In order to narrow your research question, find a research gap, develop an effective methodology and define measurable variables for quantitative research, it is critical that you thoroughly explore the scholarly conversation surrounding your general topic of interest. Of course, that will involve traditional searches in databases, but there are some strategies that make searching more effective. These include:
Each of these strategies, along with effective tools to implement them, are described below.
A literature review article is a broad overview of existing research on a topic. To create a literature review, a researcher will define a research topic and a methodology to gather articles related to that topic. They will then synthesize the articles they gathered, often identifying research gaps that emerge.
A systematic review is a structured approach to answer a specific research question by critically evaluating all relevant studies.
A meta-analysis is a statistical method used within a systematic review to combine data from multiple studies and produce a quantitative estimate of an effect size; essentially, a meta-analysis is a more rigorous analysis of data pulled from a systematic review, not all systematic reviews include a meta-analysis.
Databases that differentiate between quantitative research articles and review articles include:
Citation mining is a research technique that allows the researcher to follow the scholarly conversation on a topic to create a thorough literature review. Citation mining always starts with one relevant article. Once the researcher has one relevant article, they can do backward or forward citation mining. Backward citation mining means looking at the reference list of the original relevant article to see if it contains additional relevant articles. Forward citation mining means searching for articles that cite the original article. These articles will be newer and they may contain interesting analysis of, or commentary on, the original article.
You can use tools like Google Scholar or Web of Science to forward citation mine.
Literature mapping is a way to identify relevant academic articles by exploring connections between them. Articles can be "connected" by citations, authors, funders, keywords, and other means. Literature mapping helps you find more articles and feel confident you found the most important articles for your topic. You can literature map using free browser-based tools like the ones listed below:
How do literature mapping tools work? Watch this video demonstration of Connected Papers to find out::
