NURSING RESEARCH CHAPTER 2 CONCEPTUAL DATA-BASED

LITERATURE REPORT
Review of Related Literature &
Studies
Published articles, Published
Literature Review documents, quantitative
chapters in book. and
qualitative
• Is an organized critique of the important Literature studies
scholarly literature that supports a study and a reviews of
key step in the research process. concepts.
Unpublished
• Is useful in developing the researcher’s Proceedings and studies
understanding and background and is particularly audiotapes and
essential when the researcher is not completely videotapes from
familiar with studies previously done within the scholarly
problem area. conferences.
Unpublished
• The review should be organized into sections that Web-based research abstract
or entire studies
present themes or identify trends. The purpose is online from print, audio,
not to list all material published but instead, the
review of literature should synthesize and
articles and online,
evaluate it based on the focus of the study. information conferences etc
from
A literature review must do these things: professional
organization
1. Be organized around and related directly to the
thesis or research question you are developing s and
2. Synthesize results into a summary of what is and agencies.
is not known
3. Synthesize results into a summary of what is and
is not known
4. Formulate questions that need further research

A. Conceptual (Theoretical ) Literature and

Data- based (Research) Reports

Conceptual (Theoretical) Literature B. Primary and Secondary Sources

• Includes concept analysis, models, theories and
conceptual frameworks that support a selected
research problem and purpose.
• Can be articles that comprise an author’s theory
or it can be a discussion of a particular concepts,
theory or topic.
• Theoretical sources can be found in periodicals
and monographs.
Data – Based (Research) Reports
• Consists of reports of research and
includes published studies in journals
or book, critique reviews, professional
and government reports and
unpublished studies.
Primary Sources
• A source written by a person who originated or is
responsible for generating the ideas published.
• This is the person who conducted the study,
developed the theory or prepared the scholarly
discussion on the concept, topic, issue and
problem.
• Can be published or unpublished
• A primary data-research source is written by a
person who conducted the research while a
primary conceptual source is written by the
theorist who developed the theory or conceptual
content.
Secondary Sources
• This is someone other than the original author
who writes or present the author’s original work.
The material is usually in the form of a summary
or critique of someone else’s scholarly work.
• Can be published or unpublished
 • A secondary source often represents a response to
or a summary or critique of a theorist’s or
researcher’s works.
Purpose of Literature Review
Major Goal:
The major goal of a literature review is to develop a strong
knowledge base to carry out research and other scholarly
education and clinical practice activities. A review of the
literature also dies the following:
• Determines what is known and unknown about a
subject, concept or problem.
• Determine gaps, consistencies and inconstancies
in the literature about a subject, concept or
problem.
• Uncovers research findings that support
evidence-based practice.
• Discover conceptual traditions used to examine
problems.
• Uncovers a new practice interventions or gains
supporting evidence for current intervention,
protocols and policies.
• Promotes evidence-based revision and
development of new practice protocols, policies
etc. related to nursing practice.
• Generates useful research question and
hypotheses
• Determine an appropriate research design,
methodology and analysis for answering the
research question or hypotheses.
• Determines the need for replication of a study or
refinement of a study.
• Synthesis the strengths and weaknesses and
findings of available studies on a topic / problem.
Quantitative Research Qualitative Research
Is conducted to direct Use of literature review
the planning and for a particular approach:
implementation of a study.
Phenomenological
- Compare and combine
findings from the study with
the lit. to determine current
knowledge of a
phenomenon.
Grounded theory
- Explain, support and
extend the theory generated
in the study.
Ethnographic
- Provide a background for
conducting the study.
Performing a Literature Review
A. Using the Library
B. Identifying Relevant Research Studies
* Researchers should be aware that before they begin
searching the literature, they should consider exactly what
information they are looking for.
a. Selecting Databases to Search
b. Selecting Key Words
Keywords are the major concepts or variables of
a research problem or topic. These terms will be
what the researcher will enter to begin a search.
C. Locating Relevant Literature
• Limiting the Search
• Selecting Search Fields
• Searching Electric Journal
• Search the World Wide Web
An advantage of information found from the
Web is that it is likely to be more current
than materials found in the books.
The disadvantage is that information is
uneven in terms of accuracy and validity of
the sources.
Reading and Critiquing Sources
A. Skimming Sources
• Is quickly reviewing a source to gain a broad
overview of its content.
• Skimming allows researchers to make
preliminary judgment about the value of a source
and determine whether it is a primary or
secondary.
B. Comprehending Sources
• Comprehending a source requires one to read the
whole article carefully.
 Focus on understanding major concepts and the
logical flow of ideas within the source.
 Highlights the content that is considered
important.
 Practice writing notes that indicate whether the
information from the source will be used in
developing a research proposal.
• Record quotations that can be used in a review of
literature section.
C. Analyzing Sources
• Determining the value of a source for particular
study is done through analysis.
• There are two stage in analyzing sources:
• The first stage involves the critiquing
of individual studies wherein the relevant
content in the source is clearly identified and
 sources are sorted into refined system of
categories.
• The second stage involves making
comparisons between studies, which allows
the researchers to critique the existing body
of knowledge in relation to the research
problem.

D. Synthesizing Sources
• Involves clarifying the meaning obtained from
the source as a whole.
• Clustering and interrelating ideas from several
sources to form a gestalt are done through
synthesis.