to uncover gaps,
consistencies, or inconsistencies, and/or to
reveal unanswered questions about a
subject, concept or problem
The literature review allows for
refinement of research problems and
questions and/or hypotheses
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 Review in Quantitative
Research
Design and method
The literature review reveals strengths
and weaknesses of designs and
methods of previous research studies
Outcome of the analysis (findings,
implications, and recommendations)
The literature review is used to discuss
the results or findings of a study. The
discussion relates the studys findings
to what was or was not found in the
review of literature
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 The Literature Review and
Consumers of Research
Literature review helps consumers
of research e.g. students to:
1. Efficiently retrieve an adequate amount
of scholarly literature using computer
and print resources
2. Critically evaluate data based and
conceptual material
3. Critically evaluate a review of the
literature (the entire compilation of
conceptual and data based literature)
based on accepted reviewing criteria 11
 Literature Review
Synonymous
Conceptual literature Data based
literature
Theoretical literature Empirical literature

Scholarly non research Scientific literature

literature Research literature

Scholarly work Scholarly research
Soft versus hard science literature
literature Research study
Review of the literature study
article
Concept analysis article
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 Literature
Determine concept/issue/topic/problem

Conduct computer (and/or hand) search

Weed out irrelevant sources before

printing
Organize sources from printout for
retrieval
Retrieve relevant sources

Conduct preliminary reading and weed out irrelevant sourc

Critically read each source (summarize & critique each

source)
Synthesize critical summaries
 Primary and
Secondary Sources
Primary source: is written by a person(s)
who developed the theory or
conducted the research

Secondary source: is written by a

person(s) other than the individual
who developed the theory or
conducted the research

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 The Role of Secondary
Sources
Two general reasons for using
secondary sources:
1. A primary sources is literally
unavailable
2. A secondary source can provide
different ways of looking at an issue or
problem

Secondary sources should not be

overused 15
 Pitfalls of Secondary
Sources
All of the theorys concepts or aspects
of the study and/or definitions may not
be fully presented
If all concepts or aspects are included,
the definitions may be collapsed or
paraphrased to such a degree that it no
longer represents the theorists actual
work
The critique (whether positive or
negative) is based on the presentation
of incomplete or interpreted data and
therefore less useful to the consumer 16
 Critiquing Criteria for a
Review of the Literature
1. Does the literature review uncover gaps
or inconsistencies in knowledge?
2. How does the review reflect critical
thinking?
3. Are all the relevant concepts and
variables included in the review?
4. Dose the summary of each reviewed
study reflect the essential components
of the study design?
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 Critiquing Criteria for a Review
of the Literature

5. Does the critique of each reviewed

study include strengths, weaknesses, or
limitations of the design; conflicts; and
gaps or inconsistencies in information
in relation to the area of interest?
6. Were both conceptual and data based
literature included?
7. Were primary sources mainly included?
8. Is there a written summary synthesis of
the reviewed scholarly literature? 18
 Critiquing Criteria for a Review
of the Literature
9. Does the synthesis summary follow a logical
sequence that leads the reader to why there is
the need for the particular research or non
research project?
10. Did the organization of the reviewed studies (i.e.
chronologically, or according to
concepts/variables, or type/design of study)
follow logically, enhancing the ability of the
reader to evaluate the need for the particular
research or non research project?
11. Does the literature review follow the purpose(s)
of the study or non research project?
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Thank You

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