Educational Research Methods
A site to support teaching and learning...
Literature review
“The literature review section is not structured within a suitable context and the literature chosen is not related to the central issue of the paper in a meaningful way.”
Critical comment from a peer review report of an article submitted for publication
Research is normally informed by a conceptualisation (a conceptual framework) of the topic area in which the study falls. Therefore in most research studies, a review of existing relevant literature is undertaken to support the conceptualisation process, sometimes involving the selection a particular theoretical framework for the study, and to help refine the research questions.
An exception is grounded theory research, where the normal practice is to delay the literature review (at least, the completion of the literature review) until later in the process to support the process of allowing concepts to emerge from the data analysis itself.
This is a personal site of Keith S. Taber to support teaching of educational research methods.
(Dr Keith Taber is Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.)
2015
