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Conducting Research Literature Reviews
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Conducting Research Literature Reviews
From the Internet to Paper

Fifth Edition


February 2019 | 304 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
Providing readers with an accessible, in-depth look at how to synthesize research literature, Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper is perfect for students, researchers, marketers, planners, and policymakers who design and manage public and private agencies, conduct research studies, and prepare strategic plans and grant proposals. Bestselling author Arlene Fink shows readers how to explain the need for and significance of research, as well as how to explain a study’s findings.
   
Offering a step-by-step approach to conducting literature reviews, the Fifth Edition features new research, examples, and references from the social, behavioral, and health sciences, expanded coverage of qualitative research, updated and revised meta-analysis procedures, a brand new glossary of key terms, double the number of exercises, and additional examples of how to write reviews.

 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
PART I. Research Design and Sampling
 
Chapter 1: Reviewing the Literature: Why? For Whom? How?
What is a Research Literature Review? Why Do One?

 
Gaining Control: Experiments and Observations

 
Systematic, Explicit, Comprehensive, and Reproducible: Four Key Words

 
Choosing an Online Bibliographic Database

 
How Do You Ask for Information? Searching With Boolean Operators

 
Pausing during the Search

 
Changing the Course of the Search

 
Supplementing the Online Search

 
Organizing the Research Literature: Building a Virtual Filing Cabinet

 
 
Chapter 2: Searching and Screening: The Practical Screen and Methodological Quality
Search Screen 1: The Practical Screen

 
Search Screen 2: Methodological Quality Screening Criteria

 
Observational Designs in Brief

 
A Note on Other Designs and Studies: Cross-Sectional Surveys and Consensus Statements

 
Internal and External Validity

 
Criterion for Quality: Sampling

 
The Sampling Unit

 
The Size of the Sample

 
Response Rate

 
 
PART II. Data Collection, Interventions, Analysis, Results, and Conclusions
 
Chapter 3: Searching and Screening: Methodological Quality
Data Collection and Data Sources: Methods and Measures

 
Interventions and Programs: Reviewing the Research Literature to Find out What Works

 
Data Analysis: Statistical Methods in the Research Literature

 
Accounting for Impact

 
 
Chapter 4: Doing the Review: A Reader’s Guide Chapter
Types of Information: Methods and Content

 
Eligibility and Actuality

 
Reporting Standards: Checklists for Research Writing and Reviewing

 
How TREND Was Used in a Literature Review

 
Reliable and Valid Reviews

 
Uniform Data Collection: The Literature Review Survey Questionnaire

 
Uniform Data Collection: Definitions and More

 
Pilot Testing the Review Process

 
Establishing Validity

 
Monitoring Quality

 
 
Chapter 5: What Did You Find? Synthesizing Results
Now that You Have Done It, What Do You Do With It?

 
Descriptive Syntheses or Reviews

 
Meta-Synthesis

 
Meta-Analysis

 
Meta-Analyses in Practice: Examples

 
 
Glossary
 
Author Index
 
Subject Index

“Fink’s tone, level, and style is very approachable and understandable which makes it ideal for my students, most of whom are new to the process of literature reviews.”

Jana Nidiffer
Oakland University

“This book provides rich, useful, details on conducting literature review & constructing evidenced based reviews.”

Janet Reid-Hector
Rutgers University Camden

All of the information in this book was a duplicate of the books adopted.

Dr Kevin Bottomley
College of Business, Indiana Inst Of Technology
July 23, 2021

Excellent content and easy to follow for novice researchers.

Professor Sanfrena A Britt
Psychology & Counseling, Texas A & M Univ-Central TX
September 3, 2019
Key features

NEW TO THIS EDITION: 

  • Nearly 100 new online research examples and references from the social, behavioral, and health sciences
  • Updated case studies using major online databases such as the Web of Science
  • More qualitative research examples and guidelines and checklists for evaluating their quality
  • An explanation of how “meta-synthesis” is used to interpret and combine the results of qualitative studies
  • A brand new glossary of key terms to assist readers in learning about literature reviews 
  • A discussion of how to account for an article’s impact by interpreting its altmetrics, including attention scores, donut diagrams, and Twitter demographics 
  • Additional examples of how to write up reviews and how others have done it
  • Expansion of the exercises at the end of the chapter to vary difficulty and include more online searching
  • An introduction to the GRADE system to evaluate the “risk of bias” in each research article

KEY FEATURES: 

  • Step-by-step procedures and visual examples help readers master every aspect of conducting the literature review process
  • Online examples and case studies bring the literature review process to life
  • End-of-chapter exercises help readers master key concepts and skills
     

For instructors

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