Literature Reviews Lecture Full Video

Summary

This video script delves into the significance and process of conducting literature reviews in data science. It underscores the importance of clarifying research aims, forming theoretical frameworks, and contributing to research design. The script outlines key steps including information retrieval, source evaluation, critical analysis, and synthesis into a structured discourse. It also emphasizes the need for ongoing literature review to refine research questions and objectives, providing a comprehensive guide for researchers to navigate the literature review process effectively.

Takeaways

• 🔍 **Clarify Research Aims**: Literature reviews help to clarify research aims and provide depth and breadth to subject knowledge.
• 🏗️ **Form Theoretical Frameworks**: They assist in forming theoretical frameworks for empirical investigations.
• 🔍 **Information Seeking and Retrieval**: The process involves searching and retrieving information efficiently using various methods.
• 📚 **Evaluate Sources**: It's crucial to evaluate sources based on criteria like authority, scope, and purpose.
• 🧐 **Critical Analysis**: Systematically analyze and examine the content of the literature.
• 🔗 **Synthesize Concepts**: Synthesize various concepts and evidence into a structured piece of prose.
• 🔑 **Define Search Objectives**: Clearly state research questions and determine why information is needed.
• 🔑 **Identify Keywords**: Analyze and identify keywords, phrases, and subject categories for effective searching.
• 📈 **Evaluate Quality of Sources**: Assess the quality of sources by considering the authority and credibility of the creators.
• 📝 **Critical Analysis Components**: Understand components of an academic argument, such as claims, reasons, evidence, and qualifiers.
• 🔄 **Continuous Process**: Literature review is an ongoing process that evolves with the project's lifespan.

Q & A

Why are literature reviews important in data science research?

Literature reviews are important as they help clarify research aims, provide depth and breadth to subject knowledge, form theoretical frameworks for empirical investigations, and contribute to research design.

What are the key components of the literature review process?

The key components include information seeking and retrieval, evaluation, critical analysis, and synthesis.

How does one begin formulating a research strategy for a literature review?

One should start by formulating a research question or allowing the question to guide the initial search, and then define the search objectives clearly.

What are tertiary sources and why are they important in literature review?

Tertiary sources are bibliographies of bibliographies that help identify secondary sources like bibliographies, indexes, and abstracts, which are crucial for leading to primary sources for the review.

How should one approach the evaluation of sources retrieved during a literature review?

One should examine the quality of the sources based on criteria such as authority, scope, and purpose, considering the author's credibility, the publisher's reputation, and the rigor of the review process.

What does critical analysis involve when reviewing literature?

Critical analysis involves examining and analyzing the content systematically, establishing the background and justification for work, and deconstructing arguments to assess their robustness.

How can one effectively mark up and annotate a text during a literature review?

One can use underlining for claims, square brackets for reasons, asterisks or stars for evidence, and boxing for qualifiers. Highlighters and color coding can also be utilized for better visual distinction.

What is the purpose of synthesizing research in a literature review?

The purpose is to formulate a theoretical framework for one's own investigation, drawing on literature from multiple disciplines and identifying gaps in knowledge.

How should the introduction of a literature review be structured?

The introduction should include a clear statement of purpose, outlining the scope and coverage of the review, and providing reasons for the choices made during the review process.

What is the role of the conclusion in a literature review?

The conclusion should provide a clear and concise summary of the argument based on the evidence provided in the discussion, and it should end with a statement of any remaining research questions.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Introduction to Literature Reviews

This paragraph introduces the concept of literature reviews in data science, emphasizing their importance for clarifying research aims, providing depth and breadth to subject knowledge, forming theoretical frameworks, and contributing to research design. The literature review process is outlined in several parts: information seeking and retrieval, evaluation, critical analysis, and research synthesis. Information seeking and retrieval involve searching for and obtaining useful literature efficiently, while evaluation requires judging the source based on criteria such as the source itself, the author, and the subject. Critical analysis involves systematic examination of the literature's content, and research synthesis is the ability to combine various concepts and evidence into a structured piece of prose.

05:01

🔎 Deep Dive into Information Search and Retrieval

The paragraph delves deeper into the information search and retrieval aspect of literature reviews. It highlights the importance of being familiar with tertiary sources like bibliographies to identify secondary sources such as indexes and abstracts, which in turn lead to primary sources. The process of formulating a research strategy is discussed, starting with a research question or framework to guide the initial search. The literature review's role in refining the research question as the researcher becomes more knowledgeable is acknowledged. The paragraph also covers defining search objectives, organizing subjects into topic groups, identifying keywords and synonyms, and maintaining a comprehensive list of search terms. The importance of recording sources, search terms, and maintaining a log for future reference is emphasized to avoid redundancy and to build upon previous research.

10:02

📚 Evaluation of Retrieved Information

This section focuses on the evaluation of the information retrieved during the literature review. It discusses the importance of examining the quality of sources, including refereed journals and books, and using criteria such as authority, scope, and purpose to assess the information's reliability. Authority involves considering the creators' credibility, affiliations, and the publisher's reputation. Scope refers to the clarity of the work's aims, objectives, and methods, while purpose considers why the work was produced and its intended audience. The paragraph also touches on the importance of critical analysis, which involves understanding the components of an academic argument, such as claims, reasons, evidence, and qualifiers, and how to deconstruct and construct arguments effectively.

15:02

🧠 Critical Analysis and Argument Construction

The paragraph discusses the process of critical analysis and constructing academic arguments. It emphasizes the need to identify the claim, reason, evidence, and qualifiers in a text to understand and evaluate an author's argument. The paragraph explains that a claim is the core of an argument, supported by reasons and evidence. It also highlights the importance of value judgments, which are subjective and must align with the reader's values for the argument to be persuasive. The paragraph advises on how to critically assess evidence, whether empirical or qualitative, and the significance of qualifiers in claims. It suggests marking up texts to identify components of arguments and using a framework for note-taking to facilitate the synthesis of research into a theoretical framework for one's own investigation.

20:03

📈 Synthesizing Research and Formulating Theoretical Frameworks

This paragraph discusses the synthesis of research and the formulation of theoretical frameworks. It explains that after analyzing individual items, researchers can create a theoretical framework that draws on literature from multiple disciplines. The paragraph also addresses the importance of extending the boundaries of one's review to introduce new concepts. It highlights how the literature review informs the state of knowledge and provides insights into methodologies, which can be used to design one's own investigation. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the need to return to the purpose of the review, establish context, demonstrate knowledge, identify gaps, and develop conceptual bridges for empirical investigation. It outlines the structure of a literature review, including the introduction, methodology, discussion, conclusion, and references, and suggests applying critical analysis techniques to one's own work to ensure robustness.

🌟 Continuous Nature of Literature Review

The final paragraph emphasizes the continuous nature of the literature review process throughout the lifespan of a project. It suggests that as new relevant works are found, they should be incorporated into the theoretical framework. The paragraph also outlines the progression from a research idea to framing research questions, aims, objectives, or hypotheses based on the literature review. It encourages viewers to engage with the content through comments, subscriptions, and likes, and signals the end of the presentation with a farewell.

Keywords

💡Literature Review

A literature review is a comprehensive analysis of previously conducted research on a specific topic. It serves to clarify research aims, provide depth and breadth to subject knowledge, form theoretical frameworks, and contribute to research design. In the script, the literature review process is discussed as a multi-step endeavor, including information seeking, evaluation, critical analysis, and synthesis, which are all essential for formulating a robust research question and understanding the existing body of knowledge.

💡Information Seeking and Retrieval

Information seeking and retrieval refers to the ability to search appropriate sources and scan the literature efficiently. This process is crucial for identifying and obtaining a set of useful articles, chapters, and books. The script emphasizes the importance of being familiar with tertiary sources, such as bibliographies, to identify secondary sources like indexes and abstracts, which ultimately lead to primary sources for the review.

💡Evaluation

Evaluation in the context of a literature review involves judging the quality of sources based on several criteria, including the source itself, the author, and the subject matter. The script mentions that one should examine the authority, scope, and purpose of the sources, considering the author's credibility, the publisher's reputation, and whether the source has been peer-reviewed or cited by reputable authors.

💡Critical Analysis

Critical analysis is the systematic examination and analysis of the content of the literature. It is about deconstructing arguments to establish their robustness and using the same techniques to construct one's own arguments. The script provides an in-depth look at how to break down an academic argument into claims, reasons, evidence, and qualifiers, which is essential for understanding and formulating a strong research argument.

💡Synthesis

Synthesis in a literature review is the process of combining various concepts and evidence found into a structured piece of discursive prose. This synthesis provides context and background on the topic area and is a key part of the literature review process. The script describes how synthesis helps in forming a theoretical framework for one's own investigation by drawing on literature from multiple disciplines.

💡Research Question

A research question is a specific inquiry that guides a research project. The script suggests that the literature review should allow researchers to formulate their research questions more precisely, as the review process often leads to a shift in focus and a deepening of knowledge about the research topic.

💡Theoretical Framework

A theoretical framework is a structure that provides an analytical or conceptual approach within which a research question can be answered. The script discusses how the literature review helps in forming theoretical frameworks for empirical investigations by synthesizing various strands of literature that provide necessary background, identifiers, and methodologies.

💡Empirical Investigation

Empirical investigation refers to the systematic and observable study of a particular phenomenon. The script mentions that the literature review contributes to the research design by informing the state of knowledge on a subject and providing insights into methodologies, which can be used to design one's own empirical investigation.

💡Methodology

Methodology in research refers to the methods, procedures, and rules used in the performance of research. The script highlights that the literature review can provide insights into research methodologies by examining how previous studies were conducted, which can inform and justify the design of one's own research.

💡Gap in Knowledge

A gap in knowledge refers to areas where existing research is incomplete or where further investigation is needed. The script emphasizes the importance of identifying these gaps in the literature review, as they justify the need for new research and help contextualize the research within the existing body of knowledge.

💡Annotation

Annotation in the context of a literature review is the act of marking up a text to highlight and organize key elements of an argument. The script suggests annotating claims, reasons, evidence, and qualifiers to better understand and critique the text. This practice aids in the critical analysis and synthesis of the literature.

Highlights

Literature reviews help clarify research aims and provide depth and breadth to subject knowledge.

They form theoretical frameworks for empirical investigations and contribute to research design.

The literature review process includes information seeking, evaluation, critical analysis, and synthesis.

Information seeking involves searching appropriate sources and retrieving useful literature efficiently.

Evaluation is the ability to judge a source based on criteria such as the source, author, and subject.

Critical analysis involves systematic examination and analysis of the literature's content.

Synthesis is the ability to combine various concepts and evidence into a structured piece of prose.

Tertiary sources like bibliographies help identify secondary sources such as indexes and abstracts.

Formulate a research strategy starting with a research question or framework.

Define search objectives and boundaries, and identify keywords and phrases for the search.

Maintain a record of useful sources and an ongoing log of the search process.

Evaluation of sources involves examining their authority, scope, purpose, and quality.

Critical analysis of an academic argument includes identifying claims, reasons, evidence, and qualifiers.

Synthesizing research involves formulating a theoretical framework for one's own investigation.

The literature review informs the state of knowledge and provides insights concerning methodology.

The review process is continuous and should be updated with each relevant piece of work found.

The literature review should establish context, demonstrate knowledge, and identify gaps in the published literature.

The review consists of an introduction, methodology, discussion, conclusion, and references.

The introduction should state the purpose and scope of the review, while the methodology may describe the review process.

The discussion is the main body where individual concepts are used to synthesize findings and present arguments.

The conclusion restates the argument based on the evidence provided and may highlight remaining research questions.

References should be thorough and accurately represent the literature review's scope.

Transcripts

welcome back everyone to data science

for everyone today we're going to be

talking about literature reviews let's

get started

so to start off let's kind of talk about

why we actually do literature reviews in

the first place so we want to clarify

our own research aims we want to provide

uh depth and breadth of the subject

knowledge material

we want to form theoretical frameworks

for our own empirical investigations and

we want to contribute to our research

design

now the literature review process has uh

several uh parts to it okay first we

have information seeking and retrieval

and this is the ability to search

appropriate sources and scan the

literature efficiently using manual or

online methods to identify and obtain a

set of useful articles chapters and

books

second we have evaluation

the ability to judge a source based on a

number of criteria including the source

itself

the author

and the subject

critical analysis the ability to examine

and analyze the content of the

literature systematically

research sense that the synthesis the

ability to synthesize the various

concepts and evidence

you have found into a structured piece

of discursive prose that provides

context and background on your topic

area

information search and retrieval now

let's get a little bit more in depth

into what information search and

retrieval is

so when we're planning a search on any

topic area

it is important for us to be familiar

with the tertiary sources so the

bibliographies of the bibliographies

and which we will

help to identify the secondary sources

such as other bibliographies index and

abstracts

this will be very useful when you will

want to

lead to our primary sources for our

review

so we want to formulate a strategy for

our research

and this is to begin a very

uh easy framework a research question

maybe or even allow the question to

guide uh your initial search

now we need to remember that the

literature review is there to allow us

to formulate

our research question more precisely

it is highly probable that

we're becoming increasingly more

knowledgeable uh the the more focus that

we have on our research and our research

focus definitely and most likely will

shift as we go through the literature

let's define the search and define our

search objectives so state clearly the

research question or questions that you

have

determining why information is needed

and how it will ultimately be used

this will help you to formulate

boundaries to your search and may also

suggest the appropriate search

systems

these topics

are a starting point but the researchers

objectives may change as the search

progresses

once you have organized your subject

into topic groups you can then go on to

analyze the keywords within that group

to make sure that you are using the best

possible search terms

identify keywords phrases and subject

categories to be used in the

search we need to identify all the

possible ways to describe the topic

groups we need to note synonyms

distinctive terms and alternate

spellings

a com comprehensive list of all search

terms should be maintained and recorded

the success and value of each

in order to avoid unnecessary repetition

when the first useful items are

identified you must examine

them for their other keywords and

concepts that were not predetermined and

carry out a subsequent search to ensure

that all of these items

and terms are located

identify and record sources to be

accessed and searching for information

so we need to maintain a full record

error as much as possible of useful

sources we also need to maintain an

ongoing log of the search recordings of

the bibliographic sources search terms

that we may have

used and that we find useful

it is useful to keep a log of our

current search which can also be stored

and referred to in subsequent searches

and subsequent research

reinventing the wheel is never a great

idea and we usually don't have time so

we need to keep a log is always going to

be useful to us and also use some sort

of dedicated software

evaluation

once you have carried out the search it

is important that you pause and examine

the information that you have retrieved

if you have restricted yourself to refer

refereed journals

books and so forth this may not

necessarily be a problem but it does

cause some issues

examine the quality of the sources that

you have also identified

there are a number of criteria that we

must use to evaluate the quality of the

information that we have retrieved we

need to look at the authority

scope and purpose

the authority

consider the authority of the creators

who actually made that document and

in order to appraise their reliability

of the information

consider aspects such as the author's

previous research their stature what

organization they're affiliated with

their political stance their credibility

and their reputation amongst their peers

publishers are given uh and cons and

publishers

should be given consideration when uh

they have a reputation of producing

authoritative or high quality

publications usually these are the top

journals in the field as well as other

more um breakout journals

journal articles are often peer-reviewed

before publication but this is not

always the case and we should make sure

to check

the information of the editorial policy

of the journals to determine the rigor

of the review process

it is also worth investigating whether

the source

you have obtained has been cited by

other reputable authors

scope

consider what claims are made by the

authors

of the work

the most reliable pieces of research

should set out clear scope aims and

objectives and the methods by which the

data was collected

any works which failed to set out such

information should again be regarded

with caution

purpose

think about why a work was produced and

the reason uh that was given for the

indication of its reliability if the

work was produced at convenient

to convenience uh to convince buyers of

a value of information resource it is uh

not necessarily uh useful for the

objective and the independent assessment

of the value of the resource

critical analysis

every item that we read

should inform us about our argument we

should establish the background to and

justification for our work

we need to demonstrate

and

how to deconstruct an argument in order

to establish the robustness of that

argument the same technique can be

applied in reverse when we are wanting

to construct our own arguments

critical analysis an academic argument

should have a number of components first

we need a claim and then second we need

a reason any argument should consist of

a claim or a conclusion and a reason or

an interpretation of the data and

evidence the data itself

to support that claim and any

qualifications of the claim in order to

analyze an argument of the author

we must

read the piece and identify all of these

components

a claim a claim is the essence of an

argument it is a conclusion that the

writer intends to demonstrate by

applying all other components of the

argument in support of that claim a

claim should be simple

before believing any claims

we must

um

know a few things

uh you would need to know

the reason someone had uh for making the

claim what evidence is provided to

support that claim

and how far does the claim go and

specifically are there any qualifiers

it is not difficult to

spot a claim it is often in the title or

the opening paragraph once you know the

writer's claim establish how that claim

is supported

the reason now there are three questions

to ask when we are trying to establish

the value of a reason

now these reasons a writer gives for

making a claim are the building blocks

of any argument

reasons comprise the second level of an

argument without the first level the

claim cannot stand

the argument should

the argument should

cease to be effective without any robust

reason

which is usually the writer's

interpretation of the evidence or the

data

so a couple questions that we need to

look at is

is the reason relevant to the claim it

supports

so in order to be relevant to the claim

there has to be a very clear link

between the claim and the reasons for

making it second

is uh the reason effective so if a

reason is to be effective it must relate

to the value you can believe in or agree

with

three is the value invoked by the reason

likely to be universal or selective the

value judgments are nearly always

subjective this means that the value

judgment of the writer has to agree with

the value judgment of the reader

it's always a good idea to restate the

value

being appealed to as clearly as possible

in your own terms

evidence so when evidence comes in the

form of empirical research data we must

ask ourselves

if that data is credible where are the

statistics gathered from a reliable

source and is there a way to verify it

if we are given qualitative data in the

form of opinions the same questions need

to be asked

where was the data collected how is it

collected and how did the researcher

interpret it

readers are

unlikely to accept a claim based solely

on the reasons given by the author we

would expect the author to support their

reasons the most holistic or critical uh

to an audience is the stronger the

evidence must be

it must be accurate credible and given

in sufficient quantity to convince the

reader that the author's knowledge

able

qualifiers there are two types of claims

the unqualified claim and the qualified

claim

when we're reading an article look for

the qualifiers the

their words such like usually many most

often and a few by far the most common

of the are qualified claims

whether

made by a book critic or a research

student or a practitioner shares the

results of their investigation the

majority of the claims or conclusions

are qualified in some way or another

this is by no means going to lessen the

value of that claim

in

if anything it

makes it more reliable because the

research has acknowledged the potential

limitations of the work

conclusions draw conclusions formulate

an argument and provide framework for

synthesis

once you have analyzed the text

you can then draw your own conclusions

from the work and begin to formulate

your own arguments your review will

ultimately provide a synthesis of the

articles research reports or reviews

that you have

analyzed your conclusions will provide

the framework for that synthesis this

exercise is also very useful

when writing up your own work

if your writing can stand up to the same

level of critical analysis that you can

have

subjected to your own chosen review

items

then you can feel confident that you

have presented a robust argument

marking up the text so when you're

reading through an article it's always

helpful to annotate the text as you go

in order to establish which part of the

article does what it

what in terms of the overall argument a

claim is identified and you can use this

by underlining the text a reason is

identified by utilizing square brackets

evidence in the is identified

by usually utilizing asterisks or stars

qualifiers can be identified by

encircling them with a box now again all

of these are just suggestions you can

make up your own marking so that they uh

make more sense to you i highly

recommend utilizing highlighters and

color coding them as it's uh much

better for your eyes

so evaluation uh and critical analysis

framework so as we can see here we have

a a nice framework here we have the full

citation the scope purpose and method

the claims qualifiers evidence and

reasons this is going to give us a nice

way to kind of read through the text and

make

um and keep the notes as we go along

so after we've read through a text it is

going to be useful for us to separate

out our notes that we've just marked up

and you should also keep a reference of

the

source and this this template that we

show here provides a nice structure for

making notes after reading an article or

paper

this framework should be used for each

separate item that you are reviewing the

number of rows in the second half of

this template are no indication of how

many rows you actually may need

that's all going to depend

on the

item itself

synthesizing research

so once each item has been analyzed

or the analysis progresses uh

you are in a position to formulate a

theoretical framework for your own

investigation of course this framework

would have been growing each additional

item was analyzed

innovative frameworks usually draw on

literature from more than one core

discipline of study and it is often

necessary to extend the boundaries of

your own review in order to introduce

new concepts here we see

various strands of the literature that

provide the necessary background of

identifiers

the gaps in the knowledge that exist

these various strands are linked

together to provide a framework that

covers all the aspects seen as a

relevant initialized question

information and informed methodologies

the literature review informs you of the

state of knowledge of the subject and

provides you with the insight concerning

that methodology

it is uh natural to conduct a review of

subject-specific literature and apply

this framework to establish the

theoretical framework of your research

for some point of view of the subject

this is potentially a waste of valuable

information the literature review

not only informs you of the state of

knowledge of the subject but it also

provides you with insights concerning

methodology

when any research is presented in a

published form there will be inevitably

uh be a description

of the research design applied to that

study

use this to assist you in designing your

own investigation extracting ideas of

how not to do it as well as ideas of how

to do it in formal research reports this

will be written up as a

separate section discussing only

methodology but your discoveries from

the critical analysis can be applied

against

to discuss and justify your own research

design although research methods and

texts are written as a guide

to

a research activity you should also

learn from the experience of the

researchers and use their designs to

inform yours

the review

return

to your purpose we need to establish

context demonstrate knowledge and

identify gaps so before we begin writing

our review we must return to our own

purpose

when we are writing a literature review

to establish the context of our own

research we need to also demonstrate our

knowledge of our chosen topic and to

identify any gaps that may exist in the

published literature essentially this

means that we're justifying the need for

and contextualizing our research

we also

need to develop

our own conceptual bridges and start to

point out

the empirical investigation that we are

going to undertake

the review will consist of the following

sections the introduction the

methodology

the discussion the conclusion and the

references

now the introduction

should

include a clear statement of our purpose

outlining the scope and coverage of our

review so that our reader knows what to

expect

and understands the reason for any

apparent omissions

go back to the earliest sections where

we were discussing how to establish the

scope of our literature research

provide our readers with

uh the reasons for our choices that we

uh made at this point this is going to

be the opening section and it will

say that we have uh reviewed it and why

the methodology will uh we may want to

let our readers know

how we engaged in the review process

this is not always included in a review

it depends on the nature of the report

that we're going to be presenting

the discussion is the main body of the

review where we discuss the collection

of items reviewed and put forward our

own argument

it is

it is likely that

we will want to arrange this discussion

under headings that reflect the

individual concepts

we have used to synthesize our findings

in order to check that we have written

an

evaluative and critical review that is

robust why not apply the critical

analysis technique to our own work at

this point

conclusion

this is uh your closing statement there

should be nothing new here as

you have already provided your argument

this is clear and concise statement of

the argument based on the evidence that

you provided in the discussion and the

conclusion should end with the statement

of

the problem or research questions that

will still remain after all

you already know

that has been investigated the

references

the reference the referencing for a

literature review should be a

very high standard the list of

references is

as a as much a part of the review as it

is for dis uh the discussion and should

be treated as such

the summary

the literature review process is the

continuous one uh throughout the

lifespan of any project there will be a

point in which

our individual critical analysis of

items will be synthesized

but we

should not stop there

well we must add to the review each time

that we find and locate out a relevant

piece of work that has a place in our

theoretical framework

what well we will begin with is an idea

of our research a particular curiosity

that needs to be formalized and placed

within the current knowledge surrounding

that idea

from our review

we can then move on to the next stage in

the research process framing

our research question aims and

objectives or hypothesis based on what

we have discovered within the published

literature

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