{"id":9139,"date":"2023-03-10T17:32:42","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T17:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/questions\/literature-review-and-hypotheses-mega-assignment-table-of-contents-assignment-goals-and-overview\/"},"modified":"2023-03-10T17:32:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T17:32:42","slug":"literature-review-and-hypotheses-mega-assignment-table-of-contents-assignment-goals-and-overview","status":"publish","type":"questions","link":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/questions\/literature-review-and-hypotheses-mega-assignment-table-of-contents-assignment-goals-and-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"Literature Review and Hypotheses Mega-Assignment Table of Contents Assignment Goals and Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Writing a literature review can take a lot of time\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s often the most difficult part of writing a research <\/p>\n

manuscript or a dissertation. Rather than writing one in this course, you are to review and evaluate a literature <\/div>\n
review of a research article and explain how you could model your own literature review using the one you <\/div>\n
are reviewing as a model. The article you choose must have a clearly identifiable research question and at least <\/div>\n
one hypothesis. <\/div>\n
The articles you select must be a research article. No other article type is allowed (see Topic X). Remember, a <\/div>\n
research article will have a clearly identified method section. You are only reviewing the literature review of <\/div>\n
the research article. Remember, this is the section immediately following the abstract. <\/div>\n
Do not just select the shortest article you find\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit will make your job harder to do it that way. Find an article <\/div>\n
that is relevant with a literature review section without a lot of subsections. I would avoid articles from <\/div>\n
Criminology (journal) for this assignment because the literature reviews tend to be long and complicated. You <\/div>\n
should not avoid Criminology for other assignments and other courses because it is the top journal in the field. <\/div>\n
Before you begin, skim the article. Verify that there is at least one clearly identifiable research question or <\/div>\n
research statement that tells you exactly what the researchers intend to study. Also verify that there is at least <\/div>\n
one hypothesis in the article you selected.<\/div>\n
Read through the literature review once to get familiar with it, then go back through looking at the information <\/div>\n
required for your submission. Either take notes or highlight it or something similar for easy reference. Now <\/div>\n
you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re ready to start writing. <\/div>\n
Your submission will have four distinct parts. Use headings for Parts B, C, and D. The parts are:<\/div>\n
\u00ef\u201a\u00b7 Part A: Restating the Research Question<\/div>\n
\u00ef\u201a\u00b7 Part B: Background Content<\/div>\n
\u00ef\u201a\u00b7 Part C: Hypothesis Content<\/div>\n
\u00ef\u201a\u00b7 Part D: Literature Review as a Model<\/div>\n
In Parts B and C, you will be summarizing and evaluating the literature review. For Part D, you will focus on <\/div>\n
your research question. While the parts should be in the order above, the content within each part does not have <\/div>\n
to be in a particular order. It just needs to be included (when applicable) and to make sense in the context. Here <\/div>\n
are directions and considerations for each part of the assignment.<\/div>\n
Part A: Restating the Research Question<\/div>\n
Please start your assignment by restating (not quoting!) the research question(s) or statement(s) in the first <\/div>\n
three sentences and bold the actual question(s) or statement(s). Note whether these are presented in the form of <\/div>\n
a question or a statement and discuss how it is presented. For example, if there is more than one aim of the <\/div>\n
study, are they presented as a numbered list? Is it just a simple sentence that starts with something like, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The <\/div>\n
purpose of the current study is to…\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd If there are multiple questions, it might be that they are spaced out in the <\/div>\n
body. If you are unsure, then you might not have an appropriate source (see above). This will be a brief section. <\/div>\n
You will not always find this at the beginning of the literature review. Sometimes it comes in the middle or <\/div>\n
even at the end. It depends a lot on necessary background, the chosen journal, disciplinary differences, and <\/div>\n
other nuances. <\/div>\n
Part B: Background Content<\/div>\n
You should summarize the content and organization of the literature review as written. Describe how they <\/div>\n
approached the topic and their main points. You are not merely retelling everything they did. I want you to <\/div>\n
discuss how they arranged it, the order, how much space they spent justifying their researcher question, how <\/div>\n
they approached the prior literature, how they tied in theory. <\/div>\n
As you describe it, you should also evaluate. Could it have been arranged differently? Did the researchers need <\/div>\n
a conceptual definition if they did not include one? If they mentioned a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gap\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd or a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hole\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd in the research <\/div>\n
literature and say they plan to fill it, did it make sense to you what they meant? Did they provide enough <\/div>\n
background into prior studies? <\/div>\n
Essentially, you are telling me what they did and what you, as a consumer of research, think about their <\/div>\n
approach. This does not require you to be critical\u00e2\u20ac\u201da good literature review is what researchers strive to write. If <\/div>\n
you think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s great, explain why it is great. What did they do to make it flow well?  <\/div>\n
There is no exact formula here\u00e2\u20ac\u201dyour approach could be as varied as the approach of the researchers. <\/div>\n
Part C: Hypothesis Body<\/div>\n
For this part of the submission, you will focus on the logic behind the hypothesis or hypotheses for the study. <\/div>\n
If there are multiple hypotheses, pick two of them for this section. The logic might be similar for each. <\/div>\n
Look in Topic 5 where I discuss how hypotheses are generated. You should see elements of that in any <\/div>\n
literature review. After paraphrasing the hypothesis, discuss how the researchers progressed to it. You are likely <\/div>\n
going to include several things mentioned in Part B, so it will be easy to refer back to them without going into <\/div>\n
as much detail. <\/div>\n
The two most common means of supporting hypotheses are prior studies and theory. As noted in TOPIC X, <\/div>\n
researchers will utilize the findings of studies in published research articles to develop hypothesis. Sometimes <\/div>\n
researchers test two theories and will have two competing hypotheses such that if Theory 1 is correct, then this <\/div>\n
is the pattern we would see, but if Theory 2 is correct we would expect this other pattern. When it comes to <\/div>\n
prior research, there are some common patterns. Examples could include things like: <\/div>\n
\u00ef\u201a\u00b7 A researcher is attempting to determine if a finding commonly observed in adult prisons would also be <\/div>\n
found in juvenile facilities. Unless the researcher has a reason to believe that juvenile facilities are <\/div>\n
different, they might hypothesize that the pattern will be the same. <\/div>\n
\u00ef\u201a\u00b7 A researcher looks at several studies on the same general topic. The studies demonstrate somewhat <\/div>\n
contradictory findings. The literature review might discuss those findings and present some observation <\/div>\n
of how the studies seem to differ. For example, they might find that studies that demonstrate one pattern <\/div>\n
have a larger proportion of men than those that fail to demonstrate that finding. This might lead them to <\/div>\n
hypothesize that gender is a moderator of an effect.  <\/div>\n
\u00ef\u201a\u00b7 Several studies have found a link between Variable X and Variable Y. The problem is that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s expensive <\/div>\n
to measure Variable X. The researchers have what they think is a cheaper means of measuring Variable <\/div>\n
X. Assuming they are right, the hypothesis would be that the cheaper measure would link with Variable <\/div>\n
Y. <\/div>\n
\u00ef\u201a\u00b7 Several studies demonstrate that inmates who write letters apologizing for their crimes are less likely to <\/div>\n
recidivate than those who do not. However, none of these studies have examined white collar criminals. <\/div>\n
Other studies looking at characteristics of white collar criminals find that they are more inclined to write <\/div>\n
in prison (journaling, letters, court filings, etc.). Another study found that writings of white collar <\/div>\n
criminals contain more lies than writings by other offenders. Thus, the researcher hypothesizes that there <\/div>\n
will be no link between recidivism and letter apologies among white collar criminals. <\/div>\n
\u00ef\u201a\u00b7 While no one has investigated the link between X and Y, there are several studies that have examined <\/div>\n
similar variables to X and similar variables to Y. Due to their similarity, the researcher hypothesizes that <\/div>\n
the link between X and Y would be like the studies with the similar variables. <\/div>\n
You are going to report how they came to their hypotheses then evaluate their logic. Is it clear? Does it follow? <\/div>\n
Does it seem intuitive? Did they provide enough background information? If they presented contradictory <\/div>\n
findings, did they acknowledge that when reporting hypotheses? You do not have to answer all of these <\/div>\n
questions\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthey are just considerations. What I care about is that you go beyond merely paraphrasing what they <\/div>\n
are thinking. <\/div>\n
Part D: Literature Review as a Model<\/div>\n
Imagine that I had you write your own literature review\u00e2\u20ac\u201dyeah, this required word count isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t all that bad now, <\/div>\n
is it?<\/div>\n
Start this section with the type of research you might want to look for when writing a literature review for your <\/div>\n
research question. What are some keywords you would use? Are you looking for research on specific <\/div>\n
populations? How would you organize your notes? Give me a bit of your process.<\/div>\n
Focus on how the literature review you read would help you to organize and write the literature review. You <\/div>\n
might think this literature review is good but that it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the best model for your question because these <\/div>\n
researchers are, for example, just wanting to test a new way to measure a given concept. You are testing a relationship. You might write about how you wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as much detail in the background of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153measurement.\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd<\/div>\n

“<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Writing a literature review can take a lot of time\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s often the most difficult part of writing a research  manuscript or a dissertation. Rather than writing one in this course, you are to review and evaluate a literature  review of a research article and explain how you could model your own literature review using the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"disciplines":[1107],"paper_types":[],"tagged":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions\/9139"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/questions"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions\/9139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"disciplines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disciplines?post=9139"},{"taxonomy":"paper_types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper_types?post=9139"},{"taxonomy":"tagged","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tagged?post=9139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}