Critical Literature Review Saunders Amended

Slide 3.
Chapter 3
Critically reviewing the literature
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.2
Reasons for reviewing the literature

To conduct a preliminary search of existing
material
To organise valuable ideas and findings
To identify other research that may be in progress
To generate research ideas
To develop a critical perspective
Slide 3.3
The literature review process
Figure 3.1 The literature review process
Source: Saunders et al. (2003)
Slide 3.4
The Critical Review (1)

Approaches used
Deductive Develops a conceptual framework from the
literature which is then tested using the data
Inductive Explores the data to develop theories which are
then tested against the literature
Slide 3.5
The Critical Review (2)

Key purposes
To further refine research questions and objectives
To discover recommendations for further research
To avoid repeating work already undertaken
To provide insights into strategies and techniques
appropriate to your research objectives
Based on Gall et al. (2006)
Slide 3.6
Adopting a critical perspective (1)

Skills for effective reading
Previewing
Annotating
Summarising
Comparing and contrasting
Harvard College Library (2006)
Slide 3.7

The most important skills are
The capacity to evaluate what you read
The capacity to relate what you read to other

information
Wallace and Wray (2006)
Slide 3.8

Questions to ask yourself
Why am I reading this?
What is the author trying to do in writing this?
How convincing is is this?
What use can I make of this reading?
Adapted from Wallace and Wray (2006)
Slide 3.9
Content of the critical review

You will need to
Include key academic theories
Demonstrate current knowledge of the area
Use clear referencing for the reader to find the
original cited publications
Acknowledge the research of others
Slide 3.10
Is your literature review critical?

Checklists Box 3.2 and Box 3.3
Complete the checklists to evaluate your

literature review
Saunders et al. (2009)
Slide 3.11
Structure of the literature review

Three common structures
A single chapter
A series of chapters
Throughout the report
Slide 3.12
Slide 3.13
The key to a critical literature review

Demonstrate that you have read, understood and
evaluated your material
Link the different ideas to form a cohesive and
coherent argument
Make clear connections to your research
objectives and the subsequent empirical material
Slide 3.14
Categories of Literature Sources

Primary (published and unpublished) first
occurence
Secondary - subsequent publication of
primary literature
Tertiary search tools, help locate
primary or secondary, or introduce a topic
Detailed in Tables 3.1 and 3.2 Saunders et al. (2009)
Slide 3.15
Literature sources available

Literature sources available
Figure 3.2 Literature sources available
Slide 3.16
The literature search strategy (1)

Write down
parameters of your search

key words and search terms to be used
databases and search engines to be used
criteria for selection of relevant and useful
studies
And
Discuss these with a tutor (if possible)
Slide 3.17
The literature search strategy (2)

Define the research parameters:
Language
Subject area (e.g. Marketing)
Industry (e.g. Health; manufacture)
Geographical area (e.g. Africa)
Period (e.g. Last 10 years)
Literature type (peer-reviewed journal, book etc.)
Generate key words

Discuss your research
Brainstorm ideas
Construct Relevance trees - use computer software
Slide 3.18
Conducting a literature search (1)

Approaches can include
Searching tertiary literature sources
Obtaining relevant literature
Scanning and browsing secondary literature
Searching using the Internet
Slide 3.19

Searching using tertiary literature
Ensure key words match controlled index language
Search appropriate printed and database sources
Note precise details used including search strings
Note the FULL reference of each search found
Slide 3.20

Printed sources
Databases use of Boolean logic and free
text searching (Table 3.3)
Scanning and browsing
Searching the Internet (Tables 3.4 and 3.5)
Slide 3.21

Searching the Internet

Figure 3.3 Searching the Internet
Slide 3.22

Searching the Internet

Figure 3.3 Searching the Internet (Continued)
Slide 3.23
Evaluating the literature
Define the scope of your review

Assess relevance and value
Assess sufficiency
Slide 3.24
Recording the literature

Make notes for each item you read
Record
Biographic details
Brief summary of content
Supplementary information
Sharp et al. (2002)
Slide 3.25
Recording the literature
Bibliographic details (Table 3.6)

Brief summary
Supplementary information (Table 3.7)
Slide 3.26
Plagiarism
Four common forms
Stealing material from another source
Submitting material written by another
Copying material without quotation marks
Paraphrasing material without documentation
Adapted from Park (2003), cited in Easterby-Smith et al. (2008)

Slide 3.27
Summary: Chapter 3
The critical literature review
Sets the research in context
Leads the reader into later sections of the report
Begins at a general level and narrows to specific
topics
Slide 3.28
Summary: Chapter 3
A literature search requires
Three main categories of sources
Clearly defined research questions and
objectives
Defined parameters
Use of techniques ( brainstorming and
relevance trees)

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What are the main reasons for reviewing existing literature?

What are the main reasons for reviewing existing literature?

What are the two main approaches to conducting a literature review?

What are the two main approaches to conducting a literature review?

Slide 3.

Reasons for reviewing the literature

The literature review process

Figure 3.1 The literature review process

Source: Saunders et al. (2003)

The Critical Review (1)

The Critical Review (2)

Adopting a critical perspective (1)

Adopting a critical perspective (2)

The capacity to relate what you read to other

Adopting a critical perspective (3)

Content of the critical review

Is your literature review critical?

Complete the checklists to evaluate your

Saunders et al. (2009)

Structure of the literature review

The key to a critical literature review

Categories of Literature Sources

Literature sources available

Figure 3.2 Literature sources available

Saunders et al. (2009)

The literature search strategy (1)

parameters of your search

The literature search strategy (2)

Generate key words

Conducting a literature search (1)

Conducting a literature search (2)

Conducting a literature search (3)

Conducting a literature search (4)

Saunders et al. (2003)

Conducting a literature search (5)

Saunders et al. (2003)

Evaluating the literature

Define the scope of your review

Recording the literature

Recording the literature

Bibliographic details (Table 3.6)

Adapted from Park (2003), cited in Easterby-Smith et al. (2008)

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