Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Primary Sources
– Original Research Article
Secondary Sources
– Newspapers
– Book chapters
– Television/Radio
– Magazines
– Wikepedia
Empirical Research
All empirical research is inherently flawed
– Limitations
1. Sampling
– Generalizability
– Representative
2. Measurement
– Measurement Error
– Social Desirability
3. Problem Identification
– Grasping the “Whole” Problem
Literature Reviews
Well-written analytical narrative that brings
a reader up-to-date on what is known on a
given topic, but also provide fresh insights
that advance knowledge
– Resolve conflicts between studies
– Identify new ways to interpret research results
– Creating a path for future research
Anecdotal Reports
A description of an event or experience
that happened to be noticed
– No control
– No comparison
Review of Key Elements of
Previous Definition
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and
Qualitative Research
Step 1: Identify Key Terms or
“Descriptors” (cont’d)
• Use the “Thesaurus of ERIC
Descriptors to look for terms that match
your topic: go to www.eric.ed.gov and in
“Search” select “Descriptors (from
Thesaurus)”
• Scan both electronic and library
journals from the past 10 years and
look for key terms in the articles
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and
Qualitative Research
Creswell’s 5 steps to Conduct a
Literature Review (cont’d)
• Step 2: Locate Literature
• Use academic libraries, do not limit your
search to an electronic search of articles
• Use primary and secondary sources. A
“primary source” is research reported by the
researcher that conducted the study. A
“secondary source” is research that
summarizes or reports findings that come
from primary sources
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and
Qualitative Research
Step 2: Locate Literature (cont’d)
• It is “best to report mostly primary
sources” (p. 82)
• Search different types of literature:
summaries, encyclopedias, dictionaries
and glossaries of terms, handbooks,
statistical indexes, reviews and
syntheses, books, journals, indexed
publications, electronic sources,
abstract series, and databases
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and
Qualitative Research
Creswell’s 5 steps to Conduct a
Literature Review (cont’d)
• Step 3: Critically Evaluate and Select
Literature
• Rely on journal articles published in
national journals
• Prioritize your search: first look for
refereed journal articles, then, non-
refereed articles, then books, then
conference papers, dissertations and
theses and then papers posted to
websites
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and
Qualitative Research
Step 3: Critically Evaluate and
Select Literature (cont’d)
• Look for research articles and avoid as
much as possible “opinion” pieces
• Blend qualitative and quantitative
research in your review
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and
Qualitative Research
Creswell’s 5 steps to Conduct a
Literature Review (cont’d)
• Step 4: Organize the Literature
• Create a “file” or “abstract” system to keep
track of what you read. Each article you read
should be summarized in one page containing
Title (use APA to type the title so that you can later
copy-paste this into the References section of your
paper)
Source: journal article, book, glossary, etc.
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and
Qualitative Research
Step 4: Organize the Literature
(cont’d)
Research problem: one or two lines will suffice
Research Questions or Hypotheses
Data collection procedure (a description of sample
characteristics can be very handy as well)
Results or findings of the study
• Sort these abstracts into groups of related
topics or areas which can then become the
different sections of your review
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and
Qualitative Research
Creswell’s 5 steps to Conduct a
Literature Review (cont’d)
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and
Qualitative Research
Step 5: Write a Literature Review
(cont’d)
Study-by-study Review: a detailed summary of
each study under a broad theme is provided. Link
summaries (or abstracts) using transitional
sentences. Must be organized and flow coherently
under various subheadings. Avoid string quotations
(i.e., lengthy chunks of text directly quoted from a
source)
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and
Qualitative Research
Preliminary Literature Review
This succinct review of current literature
should:
– Provide further contextual background
– Reveal issues related to your study
– Describe similar problems in other
organizations
– Provide significance to your approach to the
study
Guidelines on Style, Mechanics, and
Language Usage
Does your draft follow the logic or idea that
is presented in your intro and title?
Avoid overusing direct quotations,
especially long ones
Check style manual for correct use of
citations
– (Doe, 2005); Doe (2005); (Doe & Smith, 2005); Doe
and Smith (2005); (Black, 2005; Brown, 2006; Yellow,
2007)
Guidelines on Style, Mechanics, and
Language Usage
Avoid using synonyms for recurring words
– This is not creative writing and stay consistent with
terminology
Group I, Phoenix Cohort, Experimental Group
Spell out all acronyms when first using them
– Traditional - American Psychological Association
(APA)
– Non-traditional - Collective Efficacy (CE)
Yes - Do NOT use contractions; No – Don’t use
contractions
Coined terms should be set off by quotes
Guidelines on Style, Mechanics, and
Language Usage
Avoid the following:
– Slang – “cool”
– Colloquialisms – “thing” >> “item” or “feature”
– Idioms – “rise to the pinnacle” >> “to become
prominent”
Use great care to avoid Plagiarism
Activity
Please Read page 119-121, from the Galvan book.
Then answer the following questions on page 9.
A. Have the reviewers clearly identified the topic of
review? Have they indicated its delimitations? Does it
deal only with certain aspects of the problem
B. Have the reviewers writing a cohesive essay that
guides you thorough the literature from subtopics to
subtopic? Explain.
C. Have the reviewers interpreted and critique the
literature, or have they merely summarized it?
D. Overall, do you think the reviewers make an imporatnt
contribution to knowledge through their synthesis of
the literature? Explain.
What needs to be included in the
Literature review.
Provides contextual background
Reveals related issues
Reviews similar problems elsewhere
Provides significance to your approach to the
study
Includes major/seminar research articles
pertaining to study
Written in an integrated manner
Uses peer-reviewed research
Includes a Reference section
Writing Your Research Question(s)