Literature review Methods Review of Information for Chapter 1

Introduction Write an introductory section for your dissertation to provide some context for the topic you have chosen. and define any words or concepts that you intend to use, e.g. if writing about ‘domestic abuse’ define the meaning of the term as it will be used in the dissertation, however, if ‘abuse’ is going to be used interchangeably with ‘violence’ (because the terms are sometimes used this way in the literature) find enough commonality between the terms within different definitions to allow you to justify using the terms interchangeably.

Please note: You need to choose the information to complete the suggested sentences in the slides that follow and then rewrite the sentences / paragraphs in your own words. Do not Write an exact copy of the example I have given, the wording has to be your own and relate to your topic. If the wording in your draft is too similar to the example given you will be asked to rewrite the section. Write about methods discussed in the following slides unless you have used them,i.e. what you say must match with what you have done, if you simply rewrite all the examples suggested, e.g. to increase word count, the result could be a methods section that does not make sense.

Introduce your methods section for Chapter 1 Once you are happy with the first part of the introductory section move on to say something like: This dissertation is based on a review of literature on ………your topic………with a view to contributing to current knowledge and any potential implications for future practice in the field of …your topic…. in relation to …….HSC….practice / service provision…..

State what will be in the methods section Example: Within this introductory chapter, the following are detailed: Background (to the search for and review of literature for the dissertation) Aim and Objectives of the dissertation Methods

Background (to the search for and review of literature for the dissertation) You need to include information about: The initial search for information - called a scoping exercise in some texts. Say why this search was done: e.g. to conduct a detailed and up-to-date literature review to explore the types of literature available related to your topic State that a range of sources were searched for relevant literature Name the types of literature you searched for and read through initially when trying to decide if there was enough information available to sustain a dissertation, e.g. journals, books, government reports, etc. etc.

Background (to the search for and review of literature for the dissertation) - continued You need to say what the findings from this scoping exercise indicated. In other words, state what you found by doing this initial search. Questions to consider about the literature you initially found on your topic: comprehensive or limited? concentrates on different aspects of the topic to the ones you are interested in? up to date or a little dated and in need of updating? Once you have said what you found, state that the initial search indicated that there is sufficient literature available on your topic to review, in order to further current knowledge about this area of Health and social Care (HSC) service provision and any potential implications for future practice.

Justify your review of literature based on your scoping exercise Therefore, this literature review aims to build on previous research and information which focused on….your topic ….. which suggested that there was potential for …further investigation of…your topic...? You could state what your dissertation is trying to find out at this point. This current review of literature therefore builds on the findings of previous research by providing an up-to-date analysis of what the literature is currently saying about ……your topic…….

Provide a link to the next part of the methods section Say that in a review of literature that is structured thematically, such as your dissertation, you group and discuss your sources in terms of the themes, (theories, concepts, or topics) that you have decided are important to understanding your topic There is an alternative method which is to group and discuss sources that you have identified from reviewing the key studies on your topic – you could mention this but make clear that your dissertation is based on the themes you have chosen. This means that in the next section you need to say what the overall aim of the dissertation is, i.e. its title, and, the objectives (themes) you are going to explore in the chapters to answer the question, or address the statement, made in your aim.  

Aim and Objectives of the dissertation The literature review initially aimed to address the following: Write about what your aim and objectives are, and, say how you decided on the following: Ways in which the literature can be categorised / grouped so as to gain an overview of different themes relevant to … your aim , i.e. your main topic /title … Then you could start to make the objectives of your dissertation clear, state how you chose your themes for the review of literature i.e. the topic you intend to explore or address in each themed chapter to answer or address your aim..

Methods This section outlines the structure, and methods used in the dissertation and should include: Structure of the dissertation Methods used to search for and review literature Methods used to identify the most relevant sources of information Analysis of the sources found

Structure of the dissertation Findings from the thematic review of literature are presented under the following chapter headings: Chapter 1 - Introduction (including methods) Chapter 2 – theme Chapter 3 – theme Chapter 4 - theme Chapter 5 – discussion, conclusion and recommendations You can present this information in a different way as long as you make it clear to your reader what the structure of the dissertation is.

Methods used to search for and review literature Sources were identified from a range of relevant literature. Details of the range of literature searched and the key words used are provided in the search strategy which is detailed in Appendix 1. You should have a record of your searches and how you conducted them using the template provided back in Sept/Oct 2016. The initial criteria for inclusion were: You need to say what criteria you used to include sources you found – a few suggestions listed below, you should also have some of your own relevant to your dissertation. Do not simply use the ones I have suggested to save time – your inclusion criteria must relate to your dissertation otherwise your methods and dissertation will not match up.

Examples of potential inclusion criteria for sources Evidence from empirically-based research papers, government documents, books, newspaper and media articles……. Evidence from a variety of sectors, such as health, social care, education, police and so on. A balance of UK-based sources (and wider international literature if appropriate) Literature published from …….. onwards. Evidence about different types of …… and its effects The impact of early prevention of …….. The impact of integration and collaborative working on service delivery re: ……. The facilitators and challenges to integration and collaborative working Implications for good practice

Provide a link to the next section However, given the number of sources originally identified (see below), in the main, evidence from literature published from ….. onwards was included in the review, and selected prior sources were used only where they were thought to be particularly relevant.

Identification of the most relevant sources You need to explain the selection process you applied to the identified literature in order to help identify the most relevant sources for your dissertation. For example you could explain that: the search identified a range of literature, using manual searches of libraries at NPTC and/or University of Wales TSD, online searches for government documents, ongoing searches for newspaper and other relevant media items. The search involved the use of tools such as Boolean operators, truncation, wildcards and PICo to search for relevant research papers – see relevant power point presentations and other informationon Moodle.

Identification of the most relevant sources The literature sources identified were then explored for their relevance to the review. How was this done – on what basis were sources included or excluded? PRISMA? Age of literature? Source of literature, e.g. journals as opposed to blogs? Other factors? Refer to powerpoint presentation and PRISMA information.

Identification of the most relevant sources Use of CASP? – to evaluate quality of research papers before including as sources in your dissertation - you are all familiar with this framework from your critique assignment. You could state that you used the framework you developed for the assignment from a range of critiquing frameworks – bearing in mind that you were critiquing qualitative research, if you critique any quantitative papers to assess their quality/validity for inclusion in your dissertation a different framework is used.

Analysis of the sources found Initial searches identified …… sources as relevant to the literature review. As a result of the selection process (based on initial abstract information and using the criteria identified above) …… sources were identified for inclusion in the dissertation. The quality of these sources was further assessed by considering: Examples only below – you need to think of how you analysed the sources you have used. The appropriateness of the analysis that was reported in sources to the aim and objectives of the dissertation Any author interpretations biases/limitations Any corroboration of evidence, e.g. triangulation of sources in research papers, or across sources?  

Methods section – conclusion You all need to include discussion of the way you searched for and screened information for its suitability to be included in your dissertation. The higher the grade you are aiming for the more detailed your discussion needs to be, and, the more it needs to be supported by an appendix of relevant information.