Dr. Devaraj.

P
Assistant Professor (Sociology)
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad
Dhanbad, 824006
Jharkand, India

Normal connotation: Summary and Synthesis of all

documents (published and unpublished) we read
Review of Literature means inquiring, analyzing and
interpreting the text (the past events, actions,
phenomenon )
Logically argued and a comprehensive understanding
of current state of knowledge
An attempt to contextualize your statement of
problem/question and objectives within the larger body
of literature (number of studies) available within a
specific discipline/specialization.

I. Major Theme of Review of Literature:

1.
Literature Gap: What exists and what not
Identifying the variables and its roles in creating an event,
2.
phenomena, actions, etc: examples, characteristics/properties
of chemicals, instruments, sex and gender, education, etc.
3.
Understanding the relations between theory-Concepts and
Practice
Knowing - what methodologies and research designs were
4.
followed by scientific community
II. Sub-Theme of Review of Literature:
1.
Avoiding unnecessary replication
2.
Identifying your (research) proposal strength and weakness
(lack of substance)
3.
Internal contradictions and ideological suppositions within a
scientific community (who produces the document industry,
government, inter-governmental panel, NGO Macro-Micro
institutions)

Literature refers to discourse (cognition, representation and knowledge)

Written Documents: - Journals, reports, books, a court case, materials from

internet, newspapers and magazine, policy documents, interview transcripts,
etc) Print forms
Visuals: Photographs historical document (recollects Memories or makes
2.
us to visualize what had occurred earlier)
3.
Digital Forms: Audio and Video recordings (Advertisements)
Conversation: Intellectual engagement with researchers, peer group,
4.
eminent faculties through direct or indirect face to face interactions
productive thoughts to reorganize our reviewed literature (identify best
practices )
Observation: Field observations (Scientists/Social Scientist/Humanities)
5.
Two goals of employing Multiple Sources:
1) Representation: (production of actual meanings and also New interpretation
of existing meanings) triangulation (convergence and corroboration);
complementary (clarification, elaboration, illustration); development (indepth of the knowledge); and expansion (breadth of knowledge)
2) Legitimation: 1) Establishing credentials or reliability; 2) finding out
paradoxes and contradiction
1.

Evaluations help in four ways: 1) Selection; 2) importance; and 3)

in-depth of the knowledge

Problems:
1. Theoretical Flaws (premise)
2. Parochial Focus
3. Failure to Link between Finding and Literature
Reasons:
1. Lack of formal and Systematic Analysis results in
distorted summaries of literature
2. Difference between the intention of the Author and
the Reader Creates Gap
3. Failure to recognize the fundamental elements or
premises of a Theory-Concept and Practice

Report Making from Empirical Research:

1. Warranted: Evidence to be provided to justify the
knowledge claims.
2. Transparent: show the path of logic of inquiry (from
interest to selection of topic to conclusion)
3. Comprehensive: 1) what has been conducted before;
2) inferences (implied assumptions); 3) Check the
validity of the inferences; and 4) theoretical and
practical implications of inferences.
Overall, You need to understand what the problem is
about and how it has been approached.

I.
1.

2.

3.

II.
1.

Analyzing Within the Study:

Analyzing every component of the work: From title to the
end of the paper (Introduction / theoretical / conceptual
framework / methodology / finding / discussion and
conclusion)
Intrinsic in nature: Studies designed to Understand each
particular case
Instrumental in Nature: Studies designed to examine each
particular case to provide insights or redraw a generalization
Analyzing between the Studies:
Comparing and Contrasting of the work done in a specified
area - Similarities and dissimilarities (arguments / findings)
who agrees/disagrees with whom

It is a systematic research for attributes (components of

meanings) associated with cultural symbol
Use tables or matrics are employed to determine the
difference among the sub-components of domains in order
to map as accurately as possible the psychological reality
of our informants cultural knowledge
Tables have two dimensions:
A. contrast set set of attributes or components of meaning
for any term
B. dimensions of contrast questions formulated by the
researcher to help differentiate the contrast set
C. It also creates structural questions

Domain:
1. Analysis is to understand better what the domain is
all about.
2. Highly helpful in analyzing empirical finding
3. It is a larger unit of cultural knowledge
4. Starts with analyzing symbols represented in the form
of formula, scientific laws, etc structured pattern of
knowledge (meanings and motives )
5. Symbols involves three forms:1) analyzing what the
symbol itself (X); 2) addressing what symbol refers
to (Y); and 3) understand the relationship between
symbol and its referents (X and Y)

1.
2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Classification of domains
It is characterized as a set of categories that are organized on
the basis of single semantic relationship (interlink between
different domains)
Making a pictorial representation or flow chart to help the
researchers to understand the relationship between different
domains
It depicts the hierarchical structure of the terms representing
a domain, by indicating the subsets of terms and the
relationship of these subsets to the domain as a whole.
First Select on domain create sub-sets and then select
another domain create sub-sets and then see any
similarities construct structural questions to verify the
taxonomic relationship.
It results in larger structural questions attempts question
the discipline itself.

Constant Comparison Analysis: Documents / field interviews

focusing on building theory from data Coding practice
Open Ended Coding: from broad categories, a small
A.
segments will be drawn.
B. Axial Coding Stage: identifying similar categories
C. Selective Coding: Create a theory out of data
Example: Documents (print form)
Entire set of information (whole work) Sub-set of
a.
information (Sub-section) one unit (one work)
b.
Making a smaller meaningful parts
c.
Similarities to theme (one paragraph or sub-section)
Code comes to an end when you see the repeatedness in
d.
ideas/themes - this stage is called saturation (Scholars did
not transcend this stage) Current state of knowledge.
1.

1.

2.

Discover conceptual themes that connect these

domains
Each theme may become paragraph or even a whole
section, with the theme label providing the name of
the section or sub-section.

What Science is?

It is about how do we arrive at knowledge
1.
A. Knowledge (accepted) beliefs faith opinion (cannot
be a knowledge)- Knowledge claim (inference)
B. Narrative Anchoring: 1) historical; and 2) analytical
(integral part of scientific theory)
C. Scientific Theory: Set of interrelated statements
explains about a particular phenomena
D. Two aspects: 1) Epistemological status; and 2) logic
E.
Rationally grounded on particular authority: Methods
rational ways to arrive at the knowledge
Purpose of Science: 1) Observation; and 2) Demonstrate
F.

Empiricist Approach to Science:

1. Comes under the positivist tradition of science
(application of scientific method to science)
2. Aim of Empiricist Approach: arriving at definition
and explaining essential nature of things
3. Follows certain procedure to arrive at knowledge
(what
you
are
intend
to
4. Observation
measure)/Experiment occurrence of events (with or
with control)/comparison (one factor over the other
causality/ contrast/similarity)
5. Believes in Methodological Monism (One method to
natural science and human sciences) (criticism in
social sciences as well as within science)

1.
2.
3.
4.

5.
6.
7.

8.

Understanding of scientific meanings of subject when you

learn what the discipline is all about
Method: Generating Hypothesis and attempts to prove or
refute the claim
Hypothesis: provide explanation for observations or facts of
unobservable entities
Theory (as a preconceived notions) guide observation and
not the vice versa. Theory gives you idiom. Express your
ideas in your disciplinary language
Realist because they believe in theories are real
Critique: Observation theory ladden
Scientific Problem: Difference between what you observe
and what you expect
Science - depth and novelty

Deductivists follow the

scientific procedure for problem identification,
testing,
tentative solution,
falsification and
corroboration.
Observation and theory are interdependent.

Observation as an act:
1. Private and Passive in nature:
A.
B.
C.
1.

A.

B.
C.

D.

Interaction between individual and the external world

Question of validity perception is true or not
Doubting what I have seen is reliable or not
Public and Active in Nature: (This is the basic act of
science)
Reliability can be established only the means of proving the
repeating the same procedure
Validity is established in each cases
Interaction translate from individual to the collective
world
Making invisible as visible to all

1.
2.
3.

4.
5.

6.
7.

Observation statement fact scientific knowledge

Construction of Relevant fact (what is important and what is
not) leads to justification
Science helps us to formulate questions, but experiment
and observation helps us to arrive at specific form of
answer (relevant fact)
Observation has its own limitation (required empirical
evidence)
Experiment - isolate the unnecessary factors on a particular
phenomena (discovery of radio waves by Heinrich Hertz)
practical experiment (the process of investigation)
resulting Precision or exactness
Inappropriate experimental setting: results in faulty
conclusion
Science is established through facts, but not senses

Conditions of Objectifying Observations:

1.

2.
3.

4.

Objectives (observational statements) tested in public

by straight forward procedure (Methods)
It is a public character of science.
Every observation has limitations: 1) Knowledge
(current state of knowledge); 2) technology
Observable facts are subject to fallible and subject to
revision

A.
B.
C.
D.

E.
F.
G.

H.

I.
J.

Science consists of facts (verifiable statements)

Observations are theory free (hence it is pure)
Observations and facts build theory
Given a set of premises in an argument, only one conclusion
follows
Fact-value dichotomy exist (facts are value neutral and
value judgments have no factual content)
scientific explanation follows pattern
Aim of science precise prediction of facts or economical
description of phenomena
Theories are dependent on observations and observations
are dependent on theories, so the relations between the two
is unilateral
Interpretation (subjective) and observation (objective).
Science is always continuous