Why Common Literature Review Approach Could Fail

CHAPTER 13

EXPEDITING CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW

Doing fast yet exhaustive literature documentation

13.1 Introduction

This chapter describes the recommended attitude and approach to rigorous literature review which the E.A.G.L.E. technique takes. The author would like to provide reasons why some common approach to conducting literature review may cause more confusions and make literature survey redundant to researchers. The chapter presents how the initial research problem could guide researchers in developing a theoretical framework for his or her whole thesis.

13.2 Why Common Literature Review Approach Could Fail

Conducting literature review is one of the two items feared by novice researchers. For someone who is a professionally-trained person, conducting a rigourous literature review in a conventional research methodology process may lead to more confusing. Being trained problem-solvers, educated professionals tend to become frustrated easily when the findings could not be concluded without a broad understanding of the existing available literature. The literature review issue will be compounded further when the PhD students have worked in the field for many years before pursuing a doctoral degree. The idea for finding exhaustive solution by a professional

Firstly, “Since I have to read hundreds of them, I don’t want to read them again”. Secondly, “There are so many new words that I have never ever used in my life and I have no idea what I am reading”. Actually, these two fear factors had urged the author to do what everyone else was doing: do proper summary of the reading material and use the dictionary. The author found these two reactions debilitating because they ended up causing the literature review process longer and if not managed well, a panic attack can be expected. Here, the author elaborates on the two big DON’Ts in the E.A.G.L.E.