Key Role of Literature Review

You have heard of literature review, but what about "sophisticated" literature review. Boote and Beile (2005) put forward a compelling case to challenge us to look beyond literature review as just a summary of prior research.

The authors report a disparity in the quality of literature reviews in dissertations, which in turn reflects on the quality of the research undertaken. Boote and Beile assert that "good literature review is the basis of both theoretical and methodological sophistication, thereby improving the quality and usefulness of subsequent research" (2005, p. 4).

Using the criteria created by Hart (Hart, 1999 as cited in Boote and Beile, 2005, p. 7), the authors developed "The Literature Review Scoring Rubric" (Boote and Beile, 2005, p. 8) to assist budding doctoral students and researchers undertake a more rigorous literature review. A good literature review  identifies and includes papers of significance. It should also offer insights and background to the research area for example current/emerging trends and historical perspectives in learning technologies and education research, evaluate strengths and weaknesses of methodological approaches and assess the significance of the research.

The challenge ahead is to apply the rubric as I undertake a literature review of my proposed research topic.

Reference

Boote, D. N., & Beile, P. (2005). Scholars Before Researchers: On the Centrality of the Dissertation Literature Review in Research Preparation. Educational Researcher, 34(6), 3-15.