ABSTRACT

The following guide suggests solutions to difficulties that are commonly encountered in the course of conducting a study that uses literature review methodology. This is quite a common problem at the start of any type of research, because every subject has a huge range of possibilities that could be explored. One way to resolve this problem is to write down all your ideas, and then decide which ones you really want to explore. Whilst an interest in your subject is essential, competing issues often also need to be taken into account. Generally speaking, all the papers that you retrieve that meet the study's inclusion criteria and do not fall within the exclusion criteria should be included in the review. The only reason for excluding a paper from the review based on its quality is if one of the study's inclusion criteria is a particular quality indicator and the paper in question does not meet that criterion.