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
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Objectives of this session:
Importance, reasons and purpose of
critical literature review
Writing critical literature review
Know the Sources of literature
Generate ideas for a better research
topic
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.3
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Why critical review?
‘Knowledge doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and
your work only has value in relation to other
people’s. Your work and your findings will be
significant only to the extent that they’re the
same as, or different from, other people’s
work and findings.’
Jankowicz
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.4
Why are reviews needed
‘Research information is like
small jigsaw puzzle pieces in a
box, where there are several
pictures, several duplicates and
several missing pieces’
(Sheldon 1998).
Individual studies use different
methods, are of different quality
and may present contradictory
findings
We cannot give too much
importance to one individual
study
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.5
+Reasons for reviewing the literature
Preliminary search of existing material
Organising valuable ideas and findings
Identifying other research that may be in progress
Generating research ideas
Developing a critical perspective by searching, obtaining,
evaluating and recording literature
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.6
+ The literature review process
Source: Saunders et al. (2003)
Figure 3.1 The literature review process
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.7
+ 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
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.8
+ The Critical Review (1)
Examples
Deductive –
All
men are mortal. (General and no specific to one man) -
Muhammad Ali Jinnah is a man (Therefore,)
Muhammad Ali Jinnah is mortal ( specific)
Inductive -
This ice is cold. (Specific, based on a direct observation.)
All ice is cold. (General, can be applied to any ice)
3 + 5 = 8; Three and five are odd numbers while eight is an
even number. (1+5 = 6). Therefore, an odd number added to
another odd number will result in an even number.
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.9
+ The Critical Review (1)
Approaches used
Deductive -
Theory
Formulate
Hypothesis
Collect &
analyze data
Accept / Reject
Hypothesis
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.10
+ The Critical Review (1)
Approaches used
Theory
Inductive -
Tentative
Hypothesis
Pattern
Observation
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.11
+ Key purpose of Research
1. To further refine research questions and
objectives
2. To discover recommendations for further
research
3. To avoid repeating work already undertaken
4. To provide insights into strategies and
techniques appropriate to your research
objectives
Based on Gall et al. (2006)
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.12
+ Skills for reading literature
Previewing, Annotating / Interpreting,
Summarising, Comparing and
contrasting
Harvard College Library (2006)
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)
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.13
+ Adopting a critical perspective (3)
Questions to ask yourself
1. Why am I reading this? (helps to focus
on your subject)
2. What is the author trying to do in
writing this? ( helps deciding how
valuable for your purpose)
3. How convincing is this?
4. What use can I make of this reading?
Adapted from Wallace and Wray (2006)
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.14
+ Content of the critical review
Include academic theories
Demonstrate current
knowledge
Use clear referencing (to find
the original cited publications)
Acknowledge others’ research
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.15
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Content of the critical review
Key academic theories within your chosen
area
Up-to-date knowledge in the chosen area
Show relations to previous research
Assess and discuss strengths and
weaknesses of previous work
Justify your arguments
Refer original work so as to be found easily.
Thus you avoid charges in plagiarism
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.16
+ Is your literature review critical?
1. Refer to work by recognized experts in
your chosen area
2. Consider and discuss work that supports
and/or opposes your ideas
3. Make reasoned judgments regarding the
value of others’ work to you research
4. Support your arguments with valid
evidence in a logical manner
5. Distinguish clearly between fact and
opinion
Saunders et al. (2009)
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.17
+ Structure of the literature review
Three common structures
A single chapter
A series of chapters
Throughout the report
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.18
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The structure of the critical review
From general to specific
Provide brief overview of key ideas
Summarize, compare and contrast the key writers
Narrow down to highlight the most relevant to your
work
Provide a detailed account of the findings of your work
Highlight the issues where you will provide fresh
insights
Lead the reader into the corresponded sections
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.19
+ 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
Saunders et al. (2009)
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.20
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Checklist for evaluating your literature
review:
Does your review start at a more general level?
Does the literature covered relate clearly to your research
questions and objectives?
Have you covered the key theories of recognized experts
in the area?
Is the literature you have included up to date?
Have you been objective in the discussions and
assessment of other people’s work?
Have you included references that are counter to your
own opinion?
Are facts and opinions clearly distinguished?
Is your argument coherent and cohesive - do the ideas
link together?
Have you made reasoned judgements about the value of
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.21
+ Categories of Literature sources
available
Saunders et al. (2009)
Figure 3.2 Literature sources available
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.22
+ The literature search strategy
Define the research parameters
Generate key words
Discuss your research with
supervisor
Brainstorm ideas
Construct Relevance trees - use
computer software
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.23
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Defining parameters
Language of publication (English)
Subject area (Accountancy)
Business sector
Geographical area (Europe)
Publication period (last 10 years)
Literature type (thesis, journals and
magazines)
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.24
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Relevance tree
Is there a link between benchmarking and TQM
Benchmarking (BM) Links between ISO 9000 TQM
BM and TQM
Precise
standard
Benchmarking Benchmarking Implementatio
theory practice n
Techniques Types Case studies
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.25
+ Evaluating the literature
Define the scope of
your review
Assess relevance and
value
Assess sufficiency
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.26
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Evaluating the literature
Assessing the relevance – take notes for the
relevance of each item and the reasons why
you come to this conclusion – this will be
included as a part of your critical review
Assessing sufficiency – Read from relevant
sources till you find no more information
impacting your work
Referencing and bibliography:
- The Harvard system
- The APA system
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.27
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Evaluating the literature
How recent is the item?
Is the item likely to have been superseded /
outdated?
Is the context sufficiently different to make it marginal
to your research?
Does the item support or contradict your arguments?
What are the methodological omissions within the
work?
Is the precision (care) sufficient?
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.28
+ 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)
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.29
Writing up
Prepare a plan of your review
Introduction
History of the topic – including
assumptions and definitions from
other researchers
Theoretical background
Address each of your research
objectives by summarising research
Conclude
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.30
Questions to ask yourself when writing up (Hart 2007, p. 14)
What are the key
theories,
concepts and
ideas? What are the
epistemological
What are the key
and ontological
sources?
grounds for the
discipline?
How have
What are the
approaches to
What are the
major issues and
Literature search
main questions
and problems
these questions
and review on
debates about
the topic?
your topic
that have been
addressed to increased our
date?
understanding
and knowledge?
How is
What are the knowledge on
political the topic
standpoints? structured and
What are the organised?
origins and
definitions of the
topic?
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.31
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APA Style Referencing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10eg_GB_A9E
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 3.32
Recommended Reading List
Bettany-Saltikov, J.B. (2012) How to do a systematic literature review in nursing.
Open University Press, England
Gough, D., Olivers, S. and Thomas, J. (2012) An introduction to systematic reviews.
Sage, London
Greenhalgh, T. (2010) 4th ed. How to read a paper Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford
Hart C. (2007) Doing a literature review: releasing the social science research
imagination. Sage, London
Hart C. (2001) Doing a literature search. Sage, London
Petticrew, M. and Roberts H. (2006) Systematic reviews in the social sciences
Blackwell publishing, U.S.A.
Rudestam, K.E. and Newton R.R. (2007) 3rd ed. Surviving your dissertation Sage,
London
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
