Unit II Literature Review

RCH 7301, Critical Thinking for Doctoral Learners 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit II Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Summarize critical concepts of business scholarship in research writing. 1.1 Discuss the parts of a research study in business scholarship.

2. Analyze a business research problem using academic scholarly journals.

2.1 Examine scholarly articles related to a chosen topic. 2.2 Classify the parts of a published study from an academic journal.

3. Formulate a purpose statement that is aligned with a problem statement for a proposed research

project. 3.1 Summarize a problem statement and purpose statement from published research.

Course/Unit

Learning Outcomes Learning Activity

1.1

Unit Lesson Chapter 5 eBook Chapter: “Effective Literature Searching” eBook Chapter: “Managing and Organizing Your Literature” Unit II Literature Review

2.1

Unit Lesson Chapter 5 eBook Chapter: “Effective Literature Searching” eBook Chapter: “Managing and Organizing Your Literature” Unit II Literature Review

2.2

Unit Lesson Chapter 5 eBook Chapter: “Effective Literature Searching” eBook Chapter: “Managing and Organizing Your Literature” Unit II Literature Review

3.1

Unit Lesson Chapter 5 eBook Chapter: “Effective Literature Searching” eBook Chapter: “Managing and Organizing Your Literature” Unit II Literature Review

Required Unit Resources Chapter 5: Searching, Critically Reviewing and Using the Literature in Business In order to access the resources below, utilize the CSU Online Library to begin your research. Phelps, R., Fisher, K., & Ellis, A. (2007). Effective literature searching. In Organizing and managing your

research (pp. 128–149). SAGE. https://dx-doi- org.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/10.4135/9781849209540.n10

Phelps, R., Fisher, K., & Ellis, A. (2007). Managing and organizing your literature. In Organizing and

managing your research (pp. 167–178). SAGE. https://dx-doi- org.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/10.4135/9781849209540.n9

UNIT II STUDY GUIDE Topic Selection and Literature Searching

RCH 7301, Critical Thinking for Doctoral Learners 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

Unit Lesson

The Review of Literature Within a dissertation, a literature review is a tool. It helps the doctoral writer to achieve the goals of communicating the place and importance of the current study. The review of literature:

• provides a background for the current study, • classifies the research according to themes that are important to the current study, • explains important historical works in the field and recent developments in research, • clarifies areas of agreement and controversy in the scholarship, • identifies dominant views and theories that hold sway, • identifies the knowledge gaps (i.e., unexplored areas) left by previous research, • justifies the current study by showing how it is different from published work, and • complements existing studies by seeking to address the knowledge gap.

A researcher grounds the study in the existing research through a review of the literature. Literature refers to the material published on a specific topic. For a doctoral literature review, the material must relate to the main debates in the field, trends in research, and gaps in the knowledge that have been generated by studies and research. The literature review can stand alone as a document as well as serve as a chapter of the dissertation. Reviewing current publications (i.e., material published within the past 5 years) grounds the researcher in the field’s emerging knowledge and current state of thinking regarding theories and topics. A survey of the literature shows the researcher what has already been studied and how knowledge in the field evolves. Finally, the review of literature provides researchers with an understanding of where knowledge remains to be studied or tested. Reviewing the published literature on a topic means that the researcher can identify the elements described below:

• areas that have been established and accepted or, in contrast, areas that have been discredited through studies;

• controversial concepts or areas of conflict among schools of thought within the discipline; • problems or issues that are not yet solved or resolved; • new trends and emerging approaches to creating knowledge or investigating problems; and • ways that the doctoral student’s research extends, builds on, or departs from existing research.

Note that the review of literature is not a summary of studies or a series of paraphrased paragraphs about other researchers’ publications. Reviewing the literature entails analyzing and evaluating the sources and then synthesizing those sources together so that the doctoral thinker gains insight into research in the field. At the disciplinary, field level, a review of literature pulls out new trends and emerging approaches, notable patterns, and areas of conflict or controversy within the field. Also, as the doctoral researcher writes the review of literature, every statement from the sources should be brought back around to apply to the doctoral study. At the end of each paragraph, the student-writer should question how the information from the source applies to their topic. Each paragraph should incorporate observations about the applicability of the source to the current research. In particular, knowledge gaps within the published literature are important for the doctoral researcher to discover and note. Finding the gaps and pointing them out within the review of literature enables the researcher to place the current study within trending inquiries. Placing the study within the field allows the researcher to take part in the ongoing conversation about important topics in the field. When writing the review of literature, the researcher must be able to make comparisons, identify contrasting ideas, and make arguments regarding the literature that show that the researcher is prepared to add to the literature. The researcher should not just be reading and summarizing information.

RCH 7301, Critical Thinking for Doctoral Learners 3

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

A review of literature IS: A review of literature IS NOT:

A synthesis of a range of sources A collection of sources that look interesting

An evaluation of sources related to your topic A descriptive summary of every text

A place to make connections between the existing research and your own study

A list in which you discuss each text in turn

A piece of writing in which you present an argument of your own position in relation to the selected literature

A compilation of all the material related in any way to your topic, regardless of is relation to your specific study

Analysis and Synthesis in the Review of Literature

Literature reviews have a common structure and job to do in a study. To create the review of literature, the researcher identifies and gathers the existing relevant literature on the topic, analyzes the publications to determine what they have in common in methodologies and methods, and synthesizes the material to determine the research gap. Analysis entails breaking something down into its various components. Synthesis entails bringing disparate items together and making connections among them. In a review of literature, analysis and synthesis work together. The researcher anatomizes the parts of each published source and then considers the source in relation to the entire field. The goal, though, is to take observations one step beyond analyzing each source; synthesizing the literature means creating a new understanding based on one’s reading. In the dissertation, the student-writer synthesizes sources by connecting them and positioning them against one another. The review of literature offers a place where the researcher traces recurrent themes, trends in the research, and areas of agreement and disagreement among different theories and scholars and then places the current study within that framework to show the study’s planned contribution to the professional conversation. For example, as the researcher pulls together a bibliography and reads the material, she finds four major concepts that are important in the literature and relevant to her study. At that point, she should identify how the literature relates to the concepts that she has discovered. Some sources from the literature might be relevant to several concepts while others might apply to only one concept. The researcher develops and presents her organization and understanding of the literature through the review of literature chapters. The review is not only about the published sources; rather, the review of literature is a record of the researcher’s understanding of the research in the field and where it fits within the current literature to address a knowledge gap that has been mentioned or pointed to in the existing literature.

RCH 7301, Critical Thinking for Doctoral Learners 4

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

Using a Matrix for Reading the Literature A matrix can help the researcher to anatomize the literature by organizing reading notes to track each part of the published studies. You will gain some practice using the following matrix in the assignment for this unit. Examine the Journal Article Matrix to see a means of tracking parts of studies with an eye toward spotting knowledge gaps. The columns on the matrix name each of the important elements of a study and, in a microcosmic way, reiterate the parts of a dissertation. The columns in the matrix are listed below.

1. Title of source 2. Problem and purpose 3. Methodology/method 4. Theory and concept framework 5. Results 6. Conclusions 7. Further research/further studies

When the researcher records verbatim quotations from each source in the matrix, a catalogue of information forms that can serve as a resource throughout the study. The completed matrix provides a quick reference of the anatomy of each study and source that the researcher encountered during the preparation for the review of literature. In the review of literature section of a paper, chapter of a book, or dissertation, the researcher can paraphrase the source, relying on the quotations in the matrix, and synthesize the material from those notes. The matrix will continue to offer a view of how different sources are related, and the matrix can enable the researcher to discern patterns that might not be visible without clear analysis (e.g., making a correlation between conclusions and sample sizes). As the researcher’s understanding of the literature increases, the researcher can add columns to the matrix or change the tool in any way conducive to understanding the literature and keeping detailed notes on it. The matrix is a lens to use in examining the literature and developing conclusions about it based on the researcher’s observations. Suggested Unit Resources In order to access the resources below, utilize the CSU Online Library to begin your research. The resources below explore the dissertation-writing process. Save the links, and go to them any time you need to clarify a concept or see how the parts of the research and writing processes fit together. Read Chapter 4 (“The ‘Twin Track’: Your Project and Your Dissertation), Chapter 5 (“Project and Dissertation: Exploring the Literature”), Chapter 6 (“Project: Making a Shortlist of Possible Subjects”), and Chapter 7 (“Project: Choosing Your Preferred Subject”) from the following eBook. Levin, P. (2011). Excellent dissertations! (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. Read Chapter 3 (“Interactive Reading and Note Taking”) and Chapter 4 (“Citeable Notes”) from the following eBook. Single, P. B. (2009). Demystifying dissertation writing: A streamlined process from choice of topic to final text.

Stylus.