Craft of Research: Literature Reviews and Methodologies

Craft of Research Week 3: Literature Reviews and Methodologies

Outline Literature reviews Methods Upcoming

Why is research important?

IMRD Structure What is this?

IMRD Structure Introduction/Literature Review Methods Results Discussion/Conclusion

IMRD Structure Introduction/Literature Review Methods Results Discussion/Conclusion

Literature Review Section What is this?

Literature Review Section How we connect our work to existing knowledge.

Example: Connecting to Existing Knowledge Study 1 : (Smith et al., 2021): found that VR can reduce anxiety in children before dental surgery. Study 2 (Lee et al., 2022): found that immersive VR relaxation scenes lower heart rate before minor surgery. Study 3 (Kim et al., 2023): found mixed results for adults depends on the type of VR used.

Identifying the Research Gap By reading these studies, I can now say: We already know VR might help reduce anxiety. But we don t know much about how VR works for adult patients before major surgeries. This is the gap I want to study. Now my research connects to existing knowledge I m not starting from zero; I m building on what others have done and adding something new.

Literature Review Key Objectives 1. Gain and maintain readers attention 2. Demonstrate knowledge on topic 3. Claim the relevance of your chosen topic 4. Identify an area that needs to be addressed by research (gap in knowledge) 5. Introduce present research

Literature Review Key Objectives 1. Gain and maintain readers attention 2. Demonstrate knowledge on topic 3. Claim the relevance of your chosen topic 4. Identify an area that needs to be addressed by research (gap in knowledge) 5. Introduce present research

Topic: How does VR help reduce anxiety before surgery? 1. Gain and maintain readers attention Start with an engaging statement: "Each year, millions of patients experience high levels of anxiety before surgery, which can negatively impact their recovery and outcomes."

Topic: How does VR help reduce anxiety before surgery? 2. Demonstrate knowledge on topic Summarize key prior studies: "Previous research has shown that VR can help reduce anxiety in dental procedures (Smith et al., 2021) and minor surgeries (Lee et al., 2022), with some mixed results for adults (Kim et al., 2023)."

Topic: How does VR help reduce anxiety before surgery? 3. Claim the relevance of your chosen topic Explain why the topic matters now: "As surgical procedures become more complex, finding non-pharmacological ways to reduce pre-operative anxiety is increasingly important for both patients and healthcare systems."

Topic: How does VR help reduce anxiety before surgery? 4. Identify an area that needs to be addressed by research (gap in knowledge) State the gap: "However, limited studies have examined the effectiveness of VR for adult patients undergoing major surgeries, leaving this population underrepresented in current research."

Topic: How does VR help reduce anxiety before surgery? 5. Introduce present research Briefly introduce your study: "This study aims to evaluate whether VR relaxation environments can reduce pre-surgery anxiety in adult patients scheduled for orthopedic surgeries."

BEFORE Writing a Literature Review Consider the following questions: Why is this problem important? How does the study relate to previous work in the area? What are the primary and secondary hypotheses and objectives of the study? How do the hypotheses and research design relate to one another? What are the theoretical and practical implications of the study?

Basic Organization of Literature Reviews A. General Background (1 to 2 paragraphs) B. Addressing Specific Area (3+ paragraphs) C. Purpose of Current Research (1 to 2 paragraphs) Culminates to current research questions/aims/hypotheses

Literature Review Content 1) 2) Identifying a Niche 3) Addressing the Niche Establishing a Territory

Organizing Literature Create a literature table Include reference, DOI, key findings, key words,etc Literature management tool examples: Mendeley EndNote Zotero

Methodology Section What is this?

Methodology Section How we design our study to collect meaningful data.

Methodology Key Objectives 1. Describe how data were obtained 2. Explain how concepts and variables were used 3. Inform on the techniques utilized to gain the results

Topic: The effect of VR relaxation on reducing test anxiety in college students. 1. Describe how data were obtained "We recruited 40 undergraduate students through campus email announcements. Each participant completed a pre-test anxiety questionnaire, participated in a 10-minute VR relaxation session and then completed a post-test anxiety questionnaire."

Topic: The effect of VR relaxation on reducing test anxiety in college students. 2. Explain how concepts and variables were used "The main concept studied was test anxiety. The independent variable was exposure to the VR relaxation session (yes/no), and the dependent variable was the change in self-reported anxiety scores before and after the session."

Topic: The effect of VR relaxation on reducing test anxiety in college students. 3. Inform on the techniques utilized to gain the results "Anxiety levels were measured using the standardized Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI). Data were analyzed using paired t-tests to compare pre- and post-intervention anxiety scores."

Basic Organization of Methodology Section A. Contextualizing Study Methods B. Describing the Study C. Analyzing the Data

Upcoming Week 4 Results and Discussion Week 5 Poster Presentations, Plagiarism and Misconduct