Chapter 3: Researching and Writing the Literature Review

The correct terms to use to search for articles about academic achievement would be ______.

"academic achievement"

Using search engines to find research papers

- Eg: Google Scholar, EBSCOhost, ProQuest, etc - Should use advanced search (eg: boolean operators such as AND, OR, NOT; quotation marks; *, etc) - Should search for keywords in mainly abstract (to avoid too many search results)

Library resources

- Interlibrary loan: Requesting an article from a different library (sent by librarian via email) - Google Scholar - Public libraries - References list from other studies

Difference between quantitative and qualitative studies

- Quantitative: Can include both a research question and hypothesis - Qualitative: Can include only a research question

Difference between research question

- Research question: Broader question that doesn't predict what the answer will be - Hypothesis: Includes prediction about what the answer will be

Literature Review

- Synthesis of the entire body of literature (all original research studies) in the context of a specific topic of interest - Usually in a narrative form to inform the reader of the importance of the topic you are studying - The synthesis usually starts broadly on a topic and narrows down to your research topic

Two parts of researcher facing public

1) Defending proposal 2) Defending research study

Importance of Literature Review

1) Demonstrates researcher's grasp on the topic of interest 2) Supports your argument for proposed study

Criteria to successfully defending proposal

1) The researcher understands the literature on that topic (taken care of by literature review) 2) The proposed study is feasible

Main components of an annotated bibliography

1. Focus of study 2. Theory/framework used to guide research 3. Type of design used (quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods) 4. No. of participants 5. Population breakdown (gender, age, race, etc) 6. Results of the study 7. Main discussion points, recommendations for future 8. Your own notes about the study

Differences between systematic review and literature review

1. Focus of systematic review is on collecting all studies on a topic of interest, not just the ones that support our topic of interest 2. No selection bias in systematic review 3. Rigorous steps and procedures (methodology of the systematic review) to collecting best quality studies 4. Systematic review has much more details on ALL studies, not just a few (methodologies, conclusions, discussions, summaries, analyses, etc)

Columns in the guiding table

1. ID number of article 2. Names of authors 3. Year study was conducted 4. Year study was published 5. Location of the study 6. Theory/theoretical approach used in the article 7. Info about participants (number, age, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, etc) 8. How study was conducted (questionnaires, interviews, etc) 9. Aim of the study 10. Results/findings

Databases found in libraries

1. JSTOR 2. PubMed 3. ERIC 4. PsycInfo 5. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global

Steps to analyzing studies

1. Look at concepts, theories, and perspectives researchers are using 2. Look closely at methodologies employed by peer-reviewed studies (can point out gaps)

What to do after creating guiding table

1. Revisit conceptual graph: Make sure that your theory isn't overresearched, look for other possible topics worth exploring, make sure you tweak variables to include new control variables, etc 2. Organize your work: Make sure your literature review follows a logical structure for those who know little about the topic but also uses depth of arguments for people knowledgeable about the topic 3. Conceptualizing literature - patterns: Studies can be organized and grouped in terms of similarities and differences - will make it easy to bring out patterns in literature review

When doing a keyword search, what is one tip to keep in mind?

As a starting point, limit the search to keywords in the abstract only

During formal defenses of research proposals, the goal is to assess whether the study is ethical. (T/F)

False

One drawback of interlibrary loan is that it is expensive to use. (T/F)

False

Qualitative studies may have both research questions and hypotheses.

False

Readers can expect that published studies are free from researchers' biases and assumptions. (T/F)

False

When synthesizing literature, it should be organized chronologically. (T/F)

False

When using databases to search for relevant articles, one should use the "quick search" function. (T/F)

False

Systematic review

Focused on synthesizing all literature on a topic

Reasons for creating a guiding table

Helps you understand what needs to go into the literature review

How do hypotheses and research questions differ?

Hypotheses make predictions about how the study will turn out, but research questions do not

Why is the term literature review a misnomer?

Literature reviews are not just. reviews; they involve engagement and synthesis of the literature

How are most literature reviews structured?

Literature reviews begin with how the study followed ethical guidelines and end with the hypotheses

Wade is unsure whether he wants to conduct a systematic review or a meta-analysis on the topic of exercise and smoking behavior. Before he decides, he is trying to understand the difference between the two. His graduate advisor tells him that the main difference between the two is ______.

Meta-analyses involve a statistical recalculation of the data from the original studies, but systematic reviews do not

If researchers want articles that include any of their keywords, the appropriate Boolean operator to use is ______.

OR

Passive vs active reading

Passive: simply reading and absorbing info without questioning Active: asking questions, thinking critically, challenging info you are reading

Defending

Process of student growing into researcher

Annotated bibliography

Summarizes main points of an article you read, including article's focus, methodology, conclusions, etc

Which is true about literature reviews?

They have an agenda, as they are tailored to fit a certain study

Critical thinking

Thinking about a problem in such a way that the reader employs the constructs of thinking and imposes their own intellectual standards on them

Conducting a literature review can help researchers formulate better research questions. (T/F)

True

Good systematic reviews include literature reviews. (T/F)

True

Most literature reviews start broadly. (T/F)

True

Part of analyzing studies is making note of assumptions other authors may have made.

True

Part of demonstrating mastery of the literature is understanding methodological details within past work. (T/F)

True

Systematic reviews are less prone to selection biases than literature reviews are. (T/F)

True

The body of literature on a given topic is continually evolving and changing. (T/F)

True

The conceptual graph may be edited once the guiding table is complete. (T/F)

True

Critical thinking as it relates to research starts with ______.

actively reading the literature

A systematic review is ______.

an attempt to bring together every scientific study on a topic

When writing a research article, the hypotheses and research questions appear ______.

at the end of the literature review

When should an annotated bibliography be completed?

before writing begins

During a formal defense of a research proposal, the scientific community is assessing whether the researcher knows the literature on the proposed topic and whether the project ______.

is feasible

The most important thing to keep in mind when synthesizing literature is to organize it ______.

logically

Unlike research questions, hypotheses ______.

make predictions about how the study will turn out

The statement "There is no relationship between students' academic achievement and the amount of bullying they experience" is an example of a(n) ______.

null hypothesis

The guiding table should include articles that researchers have ______.

read

Part of a study that is being put together includes: "What is the relationship between students' socioeconomic status and their academic achievement?" What is this inclusion in the study an example of?

research question

Any assumptions that are made during the literature review should be ______.

stated clearly

Meta-analyses are different from systematic reviews because they ______.

statistically recalculate the data from the original studies

The "participants" within a systematic review are the ______.

studies that are chosen for inclusion