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Chapter 6

Understanding the Literature Review in Published Studies

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What Is a Literature Review?

Summary of current empirical and theoretical knowledge about particular practice problem that provides a basis for the study conducted

Includes: Description of current knowledge base Gaps in knowledge base Contribution of present study to knowledge base

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Sources Included in a Literature Review

Theoretical literature: concept analyses, theories, and models that support research purpose

Empirical literature: relevant studies Citation: a source quoted by the author Periodical: a journal Monograph: a book or published conference

proceedings Thesis and dissertation: research by master’s

and doctoral degree students

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Types of Sources

Primary sources are written by the person who generated the published ideas. In research, written by the person(s) who

conducted the research In theory, written by the theorist(s) who developed

the theory Secondary sources paraphrase the works of

researchers and theorists.

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Purposes of Literature Review in Quantitative Studies

Direct the development and implementation of a study

Cite relevant and current sources Document background and significance of

study Identify theoretical ideas guiding the building

of a body of knowledge for the selected area of study

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Purpose of Literature Review in Qualitative Studies (cont’d)

Provides a basic understanding of the study problem and evidence that the study conducted was appropriate, based on current knowledge of the problem

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Qualitative Research Methods and the Literature Review

Phenomenological Grounded theory Ethnographic Historical

Compare and combine study findings with literature

Use literature to explain, support, and extend research theory

Literature provides background for research

Literature develops research questions and is source of data

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Guidelines for Literature Review

Includes what is known and not known about the topic

Includes the focus of the study Sources must be current—published within

the past 5 years Landmark studies may be included if

essential to the background of the problem

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Questions Guiding Critique of Literature Review

Are primary sources cited in the review? Are the references current? Are relevant studies identified and described? Are relevant theories identified and

described? Are relevant landmark studies described? Are the studies critiqued?

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Questions Guiding Critique of Literature Review (cont’d)

Are sources paraphrased to promote the flow of content?

Is the current knowledge about the research problem described?

Does literature review identify gap(s) in knowledge base that provides basis for study?

Is the literature review clearly organized, logically developed, and concise?

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Library Sources

Academic libraries—colleges and universities Special libraries—hospitals, Sigma Theta Tau

Center for Nursing Scholarship Interlibrary loan Online search Public libraries

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Selecting Databases

Bibliographic database: compilation of citations Citation: provides information necessary to locate

a reference Full-text database: provides the entire text of

articles for your use Commonly used databases in nursing

CINAHL, Medline, OVID, EBSCOhost, GALE Cengage, and Cambridge Scientific

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Keywords

Major concepts or variables of a research problem or topic used to search a database

May be single terms or phrase Most databases have a thesaurus that can be

used to identify keywords. Each keyword used should be listed in a

written search plan.

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Recording Search Information

Name of database Date of search Exact search strategy used Number of articles found Percentage of relevant articles found This information can be stored in a table.

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Performing Complex Searches

Complex searches combine two or more concepts, synonyms, or keywords in one search using “and.”

Select keywords you have used to perform simple searches.

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Limiting a Search

Some searches will result in thousands of hits.

To reduce number of hits while increasing the relevance of citations, limit: To English language The publication dates to recent years To papers that are research To full-text articles (this can be risky)

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Search Fields

Search fields are the various pieces of information provided about an article by the bibliographical database.

To select search fields in CINAHL, select the Search Fields option at top of the search page.

Of particular importance, selecting “cited reference” will give you full references of all citations included in each article. You may find “treasures” not included in the computer search.

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Electronic Nursing Journals

An increasing number of nursing journals publish only in electronic form.

Expensive to publish and distribute a printed journal Electronic journals targeted to small specialty

audiences These journals have more current information

because articles are published within 3 to 4 months of submission, whereas the time from submission to publication in traditional journals is 1 to 2 years.

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Searching for Electronic Journals

Because they are new, many electronic journals are not yet in bibliographic databases.

Ingenta (www.ingenta.com) is a commercial web site to search online journals from many disciplines.

A list of current electronic nursing journal web sites is available in your text.

You may locate the electronic journal on the Internet and then scan the titles of articles published in the journal.

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Searching the Internet

Search engines provide the means to search the Internet.

Some are better than others. Google Scholar is an excellent search engine.

University libraries provide a list of good search engines.

You may find information on the Internet that is useful to your topic.

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Assessing Web-Based Information

Advantage: information is more current than that found in books

Disadvantage: information is uneven in terms of accuracy

There is no screening process for information put on the Web.

It is important to check the source of any information obtained on the Web to judge its validity.

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Saving Search Results

Save the results of each search on: Computer hard drive Floppy disk Zip file CD

Record the file name of saved search results on the search record.

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Clarifying Evidence for Best Practice through Literature Reviews

Literature reviews can be used to define the state of the science in a given area of practice.

When results are published, these reviews are referred to as integrative reviews of literature.

The purpose is to identify, analyze, and synthesize results from independent studies to determine current knowledge in particular area.

Can use paraphrasing

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Development of Protocol or Critical Pathway

Integrative reviews are used to develop protocols and critical pathways.

This process is often used by nursing committees in health care facilities.

Studies are selected for inclusion based on their quality and relationship to selected practice problems.

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Synthesis of Sources

Compile findings from all selected studies Analyze and interpret clustered findings Specify current state of research-based

knowledge

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Sources of Integrated Reviews

Annual Review of Nursing Research Journal: Evidence-Based Nursing Sigma Theta Tau Online Journal of Nursing

Synthesis The Cochrane Collaboration

(www.cochrane.org) The Agency for Healthcare Research and

Quality (www.ahrq.gov)

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Meta-analyses

Go beyond an integrated review Include statistical analyses Use summative statistical findings from

multiple published studies

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Meta-analyses (cont’d)

Provide a global estimate of such things as mean number of days of hospitalization following particular procedure, or reduction in number of hours in a care unit from a particular nursing intervention

Results of meta-analyses are sometimes referred to as benchmarking.

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Writing a Review of Literature

Purposes Document current knowledge of selected topic Indicate findings ready for use in practice

Outline Introduction Empirical literature Summary

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1. Introduction

Indicates focus or purpose of review Describes organization of sources Indicates basis for ordering:

Most important to least Earliest to most recent Categories

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2. Data-Based Literature

Includes quality studies relevant to topic For each study, purpose, sample, sample

size, design, and specific findings are presented, using paraphrasing rather than direct quotes.

Scholarly, but brief, critique of study’s strengths and weaknesses

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Ethical Issues in Empirical Literature

Content from studies must be presented honestly and not distorted to support selected use project.

Weaknesses of study need to be addressed, but it is not necessary to be highly critical of a researcher’s work.

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Ethical Issues in Empirical Literature (cont’d)

Criticism should focus on content, be related to your project, and be neutral and scholarly rather than negative and blaming.

Sources should be accurately documented.

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3. Summary

Concise presentation of research knowledge about selected topic—what is known and not known

Judgment stating whether there is adequate knowledge to direct change in clinical practice

Brief statement of proposed change in practice