IMPORTANCE OF LITERATURE REVIEW IN DEFINING A PROBLEM

A new research is depends on the past knowledge, and not includes a part of knowledge. A
literature review is an account of what has been published in books, journals and internet
on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers.

In general, the literature review should:

1. Literature review is most important to identify the problem of the study.

It can be solved by collection of data. It is very important to know that
the work is doing by researcher in a research should not be repeated
again (or if it is repeated, that it is marked as a "replication study").
2. It also helps to avoid the mistakes, which already done by another one.
3. A new research is depends on the past knowledge, and not includes a
part of knowledge.
4. It verifies that it has not been already done (outline gaps in previous
research).
5. Literature review is important to judge research question and to provide
latest research material for the readers.
6. Help refine, refocus or even change the topic

Why is a literature review necessary? The literature review performs a number of

important functions:

1. It demonstrates to a research committee that the researcher has read a

large amount of statistical literature to prove that the researcher is
aware of the wide range of research in theory and methodology related
to the proposed research topic.
2. It provides proof to a research committee that the researcher has a deep
understanding of the published statistical research related to the topic of
the dissertation.
3. It should convince the research committee that the researcher can
communicate this understanding of the statistical literature and its
relationship to the proposed research.
4. It should support the originality and relevance for the research problem.
i. This is done by identifying specific gaps in the statistical literature.
That is, the researcher identifies statistical questions that have not
been answered and problems that have not been solved.
ii. By identifying gaps in the statistical literature, the researcher can
justify the originality of the proposed dissertation research. The
originality can be an extension of research that has been published
or a modification of existing methodology or theory that can be
used to perform the research.
 5. In the proposal the student emphasizes or stresses the originality of the
dissertation. Without a good literature review, the researcher cannot
convince the committee that that the proposed research is original.
6. A dissertation may be unacceptable because the researcher does not
clearly show that the research problem is original due to a poor
literature review.
7. Remember: the Literature Review is more than a summary of
publications. It provides evidence that your research will be an original
and relevant contribution to statistics.

After defining a problem, the researcher has to do literature survey connected

with the problem. Literature survey is a collection of research publications, books and
other documents related to the defined problem. It is very essential to know whether
the defined problem has already been solved, status of the problem, techniques that
are useful to investigate the problem and other related details. One can survey

1. The journals which publish abstracts of papers published in various journals,

2. Review articles related to the topic chosen,
3. Journals which publish research articles,
4. Advanced level books on the chosen topic,
5. Proceedings of conferences, workshops, etc.,
6. reprint/preprint collections available with the supervisor and nearby
experts working on the topic chosen and
7. Internet.

Other sources are the Education Index and the Educational Resources
information centers (ERIC). Computer-assisted searchers of literature have become
very common today. They have the advantage of comprehensiveness and speed. They
are also very cost-effective in terms of time and effort although access to some of the
databases requires payment. Irrespective of the sources of the literature, ethics of
research require that the source is acknowledged through a clear system of
referencing.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES

For some research projects you may be required to use primary sources. How can you
identify these?

Primary sources are the surviving original records of a period, eyewitness accounts
and first-published documentation of new information.

Primary Sources

1. A primary source provides direct or firsthand evidence about an event,

object, person, or work of art.
2. Primary sources include historical and legal documents, eyewitness
accounts, and results of experiments, statistical data, pieces of creative
writing, audio and video recordings, speeches, and art objects.
3. Interviews, surveys, fieldwork, and Internet communications via email,
blogs, listservs, and newsgroups are also primary sources.
4. In the natural and social sciences, primary sources are often empirical
studies—research where an experiment was performed or a direct
observation was made.
5. The results of empirical studies are typically found in scholarly articles or
papers delivered at conferences.

Secondary Sources

1. A secondary source is second-hand information.

2. Secondary sources describe, discuss, interpret, comment upon, analyze,
evaluate, summarize, and process primary sources.
3. Secondary source materials can be articles in newspapers or popular
magazines, book or movie reviews, Web pages or articles found in
scholarly journals that discuss or evaluate someone else's original
research.

WEB AS A SOURCE - SEARCHING THE WEB

From past one decade or so the internet became an important source of knowledge
and an effective medium for research. For researchers, it is providing a range of new
opportunities for collecting information, networking, conducting research, collecting
data and disseminating research results.

Electronic mail, e-journal, on-line submission of articles to journals, online focus

groups, online video conferencing and online questionary are some of the latest tools
opened-up by the internet. We note that thousands of books and other print
publications have been made available online. Otherwise, that would be extremely
difficult to locate, including out-of- print books, classic literature and textbooks.

Some of the scientific research information available on the internet is:

Details about various scientific and nonscientific topics.

Titles and other relevant information of article published in various

journals, possibly, from past one decade or so (full article will not be
available).

Preprint of papers submitted by researchers in certain websites.

Information about scientific meetings to be held.

Contact details for other researchers.

Databases of reference material.

Places where one can discuss topics and ask for help.

In general, academic research that has been commercially published is not

freely available on the internet.

Some of the features of conducting research through internet are:

Short time for collecting and recording data.

Data unknown to us can be identified and downloaded.

The possibility of conducting interviews and focus groups by e-mail,

which results in enormous saving in costs and time.

New communities to act as the object of social scientific enquiry.

While the internet contains a virtually-unlimited wealth of information not

found in traditional resources, this abundance also may hinder academic research. The
following are some of the new challenges for the researcher:

Problems of sampling.

Reliability and accuracy of the obtained data information.

The ethics of conducting research into online communities.

Physical access and skills required to use the technologies involved.

 The changed chronology of interaction resulting from asynchronous
communication.

For websites and authors which have little popularity, one must consider the
credentials of the source–if those are available and valid. Even though a website may
be written in a professional or academic manner, the lack of central body to determine
its credibility may be a prohibitive factor for serious research.

Low-cost delivery and return.

Wide potential coverage.

Ease of completion.

Submission and data capture.

Appropriateness to particular populations.

High respondent acceptance for some groups. Potential

difficulties include:

O The paucity of methodological literature.

O Appropriateness to research aims.
O Target population.
O Technical difficulties.
O Sampling and response rates.

IDENTIFYING A GAP IN THE LITERATURE

Once we have found a promising research area of interest, we must identify research
questions that are not only unresolved but whose exploration can meaningfully contribute
to existing theory and/or practice.

In this section, it helps to

i. Learn to identify such promising research questions by avoiding common

beginner's mistakes.
ii. Understanding how to identify a "gap" in the scholarly literature. and
iii. Making sure it is worthwhile to try to fill the gap.
What is a gap in the literature?

A gap in the literature is a research question relevant to a given domain that

has not been answered adequately or at all in existing peer-reviewed scholarship.

A gap in the literature may emerge if…..

1. The question has not been addressed in a given domain, although it may
have been answered in a similar or related area.
2. The question has never been asked before, but it now merits exploration
due to changes in accepted theory, data collection technology, or
culture.
3. The question has been asked and tested in peer-reviewed research, but
the
methods were either of questionable validity or had necessitated limited
applicability of results. Alternatively, a replication study could be run to
verify a published study's results if appropriate.

Why does it matter?

Even if a legitimate gap in the literature exists, it does not necessarily mean that
the research question(s) merits pursuit. To justify to yourself and others the
investment of time and energy into designing and conducting research, you must
ensure the research will likely have valuable practical and/or theoretical implications.

1. Practical implications: Answering the research question could improve

existing practice and/or inform professional decision-making.
2. Theoretical implications: Answering the research question could revise,
build upon, or create theory informing research design and practice.

DEVELOPMENT OF WORKING HYPOTHESES

Researchers do not carry out work without any aim or expectation. Research is
not of doing something and presenting what is done. Every research problem is
undertaken aiming at certain outcomes. That is, before starting actual work such as
performing an experiment or theoretical calculation or numerical analysis, we expect
certain outcomes from the study. The expectations form the hypothesis.

1. After extensive literature survey, researcher should state in clear terms

the working hypothesis or hypotheses. It is the focal point for research
2. The development of working hypothesis plays an important role.
3. Hypothesis should be very specific and limited to the piece of research in
hand because it has to be tested. The role of the hypothesis is to guide
 the researcher by delimiting the area of research and to keep him on the
right track. It sharpens his thinking and focuses attention on the more
important facets of the problem.
The development of working hypotheses can be developed by using the following
approach:

a. Discussions with colleagues and experts about the problem, its origin
and the objectives in seeking a solution;
b. Examination of data and records, if available, concerning the problem for
possible trends, peculiarities and other clues;
c. Review of similar studies in the area or of the studies on similar problems;
and
d. Exploratory personal investigation which involves original field
interviews on a limited scale with interested parties and individuals with
a view to secure greater insight into the practical aspects of the problem.
What are the criteria of a good hypothesis?

1. A hypothesis should have conceptual clarity and a theoretical orientation.

2. It can be tested by investigation.
3. A hypothesis made initially may become incorrect when the data
obtained are analyzed. In this case it has to be revised. It is important to
state the hypothesis of a research problem in a research report.
4. We note that if a hypothesis withstands the experiments and provide the
required facts to make it acceptable, not only to the researchers
performing the experiments but to others doing other experiments then
when sufficiently reinforced by continual verification the hypothesis may
become a theory.