The Purpose of Reviewing Previous Research: The Review of Literature

Academic special projects at all levels in the social sciences typically include some kind of 'literature review'. It is probably more useful for students to think of this, as examiners usually do, as a 'critical review of the literature', for reasons which will be made clear shortly. The literature review is normally an early section in the special project.

Students are normally expected to begin working on a general survey of the related research literature at the earliest possible stage of their research. This in itself is not what is normally meant in formal references to the 'review of the literature', but is rather a preparatory stage. This survey stage ranges far wider in scope and quantity than the final review, typically including more general works. Your survey (which exists in writing only in your notes) should help you in several ways, such as:

• to decide on the issues you will address;
• to become aware of appropriate research methodologies;
• to see how research on your specific topic fits into a broader framework;
• to prepare you for approaching the critical review.

Clearly, if you are new to research in the field you are not in a position to 'criticize' the work of experienced researchers on the basis of your own knowledge of the topic or of research methodology. Where you are reporting on well-known research studies closely related to your topic, however, some critical comments may well be available from other established researchers (often in textbooks on the topic). These criticisms of methodology, conclusions and so on can and should be reported in your review (together with any published reactions to these criticisms!).

However, the use of the term critical is not usually meant to suggest that you should focus on criticizing the work of established researchers. It is primarily meant to indicate that:

• the review should not be merely a descriptive list of a number of research projects related to the topic;
• you are capable of thinking critically and with insight about the issues raised by previous research.

The review can serve many functions, some of which are as follows:

• to indicate what researchers in the field already know about the topic;
• to indicate what those in the field do not yet know about the topic - the 'gaps';
• to indicate major questions in the topic area;
• to provide background information for the non-specialist reader seeking to gain an overview of the field;
• to ensure that new research (including yours) avoids the errors of some earlier research;
• to demonstrate your grasp of the topic.

In the formal review of the literature you should refer only to research projects which are closely related to your own topic. The formal review is not a record of 'what I have read'. If your problem is how to choose what to leave out, one way might be to focus on the most recent papers. You should normally aim to include key studies which are widely cited by others in the field, however old they may be. Where there are several similar studies with similar findings, you should review a representative study which was well designed.

Some professors encourage their students to refer to a range of relevant projects representing various research methodologies; others may prefer you to concentrate on those employing the methodology which you intend to use (e.g. experiments or field studies). Where you have been advised to review studies representing different methodologies, do not over-represent any single methodology unless it represents that which you intend to use.

If you find that very little seems to exist which is closely related to your topic you should discuss this with your chair. In such a case the most obvious options would be either to widen the net to include less closely-related studies or to reduce the length of the review. However, you should make quite sure that your search for relevant papers and books has been adequate. If this problem remains, your chair may suggest that you should review more loosely-relatedstudies which nevertheless employed the research methodology which you are intending to use.

The length of a literature review varies and the attitudes of your chair must be taken into account: some chairs allow graduate students to devote the bulk of a mini-dissertation to a literature review; others insist on some element of original research. As to how many research studies you should review, this varies too. You should not review so many that you can devote little space to each.