ABSTRACT
Candidates need to decide upon the salient literature they should consider, gain mastery of and refer to when justifying their research topic. This is an extremely important stage as it provides the
foundation for all that follows. It reveals the current gap in knowledge and enables good decision making on the proposed research approach. It enables the decision to be based on clear evidence that alternative methods were considered and the most appropriate method for the investigation selected. The selected research approach may enable new knowledge to be generated by exploring the topic from a different perspective from that documented in the literature by others.
