Reviewing the Literature

• A research literature review is a written summary of the state of existing knowledge on a research problem.
• A primary source with respect to the research literature is the original description of a study prepared by the researcher who conducted it
• A secondary source is a description of the study by a person unconnected with it.
• Journal articles often consist of an abstract (a brief synopsis of the study) and four major sections: an introduction (explanation of the study problem and its context); method section (the strategies used to address the research problem); results section (the actual study findings); and discussion (the interpretation of the findings).
• Statistical tests are procedures for testing research hypotheses and evaluating the believability of the findings.
• Findings that are statistically significant are ones that have a high probability of being reliable.