When beginning a review, researcher may decide on a topic or field of knowledge to examine, how much depth to go into, and the kind of review to conduct. There are six types of review:
1. Self-study reviews increase the reader’s confidence. A review that only demonstrates familiarity with an area is rarely published but it often is part of an educational program. In addition to giving others confidence in a reviewer’s command of field, it has the side benefit of building the reviewer’s self confidence.
2. Context reviews place a specific project in the big picture. One of the goals of review is creating a link to a developing body of knowledge. This is a background or context review. It introduces the rest of a research and establishes the significance and relevance of a research question. It tells the reader how a project fits into the big picture and its implications for a field of knowledge. The review can summarize how the current research continues a developing line of thought, or it can point to a question or unresolved conflict in prior research to be addressed.
3. Historical review traces the development of an issue over time. It traces the development of an idea or shows how a particular issue or theory has evolved over time. Researchers conduct historical review only on the most important ideas in a field.
4. Theoretical reviews compare how different theories address an issue. It present different theories that purport to explain the same thing, then evaluates how well each accounts for findings. In addition to examining the consistency of predictions with findings, a theoretical review may compare theories for the soundness of their assumptions, logical consistency, and scope of explanation. Researchers also use it to integrate two theories or extend a theory to new issues. It sometimes form a hybrid – the historical theoretical review.
5. Integrative review summarizes what is known at a point in time. It presents the current state of knowledge and pulls together disparate research reports in a fast growing area of knowledge.
6. Methodological reviews point out how methodology varies by study. In it researcher evaluates the methodological strength of past studies. It describes conflicting results and shows how different research designs, samples, measures, and so on account for different results.
Where to find the Research Literature
• Computer: on line systems.
• Scholarly journals.
• Books – containing reports of original research, or collection of research articles. READERS or Book of Readings.
• Dissertations.
• Government documents.
• Policy reports and presented papers.
• Bibliographic indexes.
Referencing Electronic Sources:
• Ahmad, B. (2005) Technology and immediacy of information. [on line]
Available http://www.bnet.act.com
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