CMGT 500 Managing Communication: The Literature Review

A literature review is a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the principal research about the topic being studied.

Purposes

A literature review serves several purposes. For example, it

• provides thorough knowledge of previous studies; introduces seminal works.
• helps focus one’s own research topic.
• identifies a conceptual framework for one’s own research questions or problems; indicates potential directions for future research.
• suggests previously unused or underused methodologies, designs, quantitative and qualitative strategies.
• identifies gaps in previous studies; identifies flawed methodologies and/or theoretical approaches; avoids replication of mistakes.
• helps the researcher avoid repetition of earlier research.
• suggests unexplored populations.
• determines whether past studies agree or disagree; identifies controversy in the literature.
• tests assumptions; may help counter preconceived ideas and remove unconscious bias.

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Types of Questions to Ask When Assessing Readings

In writing a literature review skilled researchers evaluate their sources and evidence very carefully. For example, they ask such questions as:

• Who funded the research studies? For example, what credence can be given to a study on African American IQs funded by the Ku Klux Klan?
• Who actually performed the research?
• When and where were the studies carried out?
• What were the political, socio-economic, religious, etc. conditions at the time of the research?

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There are numerous ways to organize the material in a lit. review. For example, one might organize the selected readings by

• different theoretical approaches
• specific concepts or issues
• different methodologies employed
• level of support or otherwise that they lend to one’s own hypothesis/theory.

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