REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Review of related literature is a compilation of studies related to a specific area
of research. It evaluates, classifies, and summarizes all the relevant previous
studies conducted on a specified topic. It is also designed to justify your research
by exposing the gaps in the previous studies. It is vital that your literature review is
centralized. Thus, you should choose studies that are focused on your topic rather
than collecting a broader scope of studies that are already not relevant to your
research.
Moreover, the literature review is an essential component of research. It forms a
"picture" for the reader, providing support and full comprehension of the
developments in the field. This picture tells the reader that you have
acknowledged, considered, and adapted previous related significant works in
the field into your research.
Literature review plays a significant impact on the discussion of the results and
findings. The discussion of results and findings should focus on your research rather
than those of the other previous researches. Hence, the literature review should
be used only in the discussion as support, evidence, and further explanation for
your study. These are the three (3) ways of using literature review in the discussion
of your study: a) providing context as a foundation to develop your ideas, b)
comparing your findings from other previous related studies, and c) stating what
contribution your study has made in the field.
However, there are also three (3) common errors that are usually made when
including literature reviews in the discussion of the study. First, there is a wide range
of studies being included in which most of them are not anymore relevant to your
specific topic under investigation. Second, stating the related article mentioning
the original article rather than citing the original article itself. Lastly, previous work
has been cited by the researcher based only on the abstracts and without even
reading the entire research.
PURPOSE OF A LITERATURE REVIEW
The review of related literature is anchored to the following purposes.
1. To discover the connection of your research to the existing body of
knowledge and to the real-life situations.
2. To identify more theories or concepts as the foundation of your research
study and learn from them.
3. To determine the relationship of your research with previous research
studies to prevent duplication and to acknowledge other researchers.
4. To acquire knowledge on the accuracy and significance of your research
questions.
5. To acquaint yourself with the technical terminologies relevant to your study.
6. To determine possible gaps, conflicts, and open questions left from other
researches which might help you in formulating and justifying your research
ideas.
7. To clarify misconceptions on previous researches and help refocus, polish,
and contribute to the development of the body of knowledge.
STRUCTURE OF LITERATURE REVIEW
This is how you are going to structure your review of related literature. The
main goal for doing this is to make the reader understand easily the different
studies and how they are relevant to your study.
1. Introduction
• The introduction somehow presents the fundamental idea of the
particular study of the literature review.
2. Main Body
• The main body consists of the organized discussion of sources. This is
where you summarize and synthesize your literature review and reflect
how they related to your study.
3. Conclusions/Recommendations
• Conclusion and recommendation emphasized what you have learned
from reviewing the literature and where would your study leads to.
TYPES OF LITERATURE REVIEW
These are the different types of literature review depending on how you
organize and present your review of related studies.
CONTEXT REVIEW
• From the name itself, context review is primarily focused on the content or
contextual aspect of research. Usually it is a type of review in which the
researcher relates his or her study to a larger body of knowledge. It presents
the current research by merging it into a wider framework and determine its
contribution and impact to the specific field of study.
HISTORICAL REVIEW
• Historical review is a specialized type of literature review in which the
researcher organizes the related researches according to the period of time
it was conducted. Historical literature review focuses on probing research in a
specified field throughout a chronological order, which usually starts from the
oldest period of time going to the most recent studies. The goal of this type of
research is to gain knowledge on the advancement of technology and to
identify developments on certain areas, which progress through time. It can
be integrated with a theoretical or methodological review to illustrate how a
concept, theory, or research method developed through time.
INTEGRATIVE REVIEW
• Integrative review is a common type of literature review in which the
researcher introduces and summarizes the recent knowledge of the study. It
emphasizes the agreements and disagreements of knowledge among
various previous researches. It also considers reviews, critiques, and
synthesizes representative literature in an integrated way in order to
generate new structure and viewpoint on the topic. This is the most common
form of literature review in the social sciences. This review is usually merge
with a context review.
METHODOLOGICAL REVIEW
• Methodological review is a specialized type of literature review in which the
researcher gathers and compares and contrast other studies to the current
research. It basically summarizes and evaluates the strengths and gaps in
methodological aspects of various studies and illustrates the effects of
different methodologies (research designs, samples, process) to different
outcomes. This approach also emphasizes ethical issues when necessary,
which you should consider and be conscious of as you go through your
current research.
SELF-STUDY REVIEW
• Self-study review is a literature review in which the researcher demonstrates
his or her understanding of a specific body of knowledge. It contains existing
proof associated to a clearly stated research questions and uses
standardized methods to determine and evaluate relevant research.
However, it can also produce problems of prejudice especially when it is
used to summarize claims or statements linking his or her findings to a system
of knowledge. Typically, it is a practice in the educational program or course
requirement.
THEORETICAL REVIEW
Theoretical review is a literature review in which the researcher
introduces several theories or concepts that are focused on a specific
topic. It is particular on the theories and concepts being highlighted on
other researches and compare them to the current study basing on its
framework, hypothesis, consistency, and justification. The theoretical
literature review aids in establishing the theories already existed, the
relationships of theories among various studies, the degree of its
investigation, and the development of new hypotheses.
