Reasons for Doing the Literature Search

There are two main reasons for doing a literature search; both are equally important.

1. To help you rethink and refine a research topic and/or methodology. As you find appropriate publications in the library, as you talk with expert informants who can give you background or baseline data against which to measure your research objectives, as you dig up company records or discover traces of similar projects, your perception of your topic will change. You may discover that part of your research has already been done, in which case you can give the author(s) credit and start where they left off. Or you might discover that someone has done a similar project but in a different setting and with different subjects. In this case, you can also build on what another researcher has done, but with the object of supporting results and showing their applicability to a different population.

Even if you find that your idea is new (this is very rarely the case), a literature search will (1) make you aware of work that has already been done in the field and (2) sharpen your awareness of related research questions and methodology. You will see your project in perspective and your thinking about it will inevitably become more incisive. You will also get a good feel for research thinking and writing, both good and poor, which cannot be obtained any other way. Such experiential learning is very valuable. For instance, when you finally compile your data and wonder how to present it, you may get ideas from the tables, charts, and graphs of an article that presented similar data.

2. To help you inform readers of the context in which your research was done. All research builds on what has gone before. The reader will wish to know whether there are similar studies, and if so, whether your work supports their results or contradicts them. The reader will want to know exactly how your study differed from similar investigations. You will be expected to give due credit to others whose work you use. This may seem tedious, but it will increase your precision and make your study far more credible. Remember that credibility is a major goal of research.

Be assured that you are not required to do the kind of literature search one would expect of a master's candidate. However, you are expected to demonstrate an awareness of work that has been done in your field of inquiry and to establish the place of your study within that framework.

Literature Sources 

There are many journals that contain studies in organizationalbehavior. A few useful journals are listed on the OB Resources page. Others not listed there, which usually can be accessed online or found in the Reference Room of a college library, are: 
 

Group and Organization Studies	Administrative Science Quarterly
Journal of Applied Research	Journal of Social Issues
Behavioral Science	Journal of Vocational Behavior
Harvard Business Review	Social Science Quarterly
Industrial Relations	Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis
Journal of Applied Psychology	Public Personnel Management
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

The research abstract is one of the best tools available to a practitioner, researcher or serious student in any particular scientific field. The abstract provides a lens that delivers to the reader a very brief summary of a lengthy theoretical or empirical research report. Some research reports are preceded by abstracts; others are not. 

The "knowledge explosion" has engulfed management and other social sciences right along with other fields of study. As a researcher or a practitioner, if you read research abstracts first, then decide whether or not to read the entire article, your time cost will be reduced by over ninety per cent. 

1. If the title and abstract information suggest that the article is related or relevant to your interest (or your research project), photocopy the article.
2. If you are in doubt, print a copy of the abstract. Be sure you have the title, author(s), the name of the journal, date, volume, and page numbers. This will allow you to find it again at some later time. 

For good balance in reporting empirical research, you need to select not only studies (articles) which support or represent your point of view, but also studies that validate an alternative position(s) or conclusion. This is especially true if you are conducting your own research. Keep in mind, your intent is not to "prove" your position, but to discover and learn as much as you can, even if it contradicts your belief or point of view. 

You can simplify the task of reviewing theoretical articles or empirical studies by following a few basic rules of thumb and the format below: 

Preliminary Scan 

1. Read the title. 
2. Read the abstract. 
3. Read the names of the authors. If the name of one author appears on several publications, choose the most recent one for copying. It will almost certainly contain a summary of earlier work done by that author. 
4. Check the list of references at the back of the article. Sometimes the author of the article is a graduate student who is continuing the work of a more prominent researcher whose work appears in a paper you have already copied. The list of references is also a useful source for other articles and books you may want to consult. 
5. Reject an article that is out of date. "Current" means not more than five to ten years old. Seminal works, however, are the exception to this guideline. Textbooks in your area of concern can be consulted for summaries of research efforts that go back beyond five to ten years. 

Once you have collected what appears to be a related and relevant article, you are ready to summarize it. 

Second Reading 

1. Read the article again. This time note whether the article supports your opinion or opposes it.
2. Note information about the subjects used. Assess characteristics of the sample, such as age, sex, etc. Do not reject the article if the subjects' characteristics differ from yours. Evidence that a technique works in one context may be sufficient basis for testing its usefulness in other contexts.
3. Read the introduction. Find and underline the objective or purpose of the study.
4. Note the methods and instruments used and manner of data analysis.
5. Read the conclusion. Find and underline the outcomes, the explanations and implications. 
6. Read the references at the end of the article. Mark those that you wish to consult for additional information or background material for your research. 
7. Cite the reference. You must always provide the reader with a complete reference for the article or book. For the correct method of citing references refer to Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (see APA Publication Manual: Tips on Usage or APA Style Resources). 

Format 

Answer the following questions: 

1. What was the research question? Is the author's main purpose to describe variables, or to explain relationships between variables?
2. Is a formal hypothesis stated? If so, what is it? 
3. Find the literature review section (it may not be labeled as a literature review, but somewhere the author will tell what previous research has found out about this research issue). How many prior studies are cited? 
4. What was the population studied? Was a sample taken? If so, how was the sample selected? 
5. What were the procedures, e.g., what did the research do? 
6. What data collection techniques are used, e.g., how were data collected? 
7. What data analysis techniques are used? Are any tests of significance used? If so, what are they? How were the results of significance tests reported? (e.g., is a "p" value reported?) 
8. What conclusions does the author draw regarding the research question? Be succinct here - don't repeat the author's discussion section, just try to summarize in one or two sentences what was discovered or concluded about the research question. 

Keep in mind that you are summarizing the article - pulling out the highlights - not reproducing it. Depending on the length and complexity of the article you are reviewing, your summary should not be more than a maximum of 2 to 2 1/2 pages.