Week 1: Introduction to Systematic Literature Review
Objective:
- Understand the purpose and significance of systematic literature reviews: A systematic literature review (SLR) is an independent academic method that aims to identify and evaluate all relevant literature on a topic in order to derive conclusions about the question under consideration.A special aspect in this regard is the fact that a research objective is defined for the search itself and the criteria for determining what is to be included and excluded are defined prior to conducting the search. The search is mainly performed in electronic literature databases (such as Business Source Complete or Web of Science), but also includes manual searches (reviews of reference lists in relevant sources) and the identification of literature not yet published in order to obtain a comprehensive overview of a research topic.
- Familiarize participants with the key steps in conducting a systematic literature review:
- 1.Defining research questions-CIMO scheme to establish clearly formulated and answerable research questions in the field of economic sciences:
C – CONTEXT: Which individuals, relationships, institutional frameworks and systems are being investigated?
I – Intervention: The effects of which event, action or activity are being investigated?
M – Mechanisms: Which mechanisms can explain the relationship between interventions and results? Under what conditions do these mechanisms take effect?
O – Outcomes: What are the effects of the intervention? How are the results measured? What are intended and unintended effects?
- 2. Selecting databases and other research sources: TU Berlin
- Economics and Management LibrarySTUDYINGTEACHINGRESEARCHWORKING AT TU BERLINABOUT
- Economics and Management LibrarySERVICESSEARCHING & BORROWINGLEARNING & WORKINGRESEARCH & TEACHINGABOUT
- Economics and Management Library
- Contents
- What is a Systematic Literature Review?
- Presentation slides of Systematic Literature Review Workshop
- Differences to "common" literature reviews
- What are the objectives of SLRs?
- Process steps of an SLR
- Publications about the method
- Examples
- What is a Systematic Literature Review?
- A systematic literature review (SLR) is an independent academic method that aims to identify and evaluate all relevant literature on a topic in order to derive conclusions about the question under consideration. "Systematic reviews are undertaken to clarify the state of existing research and the implications that should be drawn from this." (Feak & Swales, 2009, p. 3) An SLR can demonstrate the current state of research on a topic, while identifying gaps and areas requiring further research with regard to a given research question. A formal methodological approach is pursued in order to reduce distortions caused by an overly restrictive selection of the available literature and to increase the reliability of the literature selected (Tranfield, Denyer & Smart, 2003). A special aspect in this regard is the fact that a research objective is defined for the search itself and the criteria for determining what is to be included and excluded are defined prior to conducting the search. The search is mainly performed in electronic literature databases (such as Business Source Complete or Web of Science), but also includes manual searches (reviews of reference lists in relevant sources) and the identification of literature not yet published in order to obtain a comprehensive overview of a research topic.
An SLR protocol documents all the information gathered and the steps taken as part of an SLR in order to make the selection process transparent and reproducible. The PRISMA flow-diagram support you in making the selection process visible.
In an ideal scenario, experts from the respective research discipline, as well as experts working in the relevant field and in libraries, should be involved in setting the search terms. As a rule, the literature is selected by two or more reviewers working independently of one another. Both measures serve the purpose of increasing the objectivity of the literature selection. An SLR must, then, be more than merely a summary of a topic (Briner & Denyer, 2012). As such, it also distinguishes itself from “ordinary” surveys of the available literature. The following table shows the differences between an SLR and an “ordinary” literature review.
Presentation slides of Systematic Literature Review Workshop
Charts of BSWL workshop (pdf, 2.88 MB)
Differences to "common" literature reviews
Independent research method
yes
no
Explicit formulation of the search objectives
yes
no
Identification of all publications on a topic
yes
no
Defined criteria for inclusion and exclusion of publications
yes
no
Description of search procedure
yes
no
Literature selection and information extraction by several persons
yes
no
Transparent quality evaluation of publications
yes
no
What are the objectives of SLRs?
Avoidance of research redundancies despite a growing amount of publications
Identification of research areas, gaps and methods
Input for evidence-based management, which allows to base management decisions on scientific methods and findings
Identification of links between different areas of researc
Process steps of an SLR
A SLR has several process steps which are defined differently in the literature (Fink 2014, p. 4; Guba 2008, Transfield et al. 2003). We distinguish the following steps which are adapted to the economics and management research area:
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1. Defining research questions
2. Selecting databases and other research sources
The selection of sources must be described and explained in detail. The aim is to find a balance between the relevance of the sources (content-related fit) and the scope of the sources.
In the field of economic sciences, there are a number of literature databases that can be searched as part of an SLR. Some examples in this regard are:
Business Source Complete
Scopus
ProQuest One Business
Web of Science
EconBiz
Our video "Selecting the right databases" explains how to find relevant databases for your topic.
Literature databases are an important source of research for SLRs, as they can minimize distortions caused by an individual literature selection (selection bias), while offering advantages for a systematic search due to their data structure. The aim is to find all database entries on a topic and thus keep the retrieval bias low (tutorial on retrieval bias). Besides articles from scientific journals, it is important to inlcude working papers, conference proceedings, etc to reduce the publication bias (tutorial on publication bias).
- 3. Defining search terms
- 4. Merging hits from different databases
- 5. Applying inclusion and exclusion criteria
- 6. Perform the review
- 7. Synthesizing results
Activities:
- Lecture on the importance of systematic literature reviews in research.
- Overview of the key components and structure of a systematic review.
- Introduction to databases and search strategies.
Homework:
- Select a research topic for the literature review.
Week 2: Search Strategy and Database Management
Objective:
- Develop effective search strategies for identifying relevant literature.
- Learn to use various databases and tools for systematic literature searches.
Activities:
- Hands-on session on creating search queries.
- Practical exercises using different databases (e.g., PubMed, Scopus).
- Discuss techniques for managing references and citation software.
Homework:
- Begin conducting initial literature searches for the chosen topic.
Week 3: Screening and Data Extraction
Objective:
- Understand the process of screening and selecting studies.
- Develop skills in data extraction and management.
Activities:
- Workshop on screening criteria and study selection.
- Practice session on extracting relevant data from selected studies.
- Discuss tools and methods for managing data.
Homework:
- Continue screening and extracting data for the literature review.
Week 4: Synthesis and Reporting
Objective:
- Learn techniques for synthesizing information from selected studies.
- Understand the process of reporting findings in a systematic literature review.
Activities:
- Workshop on data synthesis methods (e.g., meta-analysis, thematic analysis).
- Discuss the importance of quality assessment in systematic reviews.
- Overview of structuring and writing the review.
Homework:
- Start drafting the systematic literature review.
Final Session:
Objective:
- Provide feedback on the draft literature reviews.
- Discuss common challenges and strategies for addressing them.
Activities:
- Peer review session for constructive feedback.
- Q&A on challenges faced during the process.
- Discuss next steps in the research process after completing the literature review.
By the end of this 4-week lesson plan, participants should have a solid foundation in conducting a systematic literature review and be well-equipped to pursue their research goals.
