ABSTRACT
Before commencing data collection, and before you have even considered your research design, it is important that you become knowledgeable in your chosen subject, understanding not only the appropriate concepts, but also the work that has been done on the subject previously. As Jankowicz (1995, pp.128-9) notes:
Knowledge does not exist in a vacuum, and your work only has value in relation to other people’s. Your work and your findings will be significant only to the extent that they are the same as, or different from, other people’s work.
