ABSTRACT
Conceptual muddle in the methodological literature is a significant issue. Literature searches and reviews are goal directed and situated endeavours. Neither happens apart from the purpose for which it is performed or the context in which performance takes place. Questions bridge the gap between a review’s purpose-objective and the literature. Construing a review’s purpose through a socio-behavioural lens highlights the way in which a review’s interpretation has implications for where searchers then go or look, as well as the skills that will be required by students/researchers in analysis. Experienced reviewers adapt search strategies to meet their needs, and while nurse methodologists appear reluctant to engage with the ‘wording issues’, alternatives to the standard model are, to repeat, lodged in the better methodological texts. Students and novice researchers look to methodological texts for guidance. Yet, when simple and complex review procedures are described, either a lot is left unsaid, or what is said is hard to digest.
