Research Methods

Chapter 2 introduction.

Maybe you have already gained some experience in doing research, for example in your bachelor studies, or as part of your work.

The challenge in conducting academic research at masters level, is that it is multi-faceted.

The types of activities are:

  • Finding and reviewing literature on your research topic;
  • Designing a research project that will answer your research questions;
  • Collecting relevant data from one or more sources;
  • Analyzing the data, statistically or otherwise, and
  • Writing up and presenting your findings.

Some researchers are strong on some parts but weak on others.

We do not require perfection. But we do require high quality.

Going through all stages of the research project, with the guidance of your supervisor, is a learning process.

The journey is hard at times, but in the end your thesis is considered an academic publication, and we want you to be proud of what you have achieved!

Probably the biggest challenge is, where to begin?

  • What will be your topic?
  • And once you have selected a topic, what are the questions that you want to answer, and how?

In the first chapter of the book, you will find several views on the nature and scope of business research.

Since a study in business administration derives its relevance from its application to real-life situations, an MBA typically falls in the grey area between applied research and basic research.

The focus of applied research is on finding solutions to problems, and on improving (y)our understanding of existing theories of management.

Applied research that makes use of existing theories, often leads to amendments or refinements of these theories. That is, the applied research feeds back to basic research.

In the early stages of your research, you will feel like you are running around in circles.

You start with an idea for a research topic. Then, after reading literature on the topic, you will revise or refine your idea. And start reading again with a clearer focus ...

A thesis research/project typically consists of two main stages.

The first stage is the research proposal .

Once the research proposal has been approved, you can start with the data collection, analysis and write-up (including conclusions and recommendations).

Stage 1, the research proposal consists of he first three chapters of the commonly used five-chapter structure :

  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • An introduction to the topic.
  • The research questions that you want to answer (and/or hypotheses that you want to test).
  • A note on why the research is of academic and/or professional relevance.
  • Chapter 2: Literature
  • A review of relevant literature on the topic.
  • Chapter 3: Methodology

The methodology is at the core of your research. Here, you define how you are going to do the research. What data will be collected, and how?

Your data should allow you to answer your research questions. In the research proposal, you will also provide answers to the questions when and how much . Is it feasible to conduct the research within the given time-frame (say, 3-6 months for a typical master thesis)? And do you have the resources to collect and analyze the data?

In stage 2 you collect and analyze the data, and write the conclusions.

  • Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings
  • Chapter 5: Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

This video gives a nice overview of the elements of writing a thesis.

Grad Coach

Literature Review Example/Sample

Detailed Walkthrough + Free Literature Review Template

If you’re working on a dissertation or thesis and are looking for an example of a strong literature review chapter , you’ve come to the right place.

In this video, we walk you through an A-grade literature review from a dissertation that earned full distinction . We start off by discussing the five core sections of a literature review chapter by unpacking our free literature review template . This includes:

  • The literature review opening/ introduction section
  • The theoretical framework (or foundation of theory)
  • The empirical research
  • The research gap
  • The closing section

We then progress to the sample literature review (from an A-grade Master’s-level dissertation) to show how these concepts are applied in the literature review chapter. You can access the free resources mentioned in this video below.

PS – If you’re working on a dissertation, be sure to also check out our collection of dissertation and thesis examples here .

FAQ: Literature Review Example

Literature review example: frequently asked questions, is the sample literature review real.

Yes. The literature review example is an extract from a Master’s-level dissertation for an MBA program. It has not been edited in any way.

Can I replicate this literature review for my dissertation?

As we discuss in the video, every literature review will be slightly different, depending on the university’s unique requirements, as well as the nature of the research itself. Therefore, you’ll need to tailor your literature review to suit your specific context.

You can learn more about the basics of writing a literature review here .

Where can I find more examples of literature reviews?

The best place to find more examples of literature review chapters would be within dissertation/thesis databases. These databases include dissertations, theses and research projects that have successfully passed the assessment criteria for the respective university, meaning that you have at least some sort of quality assurance. 

The Open Access Thesis Database (OATD) is a good starting point. 

How do I get the literature review template?

You can access our free literature review chapter template here .

Is the template really free?

Yes. There is no cost for the template and you are free to use it as you wish. 

Literature Review Course

Psst… there’s more!

This post is an extract from our bestselling short course, Literature Review Bootcamp . If you want to work smart, you don't want to miss this .

You Might Also Like:

Example of two research proposals (Masters and PhD-level)

What will it take for you to guide me in my Ph.D research work?

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

  • Print Friendly
  • Advertise with us
  • Saturday, June 01, 2024

Most Widely Read Newspaper

PunchNG Menu:

  • Special Features
  • Sex & Relationship

ID) . '?utm_source=news-flash&utm_medium=web"> Download Punch Lite App

Project Chapter Two: Literature Review and Steps to Writing Empirical Review

Writing an Empirical Review

Kindly share this story:

  • Conceptual review
  • Theoretical review,
  • Empirical review or review of empirical works of literature/studies, and lastly
  • Conclusion or Summary of the literature reviewed.
  • Decide on a topic
  • Highlight the studies/literature that you will review in the empirical review
  • Analyze the works of literature separately.
  • Summarize the literature in table or concept map format.
  • Synthesize the literature and then proceed to write your empirical review.

All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.

Contact: [email protected]

Stay informed and ahead of the curve! Follow The Punch Newspaper on WhatsApp for real-time updates, breaking news, and exclusive content. Don't miss a headline – join now!

VERIFIED: Nigerians can now earn US Dollars with premium domains just like Americans, acquire for as low as $1200 and you profit $19000 (₦23million). Click here to start.

Follow Punch on Whatsapp

Latest News

Rivers police arrest suspect who gang-raped pregnant woman to death, gale of rape in gombe as 13-year-old boy defiles eight-year-old, others, atiku proffers political solutions to kanu’s trial, what do you have to say as nigerians go back to the old natinal anthem | vox naija, why rivers cancelled 10,000 jobs, plans fresh recruitment – fubara.

MAY 31, 2024

Custodian-tenency-ad

Sit-at-home: Residents panic as Army vows crackdown on soldiers’ killers

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, conse adipiscing elit.

Sam Adeyemi

IMAGES

  1. How to write a research proposal (Chapter 2)

    research proposal chapter 2 literature review

  2. CHAPTER 2 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1

    research proposal chapter 2 literature review

  3. Sample Literature Review For Research Proposal

    research proposal chapter 2 literature review

  4. Example Literature Review Research Proposal by

    research proposal chapter 2 literature review

  5. (PDF) CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW

    research proposal chapter 2 literature review

  6. Chapter 2

    research proposal chapter 2 literature review

VIDEO

  1. 3) DW Chapter 2 Literature Review Search Strategy Part 1

  2. 022 Writing research papers a complete guide

  3. PRACTICAL RESEARCH 2

  4. Get Your Dissertation On The Right Track With This Outline!

  5. Research Chapter Three, Methodology, Nkumba University Ssebuyungo Wilber Kivekayunga (+256704054977)

  6. Research/Thesis Proposal Format

COMMENTS

  1. How to Write a Literature Review

    Examples of literature reviews. Step 1 - Search for relevant literature. Step 2 - Evaluate and select sources. Step 3 - Identify themes, debates, and gaps. Step 4 - Outline your literature review's structure. Step 5 - Write your literature review.

  2. PDF Chapter 2: The Literature Review Preparing to Write

    Chapter 2: The Literature Review . A literature review is a section of your thesis or dissertation in which you discuss previous research on your subject. Following your Chapter 1, your literature review begins as you try to ... Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review. by Christine B. Feak and John M Swales. Author: Dr. Summer E ...

  3. How To Structure A Literature Review (Free Template)

    Demonstrate your knowledge of the research topic. Identify the gaps in the literature and show how your research links to these. Provide the foundation for your conceptual framework (if you have one) Inform your own methodology and research design. To achieve this, your literature review needs a well-thought-out structure.

  4. How To Write A Literature Review (+ Free Template)

    Quality research is about building onto the existing work of others, "standing on the shoulders of giants", as Newton put it.The literature review chapter of your dissertation, thesis or research project is where you synthesise this prior work and lay the theoretical foundation for your own research.. Long story short, this chapter is a pretty big deal, which is why you want to make sure ...

  5. PDF Guidelines for Writing Research Proposals and Dissertations

    A typical dissertation/research proposal consists of three chapters or parts: the Introduction (Chapter 1), the Review of Related Literature and/or ... section(s) are normally expanded in Chapter 2 (Review of Related Literature). Statement of the Problem As the heading implies, the purpose of the study is stated in this section. ...

  6. (PDF) HOW TO WRITE A LITERATURE REVIEW IN A PROPOSAL ...

    Chapter 2 discusses the guidelines for writing a proposal, dissertation, or thesis and how to construct a good problem statement. Additionally, the chapter provides more than ten practical ...

  7. PDF LITERATURE REVIEWS

    2. MOTIVATE YOUR RESEARCH in addition to providing useful information about your topic, your literature review must tell a story about how your project relates to existing literature. popular literature review narratives include: ¡ plugging a gap / filling a hole within an incomplete literature ¡ building a bridge between two "siloed" literatures, putting literatures "in conversation"

  8. What Is A Literature Review?

    The word "literature review" can refer to two related things that are part of the broader literature review process. The first is the task of reviewing the literature - i.e. sourcing and reading through the existing research relating to your research topic. The second is the actual chapter that you write up in your dissertation, thesis or ...

  9. PDF Chapter 2 Review of the Literature

    Chapter 2 Review of the Literature Besides selecting a quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods approach, the proposal or study designer also needs to review the literature about a topic. This literature review ... research and proposals. It can assume various forms. Our best advice is to seek the opinion

  10. PDF What Is a Literature Review?

    Slide 1. Mainly Chapter 2 of a doctoral dissertation. An exhaustive exposition of the literature sources (especially methods and findings) that a researcher consulted in order to understand and investigate his or her research problem. Built from the annotated bibliography assignment (#4) from the Methods of Inquiry (MOI) course.

  11. PDF Sample Chapter: Writing the Literature Review: A Practical Guide

    Sue's example illustrates that carrying out a comprehensive literature review is a required step in any research project. First, a researcher cannot conduct the study. 1. without gaining a deep understanding of the research topic and learning from the work of other scholars and researchers in the field (Creswell, 2018).

  12. PDF How to Write a Review of the Literature for Your Proposal

    you write your method section for example, you will look back at your review of the literature to ensure that it reflects what you mention in the method section. This step will concentrate on developing review of the literature for a research proposal. In a review of the literature for a scientific research proposal you must demonstrate that you:

  13. PDF CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

    Male workforce participation has been on a continuously downward trend as well, since the 1960s decreasing from 84% participation in 1960 to 71% in 2008 with projections. showing a continuing decrease (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008). Men 25-54 years of age have a. workforce participation rate of 89.3% (U.S. Census, 2008).

  14. Chapter 2 Introduction

    Once the research proposal has been approved, you can start with the data collection, analysis and write-up (including conclusions and recommendations). ... Chapter 2: Literature; A review of relevant literature on the topic. Chapter 3: Methodology; The methodology is at the core of your research. Here, you define how you are going to do the ...

  15. PDF CHAPTER 2: Literature Review

    CHAPTER 2: Literature Review. This chapter will explore the literature that is relevant to understanding the development of, and interpreting the results of this convergent study. The first two parts of this review of the literature will describe two types of research: research on teaching and research on teachers' conceptions.

  16. Literature Review Example (PDF + Template)

    The literature review opening/introduction section; The theoretical framework (or foundation of theory) The empirical research; The research gap; The closing section; We then progress to the sample literature review (from an A-grade Master's-level dissertation) to show how these concepts are applied in the literature review chapter. You can ...

  17. CHAPTER TWO. LITERATURE REVIEW. 2.1 Introduction

    LITERATURE REVIEW. 2.1 Introduction. This chapter presents a review of literature pertinent to the study as presented by various. researchers, scholars', analysts and authors. It summarizes ...

  18. PDF CHAPTER 2 Introduction & Literature Review A distribute

    researched, the literature review is useful in helping the disserta-tion student refocus the scope of the research study to an area that deems inquiry. A thorough research of the literature assures that a research topic can and should be researched. Even though the literature review is the second chapter of the dissertation, students

  19. Project Chapter Two: Literature Review and Steps to Writing Empirical

    Literature reviews when presented as chapter two of a research project, thesis or dissertations are often lengthened, it could go as high as 30 -150 pages and above as the case may be.

  20. Beginning Steps and Finishing a Review

    e. Read other literature reviews of your topics if available. 2(i). (For Systematic Reviews or Meta-Analyses) Select your inclusion / pre-selection criteria to identify the types of studies that will be most relevant to the review. a. Decide on the following to create your inclusion criteria: Patient, population, or people who were studied.

  21. PDF 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction

    2.1 Introduction. This chapter provides an overview of previous research on knowledge sharing and intranets. It introduces the framework for the case study that comprises the main focus of the research described in this thesis. It is important to set the context of the literature review work by first providing:

  22. LESSON 57- CHAPTER TWO ON LITERATURE REVIEW: MEANING, PURPOSE ...

    From Lesson 51-56, we have discussed chapter one of the research proposal. From now until lesson 60, we shall discuss chapter two of the research proposal wh...

  23. Research Proposal Chapter 2 Literature Review

    Research Proposal Chapter 2 Literature Review - Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free. research proposal chapter 2 literature review