For this preliminary exam, you will continue building on the literature review o

For this preliminary exam, you will continue building on the literature review outline you began in the research methods course last spring semester. Create an 8-10 (double-spaced) page narrative that synthesizes literature relevant to your topic. Organize your response in terms of what is known about the topic, how that knowledge has been produced, and what remains to be known in the literature around your selected research topic. In the first section, discuss the ideas and theories associated with your topic. For example, “Research indicates that involvement with student organizations and clubs positively impact first year students’ transition to campus and sense of belonging (Astin, 1992; Schlossberg, 1984). Use this section to give an overall big picture of what is currently known about your topic. In the next section, overview the methodological genealogy of the literature. In other words, describe previous methodologies (quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods) used within the literature and their associated methods. For example, you might have a statement similar to this, “Researchers have primarily used qualitative methodologies, such as narrative inquiry and case study design, to explore this topic. These researchers generated data through conducting student interviews, reviewing student social media, and observing students throughout the semester.” Use this section to discuss how this topic has been explored through research. In the last section, discuss how your review of the literature supports your previously established problem statement and research questions or how you have been prompted to revise your problem statement or research questions. This section should address what remains to be known (the gap in the literature and what is missing in current literature).
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Before you begin, please review the following excerpts from Merten’s (2019) Research and Evaluation in Education and Psychology.
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Purpose of a Literature Review
The purpose of the literature review section of a research article is to provide the reader with an overall framework for where this piece of work fits in the “big picture” of what is known about a topic from previous research. Thus, the literature review serves to explain the topic of the research and to build a rationale for the problem that is studied and the need for additional research (p. 89).
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For Quantitative Studies
Quantitative researchers examine research in order to build a knowledge base of a topic that is sufficient to develop a hypothesis that can be tested and to benefit from guidance in terms of methodology found in prior studies (p. 92).
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For Qualitative Studies
The researcher should have a good understanding of previous research but remain open to possible emerging hypotheses that would require examination of additional literature during the study. . . . Some qualitative researchers actually suggest that the research questions be formulated before the literature review is conducted in order to guide the literature process. The wording of the questions can then be modified as necessary based on the literature (p. 92).
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Synthesizing Your Literature
Provide an overview of your topic and describe the methods you used to search the literature. Then provide an advance organizer for the reader of the subtopics that you will address. For each study, make a determination if it is important to report details of its strengths and weaknesses in order to establish the overall picture of knowledge in the field or to provide support for your choice of methods. It is possible to explain several studies in detail and then cite other studies that agree or disagree with the findings of those studies rather than providing a detailed critique of every study in your literature review. . . .The literature review should lead to a statement of the need and purpose for the study, research questions, and hypotheses (pp. 112-113).
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You may find you need to reorganize your current outline of the literature and/or that you need to gather more sources in order to begin writing your literature review. Make sure your exam response includes the three required components:
What is known: Narrative overview of the literature
How it is known: Discussion on previous methodologies used
What remains to be known (gap in the literature): Problem statement and research questions of your own study and how your review of the literature connects to both
I’ve attached the following documents: a sample outline of a literature review I created last year, a summary of my research topic and key elements to address in the literature review, a document that discusses my dissertation topic (list of several potential dissertation titles) and methodology, and a sample preliminary written exam rubric that my committee will use when grading the final response.
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Reference
Mertens, D. M. (2019). Research and evaluation in education and psychology (5th ed.). Sage.