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Reasons for reviewing the
literature
• Informing your self of
what is happening in
the field
• Gaining a level of
topical and
methodological
knowledge and
expertise
Purposes of the ‘literature
review’
• Informing your
audience of what is
happening in the field.
• Establishing your
credibility as a
knowledgeable and
capable researcher
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
1
• Finding potential gaps
in the literature that
may point to potential
research questions
• Critically evaluating
common/typical
methods
• Arguing the relevance
and the significance of
your research
question(s)
• Providing the context
for your own
methodological
approach
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
2
• Facilitating the
development of your
own methodological
approaches
• Arguing the relevance
and appropriateness of
your approach
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
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The writing process
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Read good, relevant reviews
Write critical annotations as you go
Develop a structure
Write purposefully
Use the literature to back up your arguments
Make doing the literature review an ongoing process
Get plenty of feedback
Be prepared to redraft
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
4
The role of the researcher
• Theorist – analyze critically and think abstractly and
attempt to develop understandings that lie outside
the dominant paradigm.
• Scientist – removed, precise, methodical, logical,
highly trained and in control of the research process.
• Change agent – acknowledges subjectivies and works
to better a situation based on those subjectivities
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
5
• Bricoleur: methods are emergent and dependent
upon the question and context.
• Choreographer: begins with a foundation of key
principles, has vision and tries not to have a limited
view.
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
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Who, where, when, how and what
• Who – do you want to be able to speak about, who do you
plan to speak/observe
• Where – what is the physical domain of the sample, are
settings relevant to the credibility of your methods?
• When – do your methods fit into your time frame, is timing
relevant to the credibility of your methods?
• How will you collect data and conduct methods?
• What will you look for, what will you ask?
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
7
Hypothesis
• Logical conjecture (hunch or educated guess) about
the nature of relationships between two or more
variables expressed in the form of a testable
statement
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
8
A hypothesis may not be
appropriate if
• You do not have a hunch or educated guess about a
particular situation
• You do not have a set of defined variables
• Your question centres on phenomenological
description
• Your question centers on ethnographic study of a
cultural group
• Your aim is to engage in, and research, the process of
collaborative change
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
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Keeping a sense of the overall
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How should I treat my data in order to best address my research question?
What do I expect to find?
What don’t I expect to find, and how can I look for it?
How do my findings relate to my research question?
Are my findings confirming my theories? How? Why? Why not?
Does my theory inform/help to explain my findings? In what ways?
Can my unexpected findings link with alternate theories?
How might my methodological shortcomings be affecting my findings?
Can my findings be interpreted in alternate ways? What are the
implications?
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
10
Variables
• Understanding the nature of variables is essential to
statistical analysis.
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
11
WHAT DEPENDS ON WHAT?
• Dependent variables –
the things you are
trying to study or what
you are trying to
measure.
• Independent variables –
What might be causing
an effect on the things
you are trying to
understand.
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
12
Measurement scales
• Nominal – Numbers are arbitrarily assigned to
represent categories. They are a coding scheme and
have no numerical significance. The main purpose of
nominal data is to allow researchers to tally
respondents in order to understand population
distributions.
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
13
• Ordinal – This scale ranks categories in a meaningful
way – there is an order to the coding. The Likert-type
scale in which respondents are asked to select a
response on a point scale is often used.
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
14
• Interval – In addition to ordering data this scale uses
equidistant units to measure the difference between
scores.
• Ratio – Not only is each point on a ratio scale
equidistant there is also an absolute zero.
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
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What is the ‘average’ the ‘central tendency’ of the
data? Three ways to measure central tendency:
• Mode: Most common value/s noted for a variable.
• Median: Mid point of a range by arranging values in
an ascending or descending order.
• Mean: the mathematical average – add the values for
each case and divide by the number of cases.
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
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• Mode, median, mean
• Standard deviation
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
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Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
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Skewed
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
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Measuring dispersion
Say you had a group of students with IQs of 100, 100, 95
and 105 and another group with IQs of 60, 140, 65,
135, the central tendency of both would be 100 but
dispersion around the man will require you to work
with each group of students quite differently.
Sanjay Ranade, Head, Department of
Communication and Journalism, University
of Mumbai
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