Chapter+Two+-+Developing+the+Literature+Review

=Developing the Literature Review=

The purpose of the literature review is to inform the reader of some of the prior research that has taken place in relation to the current study. When developing a literature review, it is vital that the research question is clearly stated and any terms the readers may not be familiar with are defined. This is also the place where the author will include what they believe to be the most significant prior research findings along with an introduction, statement of the problem, a hypothesis for the problem, and literature that supports the argument. The idea of this chapter is to address the various issues related to finding appropriate literature and finding ways to aid in the search for reliable and valid literature. Finally, it is important to think about ways to organize and present the literature so that it supports the proposed research study. The following sections will discuss these factors of the literature review.

I. Types of References
When developing a research study, one needs to determine the best method for selecting appropriate sources. Theoretical, empirical, and Internet sources are three types of reference sources to consider using. Each type of reference serves its purpose in informing others about the future research that is intended to be performed to test a hypothesis (theoretical) or prior research that has been conducted (empirical).

One must be cautious when selecting articles from the Internet. There is a lot of false information out there, so we must make sure that we are selecting data that is peer reviewed. These articles have a higher probability of containing accurate information.A peer reviewed article is a scholarly article analyzed by experts to look for mistakes, make suggestions for changing the article, or to recommend if and where the article should be published. The purpose of the peer review process is to ensure that the published articles are accurate, valid, and credible.

Meta analyses is aslo a primary resource that can be used. These are research type papers that people look at a variety of studies to determine the general trend and what has been found in current research. These are very good sources to support you argument because they look upon the broad general of studies. These are good sources however they are not the experiment. It is best to get the information from the source itself. They may be a good way to find a study but then go and look up the orginal study and use that as your source.

The three types of references all serve their purpose depending on what question you are asking or the topic of your research. I am doing a proposal that deals with Charter schools, which is a relatively new phenomenon; so much of the references will be theoretical. Many longitudinal studies will be harder to find because so many of the questions surrounding charter schools are new. Certain topics dealing with charter school may be empirical, but that will be a little tougher to find.

A. Theoretical sources
A "theory" is an elaborated explanation for a construct (abstract idea) or phenomenon. Theories attempt to better explain constructs: theory of intelligence, theory of self-esteem, theory of motivation. Theories organize empirical findings and suggest future research. Theory-based research tests hypotheses based upon a theory with the idea of evaluating the theory (supporting or discarding) or revising its tenets. (Suter 2006). Theories in education can never be proven, so therefore, a good theory is //useful//--a theory that guides instructional practice and suggests new hypotheses. Many theoretical sources come from outside the education field; psychology and sociology fields for example. Metaphors are often used to describe theoretical research. An example would be the file folder metaphor used to describe information storage and retrieval in informational processing theories. Theoretical sources can also explain observable phenomena such as suicide and depression, gender bias, and school dropout rates. (Suter 2006).

In the case of my research project, a theory would be that the token economy system works for all students. There are some children who are not motivated by the token system, but this theory is //useful// because it works for the majority.

B. Empirical sources
Empirical studies are based on scientific method (O’Sullivan et al, 2003). These sources are firsthand and written from an objective standpoint. As Dr. Beebe stated, "The proof is in the pudding". This method requires that verifiable facts are used to provide evidence within the study. Empirical studies are divided into two categories: qualitative research and quantitative research. Quantitative research uses numerals to provide data. An example of quantitative research data used within an educational study on bullying in public schools would include collecting a tally of the number of times a teacher heard an anti-gay epithet during school hours. The tally would provide numerical data that indicates the frequency of epithets used during school hours. The second empirical study category is qualitative research. Qualitative research collects data that cannot be analyzed numerically. An example of qualitative research used within an educational study of bullying in public schools would include conducting a survey among gay, lesbian, and bisexual youths. The survey would provide a series of opinions that provided inside information directly from participants. O’Sullivan, E., Rassel, G. &amp; Berner, M. (2003). //Research methods for public educators//. New York : Pearson Education Inc.

Another way of defining qualitative and quantitative is: qualitative focuses on a small sample size where data can be easily calculated and quantitative focuses on the larger population with limited data calculation. Empirical Studies do not need to be particularly quanitative or qualitative research, they can also involve case studies.

C. Internet sources
In today's society, people are very familiar with going to the Internet to find information on almost anything. When using the Internet for research purposes, you must be very careful about what you are finding. The most reliable sources come from library research databases. Some examples of research databases include ERIC and PsychInfo. Articles found on these databases are from valid journals and have been critically reviewed prior to posting. They summarize an area of research and offer other journals to use in order to do further research on the same topic. Another acceptable source from the Internet is Google Scholar ([|http://scholar.google.com/schhp).] This differs from other search engines such as Yahoo and AltaVista because Google Scholar provides a simple way to search scholarly literature. It also contains several types of literature such as peer-reviewed papers, articles, and books. These resources come from a variety of places such as professional societies and universities.

Cleveland State University has an online library that provides access to peer reviewed literature. Students are provided with access to thousands of articles that contain information to be used during research. Academic search complete is my preferred search engine. This search area provides you with access to the EBSCO database.

Other information from the Internet may not be valid or reliable. Virtually anyone can post anything online without any verification. Wikipedia is an example of an unreliable source. While there may be some valid information on Wikipedia, it can be altered by anyone and the information does not have to be reliable. When using the Internet, you should use extreme caution and stick with either library research databases or Google Scholar to ensure validity and reliability of your sources. If caution is not used in searching the internet, theories may not be valid, which may cause useless research. However, it is still possible to use an article you find at a random place on the internet - it just requires more effort on your part. What you need to do in that case is cross-check all the references on that article. Find out who wrote it, what capacity they were doing the research in, and whether it was published in a more reliable source.

When using the Internet for information, many people do not spend the necessary time and energy to conduct proper research. The typical Internet user types in just one or two key words and uses one of the first five articles that pop up after this search is completed. The average time spent conducting this research is often less than five minutes. To get better information, it is often necessary to mix up search words, separating them by commas or addition signs to find more specific research. Several articles should be investigated before a user determines which ones to use. Once you find articles that are helpful to your research, it is a good idea to try to use some of the language that those writers used to continue your searching.

The internet is a fast and easy way of getting information, but you have to make sure that information is reliable. It is important to do your research on the author and/or source the information is from. That results in more research so most people do not go that in depth because it would defeat the purpose of using the internet for many people. The internet has its flaws, but you can still find a great deal of good information from it.

II. Steps in the Literature Review
When conducting a literature review, a good place to start looking is in secondary sources. These sources are books, textbooks, handbooks or encyclopedias. They will give background infromation about your topic as well direct you to authors who are writing on the subject. One valuable way to search for additional information to support your research is to look for the sources that are listed in the references portion of an article or in an edited book relating to your topic. Often only small portions of these sources are used in these articles or edited books, but they may provide you with a vast amount of useful information if you retrieve the full article yourself. Finding the full text versions of these references is not as difficult because you have all the information you need to find them in the references list. Often they are available in educational research databases or library databases. These sources will also inform you about what current research is being conducted and what theories or problems are discussed. Another benefit to using secondary sources is obtaining keywords to use in your search. After narrowing your topic and focusing on a question you can begin looking for primary sources. Primary sources are journal articles, case studies, empirical studies, meta-analysis and theoretical papers. Once you've identified your topic and keywords it's time to start searching for literature. Below two methods of searching for information are discussed.

A. Using databases
Databases provide excellent clearinghouses of information that are available in your subject area. When using research databases, you can be sure that the information you are obtaining and using is valid and reliable. Databases are accessed via one's library, usually using the library website search engine. They can also be located within the library itself.  A good database to use when searching for educational research is ERIC. When searching with ERIC, you may get more results than you need, and some of the results may not be information that you want. To help with this problem, try unchecking the "thesaurus" box when searching. This will limit the search. Another helpful hint to narrow your search is to search for terms separately. For example when researching how to improve students' attitudes about indpendent reading, don't search for all of that together. Try searching for "reading," and then click the box indicating that you want to search within those results, and search again for "attitudes." If there is still too much information, search within those results again for "independent." Be careful when using the words "and" &amp; "or". Using the word "and" will narrow your search while using the word "or" will broaden the scope. If these steps are followed for your research topic, you should be left with a handful of helpful articles instead of thousands of unrelated items. Other good databases to use are PsycINFO and Academic Search Premier.

I was having trouble finding information for my research, so I tried using the method described above. Instead of typing in "token economy system", I began typing in "token", "token reinforcement", "token economy", etc... This provided me with 20 articles that relate to my topic of study. Prior to this, I was only able to find five.

B. Using the World Wide Web
Using the world wide web is only a good idea if you are accessing to research though a data base. There are several sources on the internet however they may not be peer reviewed sources and may not be reailable and valid. The information may be good an probably accurate however you can not be certain. Research in a literature review must be scientifically based. As mentioned previously, one must exercise caution when using the Internet to find material for the Literature Review. Even though it can provide you with an abundance of information, some of the information found may not be accurate. Sources such as Wikipedia can often be changed by others. When using the World Wide Web to obtain information for a Literature Review, be sure that it has been written by a reputable author.

It may be helpful to look at the domain type to determine if a website may contain bias. Some domain types and what they stand for: .com = commercial, .org = organization, .gov = government, .edu = education, and .net = network. Blog pages and online journals should obviously be avoided because they usually contain strictly opinion. If a website tries to sell something, it is most likely an unreliable source for information because it may be biased.

I found a article on token economy in the "Scandanavian Journal of Psychology", and when I went to retrieve it I was prompted to enter my credit card information. If you do not have a membership to access certian sites it is best to use the college system because they pay for the membership for you. Accessing such articles does cost money because they are scientific research reports. It is like someone who writes a book. You have to buy the book to read it. It would not be posted on the internet for free. You can borrow the book from the library but the information is not given out without a cost being involved.

C. Determining the validity of sources
Validity is trustworthiness. It also determines if the research measures what it was intended to measure. In other words, validity measures how truthful the results of the research are. Many factors verify which and how data should be gathered. Factors that verify data such as notion, question or hypothesis. Some researchers disputed that validity is not important, but at the end they realized the importance of validity to qualitative research. The quality of the research depends on generalizability of the result. The goal of validity is to reduce bias and increase accuracy of the research. To help identify bias, several questions should be asked about the research. Is there a vested interest in the subject by the person conducting the research? Is the researcher attempting to sell a product? Is a viable conclusion drawn from the research presented? For instance, if a researcher is analyzing whether high school kids should be drug tested for steroids, he/she would be considered biased if he/she owned a company that would stand to make a lot of money from the drug testing. Obviously, there would be a hidden agenda to the research. To determine validity of a research study, one must consider the hypothesis to be tested and the types of variables that will be involved. Variables can be categorical or numerical. The independent variable(s) of a study is (are) usually categorical, and the dependent variable(s) is (are) usually numerical. Categorical variables can be gender or race, and numerical variables can be percentages or fractions. The following illustrates an example of this: “On average, there is a difference between the gross incomes of women and men, in that men make approximately $45,000 more a year than women.” Hypothesis: difference in income between men and women Independent Categorical Variable: gender Dependent Numerical Variable: $45,000 dollars

Content Validity There is no real statistical way to evaluate the following, it is up to the researchers to use their judgment to prove the following: Content validity: Does it measure what is says it’s measuring? Face validity: Does it look right; are the questions clear? Is the audience age and culturally appropriate? Item validity: Are the questions relevant to what you are researching? Sampling validity: Do the questions incorporate the entirety of the questions?

Valid data should also be observable and measurable.

Also, when determining the validity of a source, examine to see whether or not a logical fallacy exists in the researcher's arguments. There are several types of logical fallacies, including, but not limited to the following: hasty generalization (using a sample size that is too small), faulty cause and effect (attributing the wrong cause to the effect), fallacy of authority (accepting something is the truth just because someone said it is), slippery slope (exaggerating consequences), non-sequitar (the conclusion doesn't follow from the reasons), and either/or (narrowing the options to two extremes when several options exist in reality). These logical fallacies pop up all the time in every day life (i.e. commercials, teen-agers), but are also found in research. The best thing to do is to be aware that they exist and keep an eye out for them! It is also important to take into account any observer bias that may have occured - this refers to the very process of being observed changing what would have otherwise happened with the test subject. This can also occur when the observer over-emphasizes behaviours that they want to occur and fails to notice - or take into account - behaviours they did not expect.

III. Purpose of the Literature Review
 Why conduct the research unless there is an underlying reason behind it? Furthermore, what research already exists on my subject? The purpose for the literature review is to show the reader other theorists’ perceptions while connecting your work with the existing work. (edit--The literature review is meant to describe research that has already been done on a subject). It intends to build on the insight from work of others. (edit--In this way, it helps the reader build on the work and insight of others). The literature review is an organized pattern that summarizes and synthesizes with the existing theories and it allows the reader to know where your research fits into the whole context. There are five components to a literature review. First, it is important to state the cause of the research. The reader will become aware of what the problem is after reading the first couple of sentences. Next, there should be a rationale behind the research, which will give the fundamental reason why the research was conducted to solve the problem. Evidence should be included to follow the problem and explanation. Within the literature review there should also be significance to the problem. How will solving this problem be beneficial? Why will researching this problem help? Finally, the literature review should defend the question. Remember, "your research is your client" (ppt. 3.2). The research will prove your problem or provide the answer to your question. The problem should be supported with research to explain to the reader. Below, we will examine how to integrate the literature into the research and learn about constructing the argument.

**A. Integrating the literature**-
Depending on the research that is taking place, there may be many studies on a topic or just a few. Literature Reviews should summarize the bulk of the studies provided and only highlight a few that are directly related to the topic. Literature Reviews should begin by discussing secondary sources. This will provide ideas on prior studies and provide a framework for what is to come. A secondary source is a source that provide general information about the topic or problem. These sources could includes summaries, reviews, or discussions of original research which are found in scholarly books, handbookd, and encyclopedias. Secondary sources are also useful in that they give information on how others in your field are viewing the issue. They also inform you as to who the authors are who are also researching your problem. Primary resources must also be included in your literature review in order to report on the original research done. Primary sources are usually journal articles. These are generally empirical research studies, although they can be any kind of study that shows a type of research has shown some sort of effect on a group or person. Primary sources can also be meta-analysis research, which focuses on the entire body of research, or theoretical papers. Significant primary sources must be included as well. In quantitative research, the literature is usually integrated according to topic. It leaves little doubt as to how the findings relate to the hypothesis. This also identifies any types of gaps in the knowledge base, In qualitative research, the literature review should tie together ideas from various places and provide a flexible framework. This literature review will continue to progress with the collection of more data so it needs to convince the reader that the work in not complete. In action research using literature can help save time on research along with help interpret and explain their findings. Even though this would help with an action research it is not used most times because ideas and beliefs are typically developed by the teacher or researcher within the classroom.

B. Constructing the argument
When constructing the argument one has to state why their research is important. What are the outcomes when certain procedures are followed or not followed? Give the history of previous research studies and their results. Speaking about the magnitude of the research, what is the effected population, and what are the benefits may lead to a better understanding of a topic? Take 1 to 2 articles that support the opposing view so you demonstrate a deep understanding of all the research done on the concept and then let the reader know that this research being done will not support the opposing views but will support your view. In a quantitative study you will want to state a hypothesis: what do you expect to see. It is also important to include why your research should be addressed and what are the potential benefits of your research. A part of this is why did the authors of the studies you have included in your literature review decide to study this topic? This can help strengthen your argument. Also keep in mind that it is essential to address the significance of the study, which should also be in the introduction of the literature review.

IV. Summary
Literature Reviews offer an overview of information available on a specific topic or research question. They support the reasons of why you are conducting your research topic. Previous research may be the same as what you are researching however it is more likely the research may be related to your question in a particular way. There is a need to validate why you are researching what you are. If there is not any previous research that is related in some way then your topic may have to be adjusted to something that is valid. Suter states, " literature reviews are organized logically by topic (not author) and extend beyond mere summaries of prior research and ideas. They analyze complex studies and integrate or synthesize (pull together) diverse findings. Good literature reviews establish a sound rationale and theoretical framework for the problems and leave little doubt about the significance of the proposed study" (408).