Literature Review
Identify and Describe Research Problem
Description
State why the problem you address is important. Result: What did you observe and what is the data basis for the findings? Discussion: What are the findings, what is the basis for the findings, could I come to the same findings and how do the results contribute to the theory? Conclusions: What did you learn and what does your work contribute to the field? [1]
Further Readings
[1] Myers, M. D. (2009). “Qualitative Research in Business and Management”, SAGE Publications: Auckland, New Zealand.
[2] Bhattacherjee, A. (2012). "Social Science Research: Principles, Methods, and Practices", Textbooks Collection. 3. Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/oa_textbooks/3
[3] Perneger, T. V. & Hudelson, P. M. (2004). “Writing a research article: advice to beginners”, International Journal for Quality in Health Care: Vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 191-192.
Identify Literature Streams
Description
Body of scientific knowledge: Summarize what we are currently focusing on [4] and what we know about the phenomenon. [5] Evaluate what could be transferred from other contexts. Highlight clearly what we currently don’t know (the gap in the literature).
Further Readings
[4] Bhattacherjee, A. (2012). "Social Science Research: Principles, Methods, and Practices", Textbooks Collection. 3. Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/oa_textbooks/3
[5] Suddaby, R. (2010). "Editor's Comments: Construct Clarity in Theories of Management and Organization", Academy of Management Review, Vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 346-357.
[6] Hengel, T., & Gloud, M. (2002). "Rules of Thumb for Writing Research Articles", International Institute of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC): Arnhem, Netherlands. Available at: https://webapps.itc.utwente.nl/librarywww/papers/hengl_rules.pdf
[7] Hengel, T., & Gloud, M. (2012), "The Unofficial Guide for Authors: From Research Design to Publication", Publications of the European Communities: Luxemburg.
[8] Tischler, E. (2009). "Scientific Writing Booklet", Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics: University of Arizona.
[9] Webster, J., & Watson, T. W. (2002). "Analyzing the Past to Prepare for the Future: Writing a Literature Review", MIS Quarterly: Vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 13-23.
Select Databases/Repositories
Description
Most literature of high quality you can find in one of the listed databases. You can access the databases easily when you are logged in via VPN or with your Uni-account e.g. Shibboleth. [10]
Databases:
- EBSCOhost
- Science Direct
- ACM Portal
- Emerald Insight
- Springer Link
- JSTOR
- Wiley
- AIS Electronic Library
- IEEE XPlore
- Informs
- ProQuest
Further Readings
[10] Bhattacherjee, A. (2012). "Social Science Research: Principles, Methods, and Practices", Textbooks Collection. 3. Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/oa_textbooks/3
[11] Rankings for Outlet Selection
[12] IS Senior Scholars’ Basket of six / eight
Define Search String
Description
A search string is a combination of characters and words.
Outlets: Select your outlets and justify your selection. journals, conferences, books scientific outlets only, whitepapers, press materials, etc. Timeframe: Identify decisive milestones in publications. Select a reasonable timeframe you can manage. Use seminal papers (e.g. reviews) to identify phases. Keywords: Words and phrases selected; and synonyms thereof. Account for different schools of thought. Be advised of connectors and their appropriate use.
Further Readings
- Exclusion criteria [13]
- Outlets in detail [13]
[13] Maedche, A. (2018). “Online Course: Design-Oriented Research in Information Systems (DORIS)”, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology: Karlsruhe.
Perform Forward/Backward Search
Description
- Select leading journals as they report significant contributions (but also look outside the field).
- Go backward by reviewing the citations for the articles identified in step 1
- Go forward by identifying articles citing the key articles identified in the previous two steps. [14]
Further Readings
[14] Webster, J., & Watson, T. W. (2002). "Analyzing the Past to Prepare for the Future: Writing a Literature Review", MIS Quarterly: Vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 13-23.
Perform Literature Analysis
Goal: Identify any gaps in current research in order to suggest areas for further investigation.
Basic strategies: Meta studies Literature review (systematic literature review and traditional or narrative literature review)
Benefits: facilitates theory development by aggregating knowledge synthesizes areas in which a plethora of research exists creates a firm foundation for advancing knowledge
Further Readings
[15] Kitchenham, B. et al. (2009). "Systematic literature reviews in software engineering – A systematic literature review", Information and Software Technology: Vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 7-15.
[16] Müller-Bloch, C., & Kranz, J. (2015). "A Framework for Rigorously Identifying Research Gaps in Qualitative Literature Reviews", 36th International Conference on Information Systems, Fort Worth.
[17] Boell, S. K., & Cecez-Kecmanovic, D. (2014). "A Hermeneutic Approach for Conducting Literature Reviews and Literature Searches," Communications of the Association for Information Systems: Vol. 34, Article 12. Available at: https://doi.org/10.17705/1CAIS.03412
[18] Brocke, J. et al. (2009). "Reconstructing the Giant: On the Importance of Rigour in Documenting the Literature Search Process", 17th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), Verona, Italy.
[19] Webster, J., & Watson, T. W. (2002). "Analyzing the Past to Prepare for the Future: Writing a Literature Review", MIS Quarterly: Vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 13-23.
[20] Fink, A., Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper, Thousand Oaks (CA), SAGE Publications Inc., 2014.
Write up Results
Description
Results
General:
Report on collected data (response rates, etc.). Describe participants (demographic, clinical condition, etc.). Present key findings with respect to the central research question. Present secondary findings (secondary outcomes, subgroup analyses, etc.).
Briefly:
What did you observe and what is the data basis for the findings? However, do not interpret or theoretically integrate findings yet!
Discussion
General:
Refer to main indings of your study. Discuss how findings adress your research question. Discuss main findings with reference to previous research. Discuss why results are new and how the findingd contribute to the body of knowledge.
Briefly:
What are the findings, what is the basis for the findings, could I come to the same findings and how do the results contribute to theory? However, do not judge or explain implications yet!
Conclusions
General:
Present scientific and practical implications of results. Outline the limitations of the study. Offer perspectives for future work.
Briefly:
What did you learn and what does your work contribute to the field?
Further Readings
[21] Perneger, T. V. & Hudelson, P. M. (2004). “Writing a research article: advice to beginners”, International Journal for Quality in Health Care: Vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 191-192.