types of literature reviews

types of literature reviews

Exploring the Different Types of Literature Reviews

1. Introduction to Literature Reviews

The literature review is part of the context or background of an investigation project. It is a study of literature on the selected area. It provides an overview of the literature and studies of the selected area. It identifies and assesses the main evidence or knowledge in the area. It describes the literature informing the project or investigation. The literature review avoids duplicating the work of others. It evaluates previous research and takes it forward. It outlines the existing problems in the area. The literature review identifies the different methodologies and technologies used by other researchers. It draws evidence and ideas from a wide range of sources. It provides a basis for other research. The findings or results of the literature review may inform or underpin the development of evidence-based recommendations or guidelines. The literature review is clear and explained.

The literature review is frequently debated. Contributors to a literature review debate the purpose, the necessity, the origin, the features, and the characteristics of literature reviews. Some researchers argue that a review of the literature is a summary of research evidence. It should be done when undertaking an investigation or project. Other researchers define a literature review as careful and systematic study, critical evaluation, and synthesis of studies in a science and technology area. A literature review should provide a scholarly context. The process of the literature review provides a clear understanding.

2. Narrative Literature Review

While a systematic literature review would have a specific research question, this is not usually the case with narrative literature reviews. There is no selection of criteria, and this approach is more subjective. The findings are also less definitive. A narrative literature review’s focus is on providing you with some initial knowledge. It should allow the reader to understand what research has been done in a particular area and what has been achieved. This type of review is also a crucial part of allowing you to discover what continued interest can be expected in the same subject. A narrative literature review is bound to provide you with references to the most important work that has been done in a specific area.

A narrative literature review is the type first mentioned in a textbook on research that is likely to be available in your own discipline area. It describes the literature in a particular area and is not confined to summarizing or referencing individual work. It gives an overview of what is there, sets these studies in their context, mentions some critics, and then moves on to discuss aspects that need further investigation. Narrative literature reviews form part of many research proposals. Some research proposals, on the other hand, support a narrative literature review, and these are what we are discussing here under the heading “Types of review.”

3. Systematic Literature Review

The goal of a systematic review is to integrate existing research by identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing high-quality scientific evidence from the published literature on a particular research question. A comprehensive literature review is conducted by systematically searching, identifying and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of existing research. The systematic review includes consideration of the study’s problem and the development of a protocol for systematically synthesizing the existing body of literature. A systematic review includes the rigorous identification of resources and meticulous scrutiny of relevant resources. The essence of the systematic review is the encapsulation of the best available evidence. In the case of the systematic review, the absence of high-quality evidence suggests that a systematic review of research is the most informative method of answering the research question.

The systematic literature review follows a systematic and transparent approach to compare and contrast pre-existing research. Systematic reviews are often used to answer research questions and to inform evidence-based decision making. It is developed in collaboration with a panel of experts in the relevant field. The systematic review aims to optimize the relevance, specificity, sensitivity, transparency, and reliability of the search through the use of an explicit and systematic literature search approach. In order to provide transparency and to link the review back to the relevant areas of the scientific literature, it includes the completion of a research plan that is pre-specified within a protocol paper. The majority of systematic reviews are based on data from evidence from randomized controlled trials or data from peer-reviewed literature.

Aivelina Andug, University of the Philippines Diliman

4. Meta-Analysis Literature Review

Meta-analysis is widely used in medical and clinical trials where the treatments require small sample sizes. A meta-analysis is carried out when there are workshop researches with findings that consist of worked researches. This is a golden technique that provides comprehensive access to a variety of scholars. The rest of the literature review was performed to select articles, journals, and research institutions in conducting a meta-analysis of their studies. The target popular sample is the United States, which for this sample is very common in the outcome of financial use, followed by the United Kingdom. The result also shows that schools of finance are much more frequently applied to the United States, followed by Europe, then Asia.

A meta-analysis is a quantitative statistical analysis that looks at the entire body of empirical evidence. More specifically, it is a study design in which the three types of literature reviews are combined. Meta-analysis is usually used to resolve increased efficiency of variance to increase sample size, examine the magnitude of effects, test the directions of relationships, demonstrate overall supported and unsupported hypotheses, and present empirical cross-sectional relationships in a time series. The meta-analysis study somewhat resembles data mining because it requires many interesting facts and procedures that are unique. The existing literature can go out to a number of small sample size studies, giving the limitation of peer review, selective reporting of results, and publication bias in meta-analysis research, which may result in potentially shifting its analytic findings.

5. Scoping Literature Review

The scoping review method is utilized and requires searching multiple types of sources for resources on theories and various areas that have not yet been extensively studied. The scoping review is one technique for summarizing the research evidence. A systematic review is a more complex and exhaustive form of literature review. A systematic review involves evaluating the studies in depth, while scoping only involves mapping the existent literature. The main research will have conceptual work of a number of authors, and the development work will provide a more complete overview of a particular field, meaning it is substantial enough to direct further research. The conclusion of the scoping review can reveal numerous research gaps and opportunities, suggest practical involvement, and also identify some substantial connections that the audience can use to link to the recent study.

A scoping review is a relatively new form of knowledge synthesis in which research strengths are assessed, weaknesses examined, and gaps identified. This process, according to the guidelines, is called mapping meaning. The review will continue to become progressively more systematic and transparent as scoping review methodology evolves, leading ultimately to a more valid and reliable conclusion. The following paper discusses when a scoping review is appropriate, and the four major tasks involved are identifying the research question, determining the methodology, conducting the review, and reporting the results. The main objectives are to determine the possible scope of a review, the potential size, and findings.