Literature Review

A significant proportion of a dissertation (normally chapter 2) is comprised of what is commonly known as a literature review. There are three key stages in conducting a literature review

A literature review must not be confused with background information which is often included in the introductory chapter of any dissertation. Background information only serves to describe the larger context within which the research is located and its broad relevance. Neither must a literature review be confused with the secondary information that is often used in the analysis chapter to support or validate your argument. A literature review is therefore distinct in that it reviews key published writing on a particular subject with the view to establishing where the dissertation is likely to add-value.

The phrase "literature review" is used in relation to a number of iterative activities

The iterative nature of these activities makes it difficult to isolate the reading from the writing phase. However, it is possible to elaborate what each of these activities entail. The first was covered in week 4 and is summarised below. The other two, are the subject of this week (week 5).

A literature review should not be confused with an annotated bibliography. The latter is a summary of works in a given subject arranged alphabetically by surname of first author. In other words, an annotated bibliography is an expanded bibliography that reviews each work on its own.

Box 1

Barro, Robert (1989) "A Cross-Country Study of Growth, Saving and Government". National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 2855. Cambridge, Mass.

In this working paper, Robert Barro addresses government policies and their effects on a country's economic performance. The study he undertakes is an empirical investigation of the growth experiences of a number of countries in the post-World War II period. It assesses the effects of various kinds of public services and taxation on long-term rates of growth and saving. Barro derives the framework of his study from recent theories of endogenous economic growth.

The paper is divided into four parts. In part I, Barro introduces a model where public services and taxation affect an economy's long-term growth and saving. He considers the effects of public services on private production and household utility, the influences of governmental activities on property rights, and the effects of taxation on private incentives to save and invest. The model, however, neglects population growth, does not distinguish between physical and human capital, and concentrates on steady-state results.

Since population growth appeared to interact closely with the level and growth rate of income as well as with investment in human capital, Barro incorporated these elements into the model using results from existing literature. Measures for these new variables described in part II include time spent raising children, human capital per person, and time spent producing goods. In part III, Barro introduces some transitional dynamics into the model, such as the treatment of human capital as the sum of raw labor and accumulated human capital, and the cost of raising children as including goods as well as time. He finds that increases in per capita income go along with decreases in population growth and increases in the amount invested in each person's human capital.

In part IV, Barro discusses the results of his empirical work. Using data across 72 countries from 1960 to 1985, he analyses the determination of the growth rate of real per capita GDP, the ratio of physical investment expenditure to GDP, the amount of investment in human capital determined by secondary school enrolment rates, and the rate of population growth. Barro's strategy is to consider cross-country differences in the context of changes in the level of income as an economy moves from a low level toward steady-state per capita growth. The results show that some aspects of government services affect growth and investment as predicted by the theoretical models. Specifically, public consumption spending is systematically inversely related to growth and investment, and public investment tends to be positively correlated with growth and private investment. There was a strong negative interaction between population growth and investment in human capital which indicates the trade-off between the quantity and quality of children. Although Barro considers these findings to be preliminary, he concludes with the hope that his research will result in greater understanding of the factors that influence long-term economic growth, and the government's role in this process.

Bates, Robert (1996). "Institutions as Investments", Harvard Institute for International Development, Development Discussion Paper 527, Harvard.

By applying the logic of the "new institutionalism", Bates' essay focuses on how the desire for investment, capital formation, and growth motivate the creation of non-market institutions. He argues that the reforms that accompanied the recession and debt crisis of the 1980s represents attempts to restructure domestic political institutions in a way that will secure readmission to international capital markets. Bates first explores the problem of time consistency and the implications of the solutions for the creation of non-market institutions. He then discusses the implications of his analysis for the reform of political institutions.

The problem of time consistency stems from the uncertainty of future rewards for present sacrifices. The risks include those of non-performance as well as opportunistic actions by the parties involved. Bates discusses several solutions to these problems by illustrating the results of previous studies. For example, one study of long-distance trade in West Africa illustrates how repeated interaction enables the creation of reputations which are highly valued and therefore constitute an incentive for non-opportunistic behaviour. Another study of two villages in Central Africa showed that by joining communities, individuals made themselves vulnerable to social sanctions that would reduce the benefits of opportunistic behaviour.

In addressing the implications of these solutions for non-market institutions, Bates turns to the role of culture and community. He acknowledges, however, that their mechanisms for safeguarding exchanges offer limited reassurances since they rely on repeated interaction and are subject to unequal power relationships. He then moves on to vertical structures (or institutions) which define ownership and elicit private choices that support long-term cooperation.

Bates then builds on existing studies in applying his analysis to the reform of political institutions. One solution to the problem of time consistency explored by Firmin-Sellers and North and Weingast involves the creation of a corporate body or legislature. A later argument brought forth by Soskice, Bates, and Epstein suggests that governments are more far-sighted in their decision-making when the incentives for junior and senior members are linked. Underlying the arguments of some other scholars is a belief that strengthening the private market is done at the expense of the state. However, as Bates concludes, the benefits from capital markets can be obtained by forging effective political institutions and thereby indicating the desire to invest.

and so on .... for each piece of literature that is annotated

Feldman, T R and Assaf, S (1999), Social Capital: Conceptual Frameworks and Empirical Evidence - An Annotated Bibliography, Social Capital Initiative Working Paper 5, Social Capital Initiative, Washington DC: World Bank.

To view the entire document visit http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/scapital/wkrppr/sciwp5.pdf

An annotated bibliography falls between conventional note-taking and summary note-taking.

In the session on literature searches, the topic of note taking was covered. However, given the argument made earlier about the difficulty in disaggregating the activity of note-taking, developing a structure for the review and the writing of the review, the notes on note-taking are repeated here. However, it would be helpful if you watch the Power Point presentation linked to the literature search detailed map.

Reading must result in note taking since note taking is the best way of recapitulating what has been read.

Traditional note taking mirrors the line of thinking in the piece of literature being read. As a result, notes become a summary of the literature.

Such problems are often not the result of the extent of reading but how the notes from reading have been organised. There are two forms of note-taking: summary notes and extensive notes.

It might be useful to also consider a form for taking summary notes since its aim is to enable the reviewer to put these notes together in a meaningful way. It is common to find student reviewers having no difficulty in note-taking but facing considerable difficulty when it comes to putting these notes together to form a review. I would argue that it is the note- taking form which is the cause of the problem. Provided on Page 4 is a sample form that I have designed. This form should typically not be more than one page in length and at the most two pages. If not, the note-taking might as well be extensive. Use one form for each piece of literature.

Reference Details	Author(s) Year of Publication Title of Article or Chapter in Edited Book Title of Journal or Book Volume and Issue Number (Journals) Place of Publication (Books) Publisher (Books) Page Numbers (Journal and Edited Book Articles) Source (Classification Number and Library Location) With EndNote you can enter all this information in and create fields called issues \| arguments \| Conclusions. This will ensure easy storage and retrieval of information.
1. Main Issues	Note the main issues here. When you come to developing the structure for the literature review, the main issues will form your main themes.
2. Main Arguments	Note the main arguments by issue here. When you come to developing the structure for the literature review, the main arguments will form the sub-themes of under the main themes.
3. Main Conclusions	Note the main conclusions by issue here. When you come to developing the structure for the literature review, the main conclusions will provide support for the sub-themes of under the main themes.

It will take some time before you are able to fill in a form like this straightaway. Start by working your notes into this form and gradually develop the ability to fill it in directly from the reading.

Summary note taking

In the summary note form, the focus is on the main issues addressed and the arguments put forward. In comparison, extensive note taking involves making detailed notes of the various issues and arguments that have been raised and the supporting evidence provided. Dunleavy (1988:28) comments that in reading, one needs to get away from

focusing too single-mindedly on what the authors are trying to say, and instead focus on what you are trying to get out of a source (emphasis added).

In this context, the summary note form provides the best way of maximising the extraction of information in the initial reading stage. The summarised notes form the basis for the construction of a literature review framework for either integrated or theoretical reviews.

Once a framework is in place, it will need `fleshing up'. At this stage, extensive note taking becomes vital. However, in re-reading the literature at this stage, extensive notes can easily and directly be integrated into the framework. This method also provides the reviewer with a focus during the extensive reading stage and ensures that unnecessary detail is not incorporated into the review.

The extent to which a research question is doable is not just related to the extent to which the question or issue has been precisely defined. It is also to do with access to information, time, the word limit of the dissertation and the complexity of the research question.

The summary note-taking form comes into use when you are ready to begin the process of isolating the main issues (themes), and the main arguments (sub-themes). If you follow this system, you should be able to see the links between the iterative reading, note-taking and issue extraction activities.

In sum, think of the literature review as story telling. You are telling a story, where the main arguments and positions held be different people are put together in order to locate your research question. The manner in which the themes are positioned - on their own or in relations to theoretical perspectives - are discussed next.

There are two basic types of literature reviews - issue-based and conceptual-based. The former maps issues and their relationship with one another, its main feature being that it does not analyse issues in relation to theoretical approaches. The latter, considers issues within theoretical approaches and are thus able to use existing conceptualisations as support.

Recall the exercise that we did when the four participants presented how they had structured their notes. This was possible because they had identified themes from the two readings that you were all asked to do.

The benefits of clustering your themes into some kind of framework has a number of advantages.

The example below is indicative of a subject area being organised by theme. The central issue being explored in this example is Corporate Social Responsibility - CSR. At this point in time, there is no focused research question. All this mapping is enabling you to do is identify the main issues or areas of concern within CSR - namely:

This is commonly known as an issue based literature review structure. The issues are not ordered according to a conceptual or theoretical framework

When looking at the diagram you will notice that the sub-theme - sustainability - has not been linked to any theme. There may be times when you are unsure of where a theme should link to. It does not matter. Make note of the sub-theme and establish a link later.

Mapping of this kind is iterative - reading, note-taking, clustering. It has the potential to grow organically and this is of great benefit when beginning research as it allows you to explore the subject without constraint. The more you read the more you are likely to add new main-themes and sub-themes as the example below demonstrates.

The new sub-themes that have been added are not shaded and the red-lines are new links that have been made. However, you must exercise judgement and caution as to how much time you spend exploring a topic or issue. Remember the two main constraints - time and the number of words.

But the map still remains issue based and if the writing of the literature review begins on this basis will result in an issue based literature review.

In the example below, the themes (issues) are clustered within 3 main conceptual positions - the Post-modern position, the Post-Marxist position and the Environmental position. In organising the themes (issues) by conceptual position, the map locates issues within and under concepts. The benefits of this are that your argument resides within and is supported by the conceptual position that you feel provides the most appropriate explanation.

For example, power is a concept that could have different meaning when used by each of the three theoretical positions set out above. A post-modern position may conceptualise power as a zero sum game, the post-Marxist position as one of institutional arrangements and the environmental position as not a zero-sum game. In this example, and when discussing power using any one of these positions, you do not have to go into great detail in explaining how power is conceptualised as this has already been done. You could therefore focus your attention on expanding the conceptualisation or adding empirical information.

The partial example below is drawn from Chapter 2 of M S Grindle and J W Thomas (1991), Public Choices and Policy Change, Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. Try and fill in the issues and relations under the state centred approach.

Once again, the benefits of locating issues within conceptual positions increase the power of explanation. Finally, remember that when answering a research question that is located within a conceptual position you are not only adding empirical value but also conceptual value.

At a Master's degree level, assessors normally expect the use of a conceptual framework. Ensure that the conceptual framework is not simply a peg to hang your argument on - in other words, there is little or no relationship between the conceptual framework and the argument.

You have chosen to view the literature review component. Whether or not this is your starting point, it would be beneficial to note the backward and forward linkages with other components.	Backward links
		The literature review is closely linked to the literature search in so far as it sets out the key debates concerning your research issue.
		The literature review must relate to your research issue and not be simply a historical overview of existing arguments on the subject.
	Forward links
		The principle aim of the literature review is to locate your research question. This should be borne in mind at all times.
To proceed, either scroll down this page or choose any sub-component from the detailed map (bottom-left frame).		A literature review that is structured along conceptual lines makes it easier to criticise conceptual frameworks that you reject as well as justify the one that you wish to adopt.

Reading and note-taking were the subject of the lecture in week 4 when the literature search was discussed. The key points to note are
			Speed read in order to gain a wide understanding of your topic area or issue.
			As you read, ask yourself 3 key questions: (1) What do I already know (2) what am I looking for in the source (3) what is new or interesting in the source
			Avoid detailed note-taking as far as possible. Remember, at this stage, detailed note taking without knowing how you are going to use the information could result in a lot of wasted time, not to mention paper.
			If you are finding it difficult to avoid detailed note-taking, extract from your detailed notes, the main issues, arguments and conclusions with the help of the summary note taking form.


			Try and get your notes into the summary note taking form
			If you are unable to do this straight away, transfer your notes into the summary note taking form before reading any further
			Do not wait until you have read a lot. Begin isolating main themes and sub-themes.
			Start mapping the themes and sub-themes
			Look out for conceptual or theoretical positions in the literature you are reading
			In the early stages of reading the literature do not worry about focusing. Consult you map and to see what needs exploring further.

			Systemic reading meaning to search and read in a systematic manner. The use of a range of search facilities (libraries, social science citation indexes etc) are of relevance here.
			Existing writing taken to mean published work. Be aware of the quality control issues that pertain to some internet sources.
			Particular topic taken to mean the topic that you would like to explore in your dissertation.

			Survey and report on a reasonably large or complex field. The question that is often asked is how large should this field of work. As this will depend o the particular dissertation topic, no single size can be stipulated. It is important to note that quality matters and not quantity. It is important that key literature sources are consulted and reported on.
			Developing some themes. This involves the identification of main themes in the summary note-taking form and clustering them into groups by issue and within it by groups that hold particular points of view.
			Make the review distinctive. This is best illustrated by an example. If two people are given the same 10 pieces of literature, their reviews will be distinctive (not the same) because they would have reviewed the literature in relation to a specific research concern - in other words, in relation to their research question.

			Does not develop any distinctive themes
			Does not integrate the various literatures reviewed
			Is not a literature review.

			A common problem when required to write is where to start ?
			A common conclusion is that not enough is known.
			A common perceived solution is that more reading is required.

	� Sunil Kumar 2001-
	Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science