Submodule3_Theoretical_Empirical_Basis_Ver2_29Nov2018.pptx.pdf

Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the uses of the review of related literature in
research;
2. Describe the steps involved in conducting a review of
related literature
3. Discuss important guidelines to be remembered in
conducting and writing-up the results of the review of
related literature;
4. Describe how to formulate the conceptual framework
for the research he/she wishes to undertake

1. SUB-MODULE 3
ESTABLISHING THE THEORETICAL AND
EMPIRICAL BASIS OF THE RESEARCH
Ophelia M. Mendoza, DrPH

2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of the session, the learner should be able to:
1.Identify the uses of the review of related literature in
research;
2.Describe the steps involved in conducting a review of
related literature
3.Discuss important guidelines to be remembered in
conducting and writing-up the results of the review of
related literature;
4.Describe how to formulate the conceptual framework
for the research he/she wishes to undertake

3. 1. WHAT IS A REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE?
•It is a survey of scholarly materials (journal
articles, books, thesis and dissertations,
conference proceedings, reports, etc.) relevant
to the area of research being proposed
•It provides a concise description and critical
evaluation of work which has already been done
on the research area of interest

4. 1.1 QUESTIONS WHICH ARE ANSWERED IN THE
LITERATURE REVIEW
•What is already known about the research area being proposed?
•What are the existing theories related to this research area?
•What are the known characteristics of, and relationships among the
main factors or variables related to the proposed research area?
•What research designs or methods were used and which of these
seem unsatisfactory? 
•What and where are the inconsistencies or other shortcomings in our
current knowledge and understanding of the proposed research area?
•What evidence is lacking, inconclusive, contradictory or too limited?
•What views need to be further studied or tested?
•Why is there a need to study further the research problem?
•What contribution can the present study be expected to make?

5. 1.2 USES OF THE REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
1.Provides background information about previous studies
conducted
Who has done previous work in the research area
considered?
What important ideas, theories, questions and hypotheses
have already been investigated and tested?
What research methods (design, variable definition,
instrumentation, etc.) were utilized?
What problems were met and how were they resolved?
2.Helps the researcher in:
 determining if the proposed research is actually needed
narrowing down or refining the topic and research
objectives initially formulated
 generating hypothesis or questions to be studied further

6. 1.2 USES OF THE REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
3. Guides the researcher in the development of the conceptual
framework for the research
Identification of relevant variables
Direction/nature of the relationship between relevant
variables
4. Provides values of important parameters needed in formulating
the design for the proposed research
anticipated values of, and variances of important
parameters to be estimated which are needed for sample
size determination
non-response rates
5. Provides comparative data which the researcher can refer to
later in the discussion of results and conclusions of the study

7. 1.3 STEPS IN CONDUCTING A LITERATURE REVIEW
1.Formulate the research problem and objectives
•The research problem and objectives determines the coverage of
the literature review
2.Conduct the literature search
•Search across multiple databases and information resources using
various search engines (ex., HERDIN, Medline, PubMed, Google
Scholar, etc.)
3. Read the literature side by side with the search process
•What you read will guide your subsequent searches and refine your
topic, ending up with a circular process for steps 1,2,and 3
4. Note down important questions, issues, hypotheses which were
mentioned by the literature reviewed or which came to your mind as
you read them.
•These questions, issues, hypothesis can be used later in your
research, when you discuss the implications of your findings and
recommend new research directions supported or suggested by
your findings

8. 1.3 STEPS IN CONDUCTING A LITERATURE REVIEW
5. Keep a record (what, where, when) of the literature reviewed
•It is better to record too many references initially than to spend and waste
the time later to relocate or search for documents earlier reviewed
•Can use a citation manager software (ex., Zotero, EndNote, RefWorks, etc)
Most frustrating and time-consuming question to address related to steps 4 and 5:
“Saan ko nga ba nabasa yon?”
6. Organize, analyze and evaluate the literature reviewed
•Take notes as you read each document, recording the following information:
 purpose/objectives of the study
 summary of content
 Research design/methods used in the study
Important findings
•Organize results into common themes. This can be done by using index cards
or presenting them in tabular form
•Integrate/synthesize findings

9. 1.3 STEPS IN CONDUCTING A LITERATURE REVIEW
7.Prepare a write-up of the literature review
•The write-up can consist of several sub-sections, with
previous studies organized according to common themes
(ex., magnitude of the problem; factors related to the
problem: etc.)
8.Create the bibliography or the list of references, whichever is
needed
•Reference lists (in MLA style called “lists of works cited”)
contain a complete list of all the sources (books, journal
articles, websites, etc.) that have been cited directly in a
document. That means that if there are in-text citations
 for a source, there is a reference list entry, and vice
versa.
•Bibliographies, on the other hand, contain all sources that
have been used, whether they are directly cited or not. A
bibliography includes sources that were used to generate
ideas or ‘read around’ a topic, but were not referred to
directly in the body of the document.

10. 1.4 OUTLINE OF THE WRITE-UP ON THE REVIEW OF
RELATED LITERATURE (RRL)
1.Introduction
•Describes the content (what is chapter is about?), structure (how is the
chapter organized?) and scope (What are the boundaries?) of the RRL
2.Body of the literature review
2.1 Presentation
•What has been done before?
2.2 Discussion and evaluation
•What are the strengths and weaknesses of the previous studies?
•What are common areas of agreements and disagreements?
2.3 Summary and relationship of findings to proposed research
3.Conclusion
•Summary and highlights of most important points from various sub-
sections
•Relate/connect findings to current research being proposed

11. 1.5 IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER ABOUT THE
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE:
a.The literature to be reviewed must not only be related to the topic of the
research, but more so, on the specific objectives actually covered
b.There are no hard-set rules regarding the number of literature to be
included in the RRL, how old or new are the materials to be covered, or the
proportion of local compared to international studies to be presented. These
are all dependent on the topic of the research and how well it has been
studied locally and abroad.
c.It is important to ensure the accuracy of the information you presented in
your RRL (ex., correct bibliographic citation; attributing findings to the
correct authors etc.) The bibliographic citation should be complete enough
to enable a reader to track down the article if they wish to do so
d.If the research being proposed is pioneering, and no previous studies have
been done in the area, this has to be mentioned in the review of related
literature to provide additional basis/justification for the conduct of the
proposed research.

12. EXERCISES
•For each objective indicated below, indicate the headings of the
various subsections which you will have, for the Section on Review of
Related Literature which you will develop in your research proposal
•a. To determine the factors related to non-compliance to medication
among MDR_TB patients
•b. To determine the effect of child labor on the physical health of
children who are working in dump and quarry sites in selected cities in
Region 10.
•c. To determine the levels of mercury in river water and terrestrial
plants along the waterways surrounding the small-scale mining areas
in T‟boli South Cotabato

13. 2. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
•The conceptual framework is a written or a visual presentation
which explains graphically, in narrative form, or both, the main
variables being studied in the proposed research
•It serves as:
An organizing framework for descriptive studies
A representation of how the different variables are inter-related
to each other in analytic studies
•In the research process, the development of the conceptual
framework is done after the review of related literature, and before
the formulation of the research objectives

•There must be consistency between the conceptual framework
presented and the research objectives to be investigated

14. 2.1 INPUTS NEEDED IN DEVELOPING THE
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Experiential knowledge of the researcher
oTechnical knowledge
oResearch background.
oPersonal experience.
Literature review:
oPrior ‘related’ theory – concepts and relationships that are used
to represent the world, what is happening and why
oPrior ‘related’ research – how people have tackled ‘similar’
problems and what they have learned
oOther theory and research - approaches, lines of investigation
and theory that are not obviously relevant/previously used.

15. 2.2 CONVENTIONS/USUAL PRACTICES IN DEVELOPING
THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
•In building the framework:
Start with the dependent /outcome variable or
endpoint for intervention
Identify potential independent variables deemed to
affect the dependent/outcome variable based on
empirical or theoretical evidence
Identify intervening, confounding , antecedent or
mediating variables whose effects may alter the
relationship between the dependent and independent
variable

16. 2.2 CONVENTIONS/USUAL PRACTICES IN DEVELOPING
THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
•Variables are presented in boxes while relationships
are represented by arrows
•Logical presentation of concepts is from left-to-right
or top-to-bottom
•Concepts are labelled briefly and concisely

17. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
EXAMPLE 1: EFFECT OF PROGRAM EXPOSURE ON PRACTICE

PROGRAM
EXPOSURE
CONFOUNDING
VARIABLES
(Ex. Socio-
economic
status,
education, sex,
age, etc)
PRACTICE
KNOWLEDGE
ATTITUDES

18. EXAMPLE 2: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR A RESEARCH ON NUTRITION
EDUCATION FOR MOTHERS OF PRESCHOOLERS
INPUT
•No. of IEC
Materials printed
on child feeding
•No. of trained
health workers
assigned to
conduct
nutrition
education
classes for
mothers
ACTIVITIES
•Number of
nutrition
education
classes on child
feeding
conducted for
mothers
OUTPUT
•Number of
mothers
trained on
proper child
feeding
OUTCOME
•Change in
mothers’
knowledge,
attitudes and
practices on
child feeding
IMPACT
•Change in the
prevalence of
malnutrition
among pre-
schoolers