Conducting Conducting Literature ReviewLiterature Review

A very brief overviewA very brief overview

About Me– Dr. Merza Abbas– Assoc. Prof.– Chairman of Graduate Studies,

Centre for Instructional Technology & Multimedia

– merza@usm.my, drmerza@yahoo.com

Achievement?

• Best Thesis/Dissertation Awards– USM : Ibrahim Jbeili (2004)– META: Hamidah Maidinsah (2004)

Tumpang syok sahaja

Ibrahim’s Award

Why do a master degree?• To do a better job

– To teach better: more effectively, more efficiently, more productively, etc…

– To improve the quality of learning• To move to better jobs• Because it is exciting, challenging,

etc…– Because it’s there

Why do a master degree?• To do a PHD, to be a researcher• To acquire “constructive” knowledge

as well as “destructive” knowledge• To learn to deconstruct and/or

reconstruct knowledge (how do you know what you know is correct?)

• No real applications except for a PHD or in a research environment

What is a graduate program?

Diploma

Bachelor

Grad. Dip/Prof. exams

Master

PHD

Skills: Accept w/o question

Critical review of theories:Accept when “proven”

More skills & theories: Accept w/o question

Skills & theories: Accept w/o question

Critical review of paradigms:Accept when irrefutable

Paradigm

Theory

Model

Practice

Structureof

Academic thinking

PRESCRIPTIVE

Res.

DESCRIPTIVE

Res.

Structure of Scientific Revolution (Kuhn,

1970)

Paradigm

Anomalies New Paradigm

Normal Science

NewNormal Science

Another newParadigmMore Anomalies

Master programs

Doctoral Programs

Objectivist ParadigmTheory Focus: Mastery of content/skills

Behaviourist through conditioning and use of extrinsic

“motivational”processesCybernetic through accumulation of sub-

skills and sub-procedures

Cognitive through activation of mental processes such as schemas, strategies, & metacognition

Mental processes are predictable:External factors

can changeinternal processes

Constructivist Paradigm

Theory Focus: reasoning skills & science process skills

Mental Developmen

t

through inquiry and solving real-life problems

Humanist through meaningful & purposeful learning

Social learning

through scaffolding, cooperative/collaborative

learning,

Mental processes are not predictable:

Knowledge is private &is personallyconstructed

What is a thesis/dissertation?

• Report of a scholarly investigation– Proof of theory-practice mastery– Genuine & Original thought/argument

• Document to pass a sentence– Verify/fine-tune theories, models, practice– Reject/Debunk paradigms, theories,

models

What is in a thesis/dissertation?

• Chapter 1: Introduction– Problem Statement– Research Questions– Hypotheses, etc

• Chapter 2: Literature Review• Chapter 3: Research Methodology• Chapter 4: Results / Data Analysis• Chapter 5: Discussion & Conclusions

Describe nature accurately

Sense & state causal question

Recognize & state Alt. H & Theories

Generate logical predictions

Plan & conduct controlled expt.

Organize & analyze expt. data

Draw & apply reasonable conclusions

Skills for Research & Thesis Writing

Dari Lawson (1995)

Literature Review• What is it?• What is it for?• Where do we start?• How do we do it?

– Quantitative research– Qualitative research

• How do we know we’ve done a good job?• Worked example(s)

Literature Review: M.Ed. Evaluation Form

• Perkaitan Sumber yang disoroti dengan masalah kajian.

• Terdapat teori/model untuk menyokong masalah kajian.

• Sumber yang disoroti adalah terkini dan mencakupi skop kajian.

What is it? • High quality overview

– Clarity, Flow, Relevance, Recency, Empirical focus, Independence

• With technically accurate citations and references– List all articles cited in text,– Cite all articles listed in reference– Use the APA standard.

What is it for?

• Support for ideas in Chapter 1• Elaboration of ideas in Chapter 1• Reference for discussion and

conclusions in Chapter 5– Must be thorough, exhaustive, & up-

to-date

Where do we start?• Choose a paradigm• Problem Statement (3-5 pages: tentative

cause & effect statements)– Problems = anomalies – Choose a suitable theory/model– Identify Independent Variables (IV)– Identify Dependent Variables (DV)– Identify Moderator Variables (MV)

• Write clear Research Questions – How will the IVs affect the DVs among the MVs?– Develop the Hypotheses

• Derive a Title from the Research Questions• Tip: RQ = Summary of Problem Statement

Information Processing Model

MotivationExecutive Control

Long Term

Memory

Short Term/Working Memory

SensoryRegisterSenses

Muscles

ENVIRONMENT

ResponseGenerator

Learning: process of Encoding and decoding

Stimuli/Knowledge items into meaningful structures

using various cognitivestrategies

New Information causes disequilibrium

Piaget’s theory • Learning:

process of resolving cognitive conflicts Assimilation

ExistingSchema in equilibrium

Accomodation

New Schemain equilibrium

Self-regulation

How do we do it? • Expand from the Title

– Expand concepts to content outline– Use cause and effect structure

• Expand from the Research Questions• Expand from the Problem Statement• Take note of the

– Academic Pecking Order– Sources of Knowledge– Who else has done this, in what paradigm, with what

subjects, & with what results: go to ASKERIC, Google, etc.• Tip: Hypotheses are summaries for Lit. Review.

The Academic Pecking OrderInnovators

Developers

Reporters

Students

No name dropping,paddingPlease!

Sources of Knowledge

• Experience• Authority• Deductive Reasoning• Inductive Reasoning• Scientific Thinking/Research

(Empirical studies)

Concludes witha new theory

DeductiveReasoning

InductiveReasoning

Forms tentative hypotheses

to test

Detects patterns &

forms

Begins withspecific

observations

Confirms original theory

Collects data/ observations

to test H’thesis

forms hypotheses

to test

Begins with a theory that explains an

event

ScientificThinking

Dari Sopiah Abdullah (2004)

How do you know you’ve done a good

job? • Does the review support every

hypothesis?• Does the review support Chapter 5?• Up-to-date, thorough, exhaustive,

original?• Can be turned into a book / a

monograph?

Tuckman’s (1999) criteria

• Context• Magnitude (number of references)• How empirical & up-to-date• Connectedness to the problem• Well-organized? • Establish significance?• Convincing argument?

Let’s try an example• Paradigm• Variables• Research Questions• Title• Literature Review Outline

How to improve learning?

Thank youThank you