The pattern of 'steps' in reviewing studies

There is a recurring pattern of ‘steps’ that often repeat themselves in individual paragraphs in a literature review:

introducing several studies (often as a group) that focus on a specific aspect of research on the topic – ‘opening’ statement
discussing these studies’ overall contribution to research (often in the form of summative statements relating to the whole group of studies) (optional)
introducing individual studies, with a focus on theoretical assertions and/or main findings (optional)
commenting on (= giving an interpretation of or explaining) what the findings mean in relation to the current study
making connections to other related studies (by comparing and contrasting ideas/findings)
critiquing the findings of individual studies or whole groups of studies as failing to address specific points of inquiry in the present study (optional).

Example:

Here is a two-paragraph extract from a literature review in the field of economics. Italicized are passages that introduce a specific aspect of the research as addressed by a group of studies. Which of the steps above can you identify?

Can Foreign Aid Free the Press?

¹… Similarly, another strand of literature examines the ability of foreign aid to influence economic institutions. ²The main idea explored here is can aid ‘buy’ economic freedom? ³Conceptually, foreign aid may positively influence economic freedom through direct monetary transfers, conditionality, and the transfer of knowledge. ⁴However, foreign aid can degrade economic institutional quality by expanding the role of the state, promoting government over private investments, and propping up inefficient regimes.

⁵Empirical studies find conflicting evidence. ⁶Several conclude that aid does not increase economic freedom and may decrease it (Heckelman & Knack, 2009; Knack, 2001; Young & Sheehan, 2014). ⁷Bearce and Tirone (2010) show that aid has no effect on economic freedom before the 1990s but has a positive effect after the Cold War. ⁸Dreher and Rupprecht (2007) and Knedlik and Kronthaler (2007) focus on changes in economic freedom and find that International Monetary Fund involvement reduces economic freedom. ⁹Boockmann and Dreher (2003) document that the number of World Bank projects increases economic freedom. ¹⁰Dutta and Williamson (2015) attempt to shed light on this ambiguity. ¹¹They find that aid may improve economic freedom when given to wealthier, economically free, and mature democracies. ¹²This suggests that aid responds differently depending on the macroeconomic and institutional context.

Source: Dutta, N., & Williamson, C. R. (2016). Can foreign aid free the press? Journal of Institutional Economics, FirstView, 1–19. doi: 10.1017/S1744137415000557

Task 1

Task 2

Distinguishing between LR steps

Read the extracts (1 to 3) from literature reviews to research articles in the fields of economics, marketing, and language learning. Match the extracts to the paragraph steps by dragging them into the spaces. More than one extract can be matched to a step.

Text 1 (Source: Dutta, N., & Williamson, C. R. (2016). Can foreign aid free the press? Journal of Institutional Economics, FirstView, 1–19.)

Dutta and Williamson (2015) attempt to shed light on this ambiguity. They find that aid may improve economic freedom when given to wealthier, economically free, and mature democracies.

… Similarly, another strand of literature examines the ability of foreign aid to influence economic institutions.

Dreher and Rupprecht (2007) and Knedlik and Kronthaler (2007) focus on changes in economic freedom and find that International Monetary Fund involvement reduces economic freedom.

Several studies conclude that aid does not increase economic freedom and may decrease it (Heckelman & Knack, 2009; Knack, 2001; Young & Sheehan, 2014).

Bearce and Tirone (2010) show that aid has no effect on economic freedom before the 1990s but has a positive effect after the Cold War.

This suggests that aid responds differently depending on the macroeconomic and institutional context.

The main idea explored here is can aid ‘buy’ economic freedom? Conceptually, foreign aid may positively influence economic freedom through direct monetary transfers, conditionality, and the transfer of knowledge. However, foreign aid can degrade economic institutional quality by expanding the role of the state, promoting government over private investments, and propping up inefficient regimes.

Introducing studies as a group

Reporting findings from a group of studies

Interpreting findings from a group of studies

Reporting findings of individual studies

Interpreting findings of individual studies

Note: Every hint in group field should be enclosed with curly braces.

Text 2 (Source: Loughborough University. (2016). New products introduction into foreign markets: Empirical investigation of an optimal entry strategy. Retrieved May 20, 2016, from http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/sbe/research/phd-mphil/researchstudentproposals/)

Yet, these studies include only one market/ country, i.e., the domestic country, and therefore do not indicate how first-mover advantages translate into an international context (Lieberman & Montgomery, 1998).

A number of studies have been found that focus on strategic issues, such as introduction timing of a new product (Bayus, Jain, & Rao, 1997; Golder & Tellis, 1993; Krider & Weinberg, 1998; Shankar, 1999).

A study by Mascarenhas (1997), however, does investigate first-mover advantages in an international context. It examines entries by 187 firms into 68 international markets for four offshore drilling products over an 18-year period (1966-1984), and finds that a first entry (before other foreign entrants) results in higher long-term international market share and survival.

The major conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that first-mover advantages also hold in international markets—a conclusion that is confirmed in a study by Pan, Li, and Tse (1999). However, not much can be concluded about the optimal timing and sequence of entering multiple foreign markets or the factors that influence these decisions.

These studies generally focus on whether one should be an early or a late entrant in a particular market (pioneer versus follower), and how the decisions of competing firms influence this timing decision …

Introducing studies as a group

Outlining the studies’ key findings and/or contribution to research

Highlighting the studies’ limitations

Reporting findings of individual studies

Interpreting findings of individual studies

Note: Every hint in group field should be enclosed with curly braces.

Text 3 (Source: Dovey, T. (2010). Facilitating writing from sources: A focus on both process and product. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 9, 45–60.)

Although Kwan's previous work focused on the LR as genre (Kwan, 2006), she makes no mention of genre, concluding that ‘students need to be shown how reading, writing and research develop in reality and more importantly, how they constrain each other’ (2008, p. 52).

Three recent papers, not written from an EAP [English for Academic Purposes] genre perspective, focus on the processes involved in helping students to negotiate the reading-writing nexus, and are perhaps a sign of a growing interest in this area.

Delaney (2008) takes a constructivist position on reading-writing, according to which ‘meaning construction occurs by means of three key textual operations: organizing, selecting, and connecting’ (p. 141).

Delaney's (2008) research indicates that in summary writing the activity of meaning construction—what she calls the ‘reading-writing construct’—is a ‘unique construct’ only ‘weakly associated with reading for comprehension and disassociated from writing without background reading support’ (p. 140).

Coming from a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) perspective, Hood (2008) tracks the changes that realise textual, ideational, and interpersonal meanings in the transformation of source text into summary.

Like Kwan (2008) Delaney argues for an ‘integrated pedagogy of reading and writing’ (2008, p. 148). This supports earlier work by Barks and Watts (2001), who argue, similarly, that the ‘artificial separation’ (p. 251) between the teaching of reading and writing leads to students being unprepared for reading-into-writing tasks…

Kwan (2008) tracks the complex recursive processes involved in thesis writing.

Introducing studies as a group

Reporting findings of individual studies

Interpreting findings of individual studies

Note: Every hint in group field should be enclosed with curly braces.

Text reconstruction

Read the extracts (1 to 3) from several literature reviews to research articles in the fields of education, language learning, and economics. The sentences in each extract are not presented in the correct order. Put the jumbled sentences in the correct order based on the plan below. Drag the sentences around in the box.

Text 1 (Source: Liu, O., Bridgeman, B., & Adler, R. (2012). Measuring learning outcomes in higher education: Motivation matters. Educational Researcher, 41(9), 352-362.)

1. Introducing studies as a group (opening statement)
2. Outlining the studies’ key findings and/or contribution to research
3. Reporting findings of these studies

Some of the common practices include increasing the stakes of the tests by telling students that their scores contribute to their course grades (Sundre, 1999; Wolf & Smith, 1995), providing extra monetary compensation for higher performance (Baumert & Demmrich, 2001; Braun, Kirsch, & Yamamoto, 2011; O'Neil, Abedi, Miyoshi, & Mastergeorge, 2005), and providing feedback after the test (Baumert & Demmrich, 2001; Wise, 2004).

Furthermore, Baumert and Demmrich (2001) showed that despite the intuitive appeal of providing feedback, it does not appear to have an impact on either student motivation or their test performance.

For instance, through a meta-analysis of random assignment experiments, the Duckworth et al. (2011) study found that providing extra payment for performance increased test scores by an average of .64 standard deviations.

Realizing the important impact of motivation on test results, researchers have explored ways to enhance student motivation to maximize their effort in taking low-stakes tests.

Note: Every hint in group field should be enclosed with curly braces.

Text 2 (Source: Locke, T., & Johnston, M. (2016). Developing an individual and collective self-efficacy scale for the teaching of writing in high schools. Academic Writing, 28, 1-14.)

1. Identifying a topic as a focus of research
2. Reporting findings of individual studies
5. Intepreting the findings of individual studies

There is a range of discourses of writing to be found in the literature.

The rhetorical approach to the writing process outlined in this study should be thought of as multi-discursive, in that it draws on a range of discourses in the construction of the model, which emphasizes the way writing functions as a socially constructed practice.

Ivaniˇc (2004), for example, distinguishes between “a skills discourse”, “a creativity discourse”, “a process discourse”, “a genre discourse”, “a social practices discourse” and “asociopolitical discourse” (p. 225). Locke (2015) distinguishes between cultural heritage, personal growth, rhetorical/textualcompetence and critical practice discourses of writing.

Note: Every hint in group field should be enclosed with curly braces.

Text 3 (Source: Beyer, R., & Smets, F. (2015). Labour market adjustments and migration in Europe and the United States: how different? Economic Policy, 643–682.)

1. Identifying a topic as a focus of research
2. Highlighting the limitations of past research on the topic
3. Introducing more recent studies as a group
4. Reporting findings of individual studies
5. Highlighting the limitations of individual studies

The importance of labour migration in facilitating adjustment to asymmetric shocks in a monetary union has been recognized at least since the seminal research on optimal currency areas of Mundell (1961).

The empirical analysis of migration in this research has, however, been hampered by the lack of reliable data.

Recently, an increasing number of papers have started to analyse migration patterns directly.

Molloy et al. (2011) analyse changes in the United States over the last 30 years and detect a widespread decline in movements across all distances and across all population sub-groups. Frey (2009) shows that in 2007 migration rates in the United States reached their lowest value since World War II and that the decline was strongest for interstate migration.

Reasons for the decline in mobility remain, however, unclear.

Note: Every hint in group field should be enclosed with curly braces.