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How to conduct an effective Literature Review
TEQIP Short Term Course on Research Skills and Methods
19th - 21st February 2016
Ashish Garg IIT Kanpur
ashishg@iitk.ac.in
Bibliography • “A Gentle Guide to Research Methods” by
Gordon Rugg and Marian Petre, McGraw Hill
• Many other on-line articles
2
What is “Literature Review”? • C. Hart (1998) “Doing a literature review:
Releasing the social science research imagination”, London, UK, Sage Publications. – Theuseofknowledge/ideas/approachesintheliterature
• Tocorrectlyiden8fytheproblem(ifvaguelyknownbeforehand)
• Tojus8fythepar8cularapproachtakentothetopic• Toassesstheselec8onofmethodsused,and• Tounderstandthattheresearchtobedonecontributessomethingnew
– Qualityofthereviewmeansappropriatebreadthanddepth,rigorandconsistency,clarityandbrevity,andeffec8veanalysisandsynthesis
3
What is “Literature Review”? • J. Shaw, System, 23(3), 325-335 (1995).
– Processofthereviewshould“explainhowonepieceofresearchbuildsonanother”.
• Webster and Watson, MIS Quarterly, 26 (2), 13-23 (2002) – Aneffec8veliteraturereviewcreatesafirmfounda8onforadvancingknowledge.Itfacilitatestheorydevelopment,closesareaswhereaplethoraofresearchexists,anduncoversareaswhereresearchisneeded.
4
Literature Review • An effective literature review should include
the following characteristics: a) Methodologicallyanalyzeandsynthesizequality
literature,b) Provideafirmfounda8ontoaresearchtopicc) Provideafirmfounda8ontotheselec8onofresearch
methodologyd) Demonstratethattheproposedresearchcontributes
somethingnewtotheoverallbodyofknowledgeoradvancestheresearchfield’sknowledge-base.
• Helps you to create a good impression on the supervisor that you do understand the state of the art in your chosen field J
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Stages of Literature Review
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1.INPUT
2.PROCESSING
3.OUTPUT
i.KnowledgeoftheLiterature
ii.UnderstandingoftheLiterature
iii.Applica8on
iv.Analysis
v.Synthesis
vi.Evalua8onQualityofinput(SourceandSearchtools)
Knowing and Understanding the Literature
7
Example:Oneisdoingaliteraturereviewon“CO2emissionandglobalwarming”
Case-IIthasbeenshowedinvariousstudiesthatCO2emissionleadstoincreaseintheglobalmeanearthtemperature(ABCetal,DEFetal…).
Case-IIIthasbeenshowedinvariousstudiesthatCO2emissionleadstoincreaseintheglobalmeanearthtemperature.Forexample,ABCetal.conductedadetailedstudyandfoundthatCO2emissionsleadtoanincreasedof2-5degreesinthemeantemperaturesdependingontheloca8onandlevelofpollu8on.Inanotherstudy,BEFetal.showedthattheincreaseinthemeantemperaturewasbetween1-2degreesandthedevia8onwasalsodependentonthelocalmeantemperaturesataspecificloca8on.
BETTER
Application • Typically a two step two-step process
– Iden8fythemajorconceptsortopicsorsubtopicsrelevanttothesubjectunderconsidera8on,and
– Placethecita8oninthecorrectcategoryofconcept.
8
Concept1 Concept2 Concept3 ConceptM
ArKcle1 X
ArKcle2 X X
ArKcle3 X
ArKcleN X X
Analysis • Analyze the data
– Understandhypotheses– Understandmodelsusedorexperimentalcondi8onsused– Makeconnec8ons– Compareandcontrast– Findoutstrongpointsandloopholes– …..
9
Analysis: An Example
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Case–IDataminingistheanalyzingandinterpreta8onoflargeamountsofinforma8on.Throughanalyzingvastamountsofdataitispossibletofindpaeerns,rela8onshipsandfromthesediscoveriesitispossibletomakecorrela8ons(Chen&Liu,2005).
CaseIIDataminingisaprocessofdiscoveringnewknowledgebyusingsta8s8calanalysistoiden8fypreviouslyunsuspectedpaeernsandclusteringinlargedatasets(Chen&Liu,2005).
Whyitwouldbeofanyinterestorvaluetofindpaeernsandrela8onshipsinordertomakecorrela8ons?
InformingScienceJournal,9,181(2006)
Synthesis and Evaluation • Bringing out something new out of the
literature review – Iden8fica8onofunsolvedproblemsorissues– Problemsinthemodelsorexperimentaldesignsusedinpast
– Anewidea– Providerecommenda8onsandconclusions
11
Synthesis: Example
12
ExampleCO2emissionisbelievedtoberesponsibleforincreaseintheglobalmeantemperatures.Theproblemisassociatedwithemissionsduetocoalburning,biomassburning,vehicularpollu8onandotherhumanac8vi8es.Howevertherearestudieswhichcontradictthisviewandsuggestthatglobalwarminghasnorela8ontotheatmosphericCO2levels.
ExampleVarioushumanac8vi8esrelatedtoburningofhydrocarbonsleadtoCO2emissionsintheatmospherewhicharewidelybelievedtoberesponsibleforincreaseintheglobalmeantemperatures.Atthesame8me,therearestudieswhichcontradictthisviewandsuggestthatglobalwarminghasnorela8ontotheatmosphericCO2levels.Itwouldthusbeinteres8ngtoexaminethisindetailbymodelingthedataaswellasbycarryingoutexperimentsaswellasdatacollec8oninareaswhichhaveexperiencedlargeincreaseintheCO2levelsduetoindustrializa8onandfindoutwhythesediscrepanciesoccur.
√Beeer
How do you actually do it? • Exploit the power of web in a positive way
• Rely on refereed articles published in scholarly journals, not just on some news items or random articles
• There is a method to it.
13
Method • Specify your research question.
– Itistricky,shouldnotbetoonarrowortoobroad– Learnbyexperience– Example:Howtosearchforinforma8onrelatedtoglobalwarmingbyusingkeywords
• Globalwarming• Globalwarmingandpollu8on• Globalwarmingandairpollu8on• Globalwarmingandairpollu8onandcarbondi-oxide• ……………
14
Use of Bibliographic Databases • Identify ones which are of your use
– WebofScience(orISIwebofknowledge)– Scopus– GoogleScholar
• Build a tentative list of terms that you would use for search
• Narrow your search
• Refine your search
15
Further work • Thorough reading of the papers/articles
– Forwardandbackwardsearch
• Read critically, make observations of the salient points and create summaries
• Compile the information, compare and contrast
• Go back to step-1 if needed
• Determine what is done, what is the relevance and the importance of the work done, what are the missing links and the remaining challenges on the topic you have chosen.
16
Important aspects • An effective and quality literature review is
based upon a concept-centric approach rather than chronological or author-centric approach – J.Webster&R.T.Watson,MISQuarterly,26(2),13-23,2002.
• Authors of literature reviews are at risk for producing mind-numbing lists of citations and findings that resemble a phone book – impressive case, lots of numbers, but not much plot. – D.J.Bem,PsychologicalBulle8n,118(2),172-177,1995. 17
Output of a literature review
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Hart,C.(1998).Doingaliteraturereview:Releasingthesocialscienceresearchimagina5on.London,UK:SagePublica8ons.
Structureofanargument
Key points • Literature review is not a one time thing.
– Itisacon8nuousandcyclicprocessthatonemayneedtogobackandforth8lltheend.
• Important to comment upon the comparisons between numerical and experimental studies.
• Reasons/arguments must be constructed to explain the disagreements/discrepancies like some of the assumptions made in numerical/theoretical studies are not at all only partly met in experiments.
• Conversely, experimental error analysis must be performed to ascertain whether the differences are significant or well within the error band.
19
Writing a literature review • A difficult task to write a good review
• Unlike an introductory chapter in a thesis or report, a literature review is usually more comprehensive and elaborate and is well-supported by the evidence.
• Topics are usually covered in substantial detail and supported by references to research
20
Structure of a literature review • Various methods of writing a literature
review
• One can either go by the authors or by the topic – Usually,secondapproachisbeeerthanthefirst
21
Process of writing the literature review • Read and understand the articles
– Understandthepurpose,assump8ons&hypothesesmadeandtheclaimsmadeintheformofresultsandanalysis
• Organization of the topics – Synthesizetheinforma8onintheformofnotes,takereferences
• Createasetoftopicsandsub-topics• Iden8fykeyreferencesforeachtopic
– Createastoryinthemind
22
Process of writing the literature review • Jot down a framework in the document
– Forexample,makealistofvarioussec8ons• Introduc8onofthearea• Statementoftheproblem• Topicandsub-topicwiselistofsec8ons• Provideadiscussion• Provideanaccountofwhatneedstobedone• Summaryandoutlook• References
• Fill in the details • Read it thoroughly and get rid of the mistakes
– Payspecialaeen8ontofactualmistakes,spellingmistakes,assump8onsandclaims
23
Reading the articles
24
How to read a scientific article • A complex task • Try not to read it like a text book • Identify its structure and features • Look for author’s main points • Ask questions before, during and after
reading the article • Draw inferences based on your own
knowledge and experience
25
Structure of an article • Most article follow a conventional structure:
– Abstract– Introduc8on/LiteratureReview– Methods/ExperimentalDesign/Calcula8onDetails– Results– Discussion– Summary/Conclusions– AcknowledgementandReferences
26
Abstract • Purpose of the study • Very brief account of Methodology • Key results • Most important message(s)
27Whatnext:Youmaymovetofigurestogetafeelofthecontents!
Introduction Section • What is the purpose of introduction section?
– ProvidebackgroundInforma8on
– Exposethelacunasorgapsintheexis8ngbodyofknowledgeandstatetheproblemundertaken
– Showmo8va8onofthestudy
28
Introduction
29
Royetal.,Am.J.Phys.758,August2007
Introducingthetopic
Introduction
30Royetal.,Am.J.Phys.758,August2007
Builduptotheproblemwithexamplesofworksdoneinpast
Introduction
31
Royetal.,Am.J.Phys.758,August2007
Highligh8ngtheproblem
Introduction
32
AnalyzingtheProblem
Royetal.,Am.J.Phys.758,August2007
Introduction
33
Howtheauthorshavetackledtheproblemexis8ngintheliterature
Analysisoftheproblem
Royetal.,Am.J.Phys.758,August2007
Experimental/Calculation Details • Experimental Details:
– DesignofExperiments– Explana8onofthetypeofexperimentsconductedandtheirdetailsforonetobeabletoreproducetheresults
• Explain the calculation approach – Whatkindofsoqwaresoralgorithmswereused,whatweretheassump8onsmadeetc
34
Details of the Experiment
35Royetal.,Am.J.Phys.758,August2007
NeedtobeenoughtoallowrepeKKonofthework
Results and Discussion • Results
– Repor8ngofvariouskindsofdataintheformoffigures/graphsandtables
– Observa8onsmadewithappropriatereferencestothefiguresandtables
• Discussion – Comparisonofthefindingswiththeliterature– Explana8onofanynewfindingandproposepossiblereasonsbymeansofeitherorallofanaly8cal/schema8c/textualmethods
– Inferencesdrawninabroadercontext– Answerstotheques8onsposedintheintroduc8on
36
Results and Discussion
37Royetal.,Am.J.Phys.758,August2007
Results and Discussion
38
Sourceoferror
Results
39Royetal.,Am.J.Phys.758,August2007
Analysisofthedata
Results
40Royetal.,Am.J.Phys.758,August2007
AnalysisandNovelty
Discussion
41
HighlighKngtheimportantfeaturesLimitaKonsPossibilityoffurtherstudies
Royetal.,Am.J.Phys.758,August2007
What are your critical observations? • On Page 1, why should the drag force consist
of a damping like behaviour? • How correct is the assumption about
dependence of damping coefficient k on permeability of vacuum, magnetic moment, conductivity and inner radius?
• What will this happen if the magnet was not a good metal?
• What if the magnet is not cylindrical? • What is magnet gets titled? • What if the gap between magnet and the tube
wall is tiny? 42
What else? • Extension of this idea to some other problem
– Forexamplehowdoshockabsorberswork?– Cantherebeanyapplica8onofthisexperimentorLenz’sLaw?
43
Summary • Have some idea of the topic in mind. • Choose right sources and be methodical. • Get enough literature relevant to your
problem. • Read thoroughly and be critical. • Ask questions at every stage. • Make notes. • Remember it is a continuous process even you
have found your problem and have started experiments/calculations/modelling.
• Have fun while doing all this J 44
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