Review of Related Literature
Review of Related Literature
Review of Related Literature
When you have completed this chapter you will be able to:
Define what is theory
Explain the role of theory in educational research
Justify the need for review of literature
Identify criteria for good review of literature
Critique a research article
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Do you agree with the statement by W. Borg and M. Borg? Theory has not been
properly understood by some graduate students. Some students are of the opinion that
theory is not relevant to practice. Oftentimes, we hear students remark that a particular
course is “too theoretical” or they prefer courses that are “practical oriented and not too
theoretical”. Some go to the extent to denounce theory as useless! Actually, this reflects
a lack of understanding on what is theory and what is practice or practical. According to
W. Borg and M. Borg, theory serves as a guide for research to avoid investigating
phenomena that is irrelevant and does not contribute to our understanding.
WHAT IS THEORY?
According to Social Learning Theory by Albert Bandura; the observer will imitate
the model's behaviour if the model possesses characteristics such as talent,
intelligence, power, good looks, or popularity, that the observer finds attractive or
desirable.
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Chapter 2: Theory and Review of Literature
Note that each of these theories explain learning and the variables or factors that
determines learning. Assuming that each of these theories are true we can predict that
learning will take place when a student connects new information with old information, is
reinforced through a system of rewards and reproduce a modelled behaviour if it brings
pleasure. However, many areas of education have virtually no theoretical foundation and
have to rely on other behavioural sciences, such as psychology, sociology, anthropology
and social psychology.
Can a theory be 'true'? Not necessarily. The scientific method makes it impossible
to conclude that a theory in the behavioural sciences to be definitely true. It is possible
only to disconfirm or confirm a hypothesis or theory. We cannot say that we have
verified a theory because there is always the possibility that at some future research will
disconfirm it or that some other theory will account for the same results. Theories,
therefore, are always tentative. They represent the best of our knowledge for the time
being but they do not represent some absolute truth. They await revision of replacement"
(Borg and Borg, 1983).
A B C
SELF-TEST
1. What is a theory?
2. Why are there few laws in the field of education?
3. What do you mean by confirming of disconfirming a theory?
4. Identify some theories in your field of interest.
5. What are the implications Piaget’s theory of children’s
cognition in the classroom?
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Chapter 2: Theory and Review of Literature
Let us examine another well known theory in psychology which has been used
widely in education. David Clarence McClelland developed a theory of motivation in
1988 which states that a person is motivated to do something because of a desire or need
for achievement, authority or affiliation or a combination of the three characteristics (see
Figure below).
Achievement
Authority/ Power
Motivation (n-ach)
Motivation (n-pow)
Affiliation Motivation
(n-affil)
ACTIVITY
1. To what extent does McClelland’s Motivation Theory describe your
motivation to do something in your daily life?
2. Briefly explain how you would attempt to confirm or disconfirm
McClelland’s Theory.
[You can find more information about this theory at this site:
Alan Chapman, 1995. David McClleland’s Motivational Needs
Theory. www.businessballs.com/davidmcclleland.htm]
The review of literature is usually the a standard chapter of the research report,
thesis of dissertation. It is an account of the research done in the field of study. The
review forms an important chapter in a thesis or dissertation where its purpose is to
provide the background to and justification for the research undertaken. It is usual that
the review consists of empirical studies done in the area that is being investigated. It also
includes theoretical positions or proposals related to the study which are not necessarily
empirical in nature.
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Chapter 2: Theory and Review of Literature
The aim of the literature review is to show what has been done in the field and
how your study relates to earlier research. It also indicate the approaches, the samples
used, the variables examined, the statistical procedures used and most important of all,
the findings obtained. The review gives an overview of the findings of various previous
studies. The review traces the general patterns of the findings and the conclusions that
can be made based on the findings. It also provides an insight into how your study is
similar or different from previous studies. For example; Is your study an extension of
what others have done? Are you examining variables that have not been attended to in
earlier studies? Are you attempting to replicate earlier studies in a different cultural
context? Are you applying statistical procedures that have not been attempted by others?
The review of literature requires you to locate, read and evaluate reports of
research as well as reports of opinions and proposals. The review must be extensive and
thorough because you are aiming to obtain a detailed account of the topic being studied.
The review of literature helps the student in delimiting the research problem by
setting the parameters. By setting the limits of your study, you avoid being
questioned "why didn't you do this or do that?". You can confidently reply that your
study is confined to studying what you had set out to study. Delimiting the research
problem can be achieved if you read extensively and intensively the problem you
plan to investigate and from the literature specify clearly what is it you want to
study.
The literature also provides insight into the approaches and methodologies adopted
by different researchers. A common mistake made by students is to pay attention to
only the findings of studies. Besides findings, students should also examine the
methodologies used to study the phenomenon you are interested in. There could be
unique approaches adopted which you might want to replicate in the Malaysian
context. For example, in most studies reviewed the sample used tended to be
university students and your study is an attempt to use secondary school students
which could be a unique contribution to the field because you are different.
that has not been explored before. These suggestions are significant because they
express the insight of the researcher after having studied the phenomenon.
SELF-TEST
1. What is the Review of Literature?
2. What is the purpose of the Review of Literature?
Choose a well-researched area – an area that is well-defined and well studied will
give you more lines of research to choose from. A line of research is a series of
studies by the same individual. An area of major research interest will have
several lines of research.
Narrow your topic – It is far more satisfying, to both the writer and the reader, to
restrict your topic and cover it in depth. Comprehensiveness and narrowness of
topic go hand in hand.
Write about what interests you – If you are interested in the topic, you are likely
to already know something about it, which will make it easier to gather
information.
Search for helpful activities – Some articles will contribute more than others to
your understanding of a topic. Sometimes you can find a pivotal article that can
serve as a foundation for your study (the References will lead you to other similar
studies).
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Chapter 2: Theory and Review of Literature
Find readable articles – some areas of research will be harder to understand than
others. Scan the research articles in the topic areas you are considering to decide
on the readability of research in those areas.
‘Read, Read, Read’ That is the bottom line of doing a review. People have
different ways of doing a literature review. A common technique used by many
graduate students is to use a ‘Note Card’ (see below). It may be a rather old-
fashioned technique, but has proven to be most effective. Many graduate students
will testify to this, despite advancements in computer technology.
Title: …………………………………………………………………….
Author/s: ………………………………………………………………..
Source: …………………………………………………………………..
Methodology:…………………………………………………………….
Findings…………………………………………………………………
Conclusion:……………………………………………………………….
Comments;……………………………………………………………….
Note card
Introduce your research questions (what it is, why it is worth examining). Begin
your review with some theme (or point) that you want to emphasise.
[REMEMBER YOU ARE WRITING FOR THE READER and not for yourself].
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Chapter 2: Theory and Review of Literature
Discuss implications of studies (your judgement or what the studies show, and
where to go from here).
Most important of all avoid plagiarism. Give due recognition to the works of other
people. It does not cost anything to acknowledge sources. In fact, it shows the
breadth and depth of your review, and the thoroughness of your work.
COMMON WEAKNESSES
In writing the review of literature, beginning researchers make the following common
errors:
The presentation is a mere listing of the studies without an attempt to show how
each study is similar or different. Use connectives such as: however, on the other
hand, similarly, but and so forth.
Poor citations. In education it is normal practice to adopt the format proposed in the
manual published by the American Psychological Association (commonly known as
the ‘APA style’).
Hurriedly reviews the literature and relies too heavily upon secondary sources.
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Chapter 2: Theory and Review of Literature
At times there is evidence to suggest that students have not read the original works
but instead have taken someone's work and cited it as though they had read the
primary source.
There is also evidence of 'cut and paste' which SHOULD NOT be encouraged. You
must have read the original works and know in detail every study that you cite.
Articles or reports that are included are not critically evaluated. Critically evaluate
the research questions, the methodology used, the statistics used, the conclusion
arrived at and recommendations made by the researcher [Details about evaluation
of articles is discussed in 2.7]
SELF-TEST
1. ‘Read, Read, Read’. Comment.
2. What are some weaknesses of graduate students when writing
the Review of Literature?
SOURCES
A good literature review requires knowledge of the use of indexes and abstracts,
and the ability to conduct exhaustive bibliographic searches. You should be able to
organise the material meaningfully, describe, critique and relate each source to the
subject of the inquiry, and present the organised review logically, and most importantly
to correctly cite all sources mentioned (Afolabi, 1992). Generally, there are two main
sources of materials:
Secondary Sources: This includes materials written by an author/s who was not a
direct observer or participant in the events described. If you read a textbook on
‘Educational Psychology’, it would be a compilation of the views and empirical
works of other authors rearranged into a textbook. The textbook is a review of
research done by others and interpreted by the author. This interpretation by the
author of the textbook would be classified as a secondary source (Be aware that
the interpretation may be biased). Secondary sources are useful because they
provide a quick and relatively easy method of getting an overview of current
thinking in the field.
found in research journals. However, there are also abundant reports of research
conducted by individuals, groups of individuals and organisations.
How do I search for research articles, research reports, etc.? You can start by referring to
preliminary sources which are references such as indexes and abstracts, that are intended
to help you identify and locate research articles and other primary sources of information.
The following are well-known indexes and abstract in education:
Specialised Areas
A further source of information are theses and dissertations that have never been
published. The following are important sources which provide abstracts of masters theses
and doctoral dissertations in education.:
ACTIVITY
What do you think are some problems graduate students face when
doing the Review of Literature for their theses or research project?
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Chapter 2: Theory and Review of Literature
What is the research about? Was the purpose or objectives of the study specified?
Describe:
Keep in mind that the writer is assuming that the reader is an expert in the field or
at least has some background knowledge about the field.
References made may be brief because it is assumed you know the people in the
field (e.g. if you are reading about ‘intelligence’ then names like Sternberg,
Gardner, Thurstone, Spearman, should be known to you).
Writer assumes you know the concepts in the field (e.g. burnout, metacognition,
inductive reasoning, organisational climate).
The rationale given for the study and why the research questions or hypotheses
were put forward
Critique:
o Is the reason for answering the research question or testing the hypotheses
convincing or just attempting to appeal to your emotion or merely seeking
endorsement from well-know authorities in the field?
o Do the research questions or hypotheses follow logically from theory?
o Is there a tendency to oversimplify theories or studies reviewed?
Describe:
The writer/s should tell about the background of the subjects used, the number of
subjects and the method used to collect data
The design of the study is described in sufficient detail. Justification for the study
was given.
Critique:
Describe:
Critique:
Describe:
Critique:
o Is the author's way the only way to interpret the predicted results?
o Can you explain any of the findings the author/'s did not explain or were
unable to explain?
o What are the weaknesses or limitations identified by the author or which
you found but was not mentioned?
SELF-TEST
1. What are the major aspects of a study will you examine when
describing a research article?
2. When you critique the Methods section and the Results section,
what are you looking for?
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Chapter 2: Theory and Review of Literature
Key Terms
Theory Indexes in education
Confirming a theory Abstracts of research
Disconfirming a theory Dissertation & theses abstracts
Review of Literature Evaluating information
- Importance Critique of research article
- Secondary sources
- Primary sources
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Select a research topic in which you are interested and locate a primary and
secondary source related to it. Explain why each is a primary or secondary
source.
2. Locate full-text journals in your areas of interest that are available free
on the internet. Check to see if they are referred journals. Share what you
have found with your coursemates.
READINGS
Internet Resources