Critically Reviewing the Literature

Critically Reviewing the Literature |

| AIM AND INTRODUCTION |

Before any research planning or data collection takes place it is of central importance to ensure that you have adequately reviewed the literature relevant to your research question. The main reasons why you need to do this can be summarised as :

* To gain a full and in-depth understanding of a subject.

* To see if your intended research subject has been done before and avoid duplication.

* To avoid any errors made in similar research.

* To enable you to place your study within its context (ie so that you can show how your research will add to the existing sum of knowledge).

* To provide you with ideas to help you define or amend your own research topic.

* To provide you with information with which to compare and contrast your findings.

Some of the key issues you need to evaluate about an article have usefully been summarised by the American Psychological Association (1983) as follows :

* Is the research question significant and is the work original and important?

* Have the instruments used been demonstrated as reliable and valid?

* Do the outcome measures relate clearly to the variables with which the investigation is concerned?

* Does the research design fully test the hypothesis?

* Are the subjects representative of the population to which generalisations are made?

* Did the researcher observe ethical rules?

* Has the research reached such a stage that publication is justified and the results are meaningful?

| EVALUATION CRITERIA |

To some extent your ability to review articles is something that requires practice and experience. However, the process can be aided by following a checklist of things to look out for and comparing the paper under review to the criteria. In its simplest form Bradford Hill (1965) cited by Hawkins (1985) suggested the following key questions should be asked about each section of a paper :

Introduction...