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Literature Reviews

A good way to begin the topic selection process is to start with a general orientation into an issue or subject of interest. From there, you can narrow it down into a more specific research question on which to base your literature review.

Things to think about when choosing a topic:

  1. Pick an area of interest or experience or where you know there is a need for more research
  2. Start with a “what” or “why” question and expand. (“What is ____ and why is it significant for ____?”)
  3. If you have previous experience in a field, think about a current problem in that workplace or environment. For example, a teacher may wish to think about an issue like classroom management, or someone in the health sciences may want to think about an issue faced in a clinical or hospital setting.

Once you have a general idea or topic, you can begin thinking about your specific research question. What do you really want to know about this subject?

Other suggestions for choosing a topic:

  • Ask a professor active in research for possible topics, or read departmental information on the research interests of the faculty
  • Read a research paper that interests you and look for what’s missing, incomplete, biased, or inconsistent. You may identify a gap in the literature that you could research. Often, the paper’s background information or literature review will provide insight into the research question that the author sought to address, and the discussion or conclusion sections may offer ideas for further research.
  • Think about papers or projects you enjoyed researching as an undergraduate and choose a topic that reflects those interests.
  • Check out the contents of an annual review journal in your discipline or other journals related to your interests to see what current research is happening in that area and whether there are any new directions you could take it.

What to avoid when choosing a topic:

  • You may wish to avoid topics that are too personal and emotional if they will interfere with your ability to remain an unbiased researcher.
  • Don’t choose an unappealing off-shoot of a professor’s work or something that you are lukewarm about. You will be spending significant time on your literature review, and having little or no interest in your topic will make it difficult to stick with.

Research Question or Hypothesis?

While you are still in the beginning stages of the research process, think about whether your literature review will be in the form of a research question or a hypothesis.

  • A research question should express a relationship between two or more variables, i.e. “how does A affect B?”
    • It should also imply possibilities for empirical testing. Remember that metaphysical questions aren’t measurable and variables that cannot be clearly defined cannot be tested.
  • A hypothesis statement should indicate an expected relationship between variables and it must be testable, i.e. “If A, then B.”  
Research Question Hypothesis
Is A related to B? If A, then B.
How are A and B related to C? If A & B, then C.
How is A related to B under conditions C & D? If A, then B  under conditions C and D.

      

After selecting your topic area and reading literature, you may need to narrow it down to something that can be realistically researched and answered within the scope and timeframe of your project. You can do something as simple as asking yourself who/what/where/when/why questions, or use one of the methods below.

PICO questions can be useful in the health or social sciences. PICO stands for:

  • Patient, Population, or Problem: What are the characteristics of the patient(s) or population, i.e. their ages, genders, or other demographics? What is the situation, disease, etc., that you are interested in?
  • Intervention or Exposure: What do you want to do with the patient, person, or population (i.e. observe, diagnose, treat)?
  • Comparison: What is the alternative to the intervention (i.e. a different drug, a different assignment in a classroom)?
  • Outcome: What are the relevant outcomes (i.e. complications, morbidity, grades)?

SPICE is a particularly useful method in the social sciences. It stands for

  • Setting (e.g. United States)
  • Perspective (e.g. adolescents)
  • Intervention (e.g. text message reminders)
  • Comparisons (e.g. telephone message reminders)
  • Evaluation (e.g. number of homework assignments turned in after text message reminder compared to the number of assignments turned in after a telephone reminder)

Developing a concept or mind map around your topic may help you analyze your question and determine what specifically you want to research. Start with a broad topic or issue and begin writing down any words, phrases, or ideas that come to mind related to that topic. Then draw lines to show connections between them and how they relate to each other. This can help you organize, prioritize, and integrate material into something workable as a research topic.

Attribution

The content of this page was developed from Chapter 3, "How to Get Started", in:

Frederiksen, L., & Phelps, S. F. (2017). Literature reviews for education and nursing graduate students. Rebus Community. https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/literature-reviews-for-education-and-nursing-graduate-students