Seeing the wood for the trees!

Now that the deadline for the literature review is rapidly approaching I can definitely say that a literature review seems like something that could be a neverending story! In comparison to the research I did in my undergraduate days things have changed a lot. Back then we had Janet rather than the internet and journal articles were things you physically read from paper journals filed in dusty folders or found on tiny microfiche slides. In this sense the internet seems to me to be a blessing and a curse: having almost instant access to thousands of articles, papers and conference proceedings from all over the world is an amazing opportunity for any researcher. On the other hand, having almost instant access to thousands of articles, papers and conference proceedings from all over the world is an amazing challenge for any researcher. How do you decide what is relevant? How do you know if the findings are important? How do you cope with seemingly thousands of sources all on the topic you want to explore?

Trying to answer these questions reminds me of the quote by then US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld:

"[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns; that is to say there are things that, we now know we don't know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know."

In searching for literature I think the results can be broken down into four distinct types, similar to those of Mr Rumsfeld:

Categories of literature

The first type of articles, those which are unavailable and irrelevant are no problem. They can simply be ignored. Articles which are available but turn out to be irrelevant are more of a problem. Often one has to begin reading to discover if they are perhaps relevant which is time-consuming and sometimes frustrating. A lack of a clear abstract often means you have to spend longer reading before it is clear what the actual core of the research or project is.  Articles which are available and relevant are a dream come true. Sometimes it is still necessary to read further before it is clear that an article is useful but at least when we find out that it is relevant we have something to show for the effort. The main problem with this category of article is simply that there are so many of them! The final category of article, unavailable but relevant, is perhaps the most frustrating. Certain journals only make articles available to association members or in exchange for paying a fee. Although many of these articles can be accessed through the Napier library or my own institutions databases it is hard to know if the money is worth spending without having seen the content.

As I said in a previous post, it seems like the literature review really does influence your research aims and that in actual fact it is impossible or at least extremely unwise to set your research goals too definitely before you get to grips with the literature. Having now spent several weeks exploring research on mobile learning I can confirm this is definitely the case. There are literally thousands of articles available on mobile learning, even when one restricts the search to just articles published in 2012. For that reason I felt myself forced to reduce my literature review to mobile learning using a specific technology, SMS. I will write more on my search strategies and search results in my next post.

Neil

Sources.

Rusmfeld quote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns [accessed 30/11/2012]

What is the point of a literature review?

A provocative question to start this post: "What is the point of a literature review?" The slightly less confrontational wording would be "What is the purpose of a literature review?". Before beginning this module it seemed obvious to me that without looking at the existing literature I would't know where to start my research but the experts confirm there is far more to a literature review than that.
According to Swetnam and Swetnam (2009), a literature review serves four main purposes:

• "It shows that you have read widely around your chosen topic.
• It demonstrates your critical understanding of the theory.
• It acknowledges the work of others.
• It informs and modifies your own research."

In other words, it should define the current state of research in your chosen area and critically analyse it.

Bell (2010) takes Swetnam & Swetnam's points further and states that the literature review is paramount to becoming, and demonstrating that you are becoming, an expert in your chosen field. For Bell this task not only informs you about current research but also helps to define the parameters of your study. The literature review should also make clear any gaps in the existing research and point out any unresolved controversies.

Arthur et al. (2012) confirm the above but add perhaps the most important (and most difficult) point: a literature review should demonstrate how your research will contribute to the pool of exisiting knowledge. For someone who is really just starting in research this seems like quite a lofty goal.

Nevertheless, I hope that over the next week as I finish writing my literature review I will be able to meet all of these expectations.

Sources

Arthur, J. et al. (2012), Research methods and methodologies in education, Thousand oaks: Sage.

Bell, J. (2010), Doing your research project (5e), Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.

Swetnam, D. & Swetnam, R. (2009), Writing your dissertation (3e), Oxford: howtobooks.

mobile learning inspiration.

Reading books, journal articles and blog posts is great but for getting real inspiration I think there is nothing to beat attending a conference and experiencing live what the experts have to say. Two weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the 4th mobile learning day at the Fernuniversität Hagen, about an hours drive from my own institution. The mobile learning day takes place every November and consists of a range of guest speakers, a podium discusssion and a choice of workshops on various mlearning-related topics. Previously the conference was soley German but last year it became international with Agnes Kukulska-Hulme from the Open University making a presentation  on "Learning from learners". This year there were two international guest speakers, Mohamed Ally from Athabasca University in Canada and Diana Laurillard from the Institute of Education in London.

Mohamed Ally's presentation "Reaching out to students by implementing mobile learning" on the state of mobile learning in general, and in Canada in particular, was particularly thought-provoking.  I had been especially looking forward to this talk anyway, as Ally is the editor of one of the books I have previously relied on in my studies, "Mobile learning: Transforming the delivery of education and training". Athabasca University Press, who published this book, also receive extra kudos in my eyes for being brave enough to make the entire book available for free as a pdf - you can download a copy here. 

In his lively presentation, Ally tried to answer one of the big questions in mobile learning: why? Why should we use mobile learning and how is it going to benefit us? Prof. Ally's conclusion was partly that the way the education system works has to change, from being teacher centred to learner centred. In addition he argued that mobile learning matches well the preferred study methods of modern students.The technological push should also not be forgotten. In my institution it seems that nearly everyone has a mobile phone, if not a smartphone, and I fully expect this tendency to continue.

After his presentation I was lucky enough to be able to spend five minutes talking to Prof. Ally and his enthusiasm and excitement about mobile learning inspired me and make me even surer that this topic is an ideal choice for my Masters thesis.

Sources.

Ally, M., (2012) Reaching out to students by implementing mobile learning. Powerpoint presentation from Mobile Learning Day 2012, Fernuniversität Hagen. Source: http://mlearning.fernuni-hagen.de/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Ally.pdf [accessed on 24/11/2012]

 

 

Grey literature: handle with care?

This module continues to teach me new terms and expressions for things I previously never really thought about. The latest of these is "grey literature". The recommended articles and my further reading show that the definiton of grey literature seems to still be evolving but the following characteristics are usually mentioned:

• Grey literature is not published for commercial purposes.
• Grey literature is not always easy to obtain.
• Grey literature is not necessarily quality controlled through a peer review process.

These points could lead one to question what the actual value of grey literature is. I attended a conference last week where some very interesting points were made in Powerpoint presentations - if I were to quote from these this would then qualify as grey literature. Another potential source of grey literature I can see also being useful for me is my own previous unpublished research.

I think that depending on the topic it is more or less likely that grey literature will play a role. If a research area is still relatively young or not formally organised then a reliance on grey literature would seem more likely as there may be a lack of professionally published material.

The factor of quality is something that also concerns me. Grey literature is not subjected to the same checks and controls as journal articles or books. Is it safe to take grey literature at face value or should we, as researchers, be extra sceptical about using it?

In my literature review I definitely will not ignore grey literature but I think I will be considering all of my sources more carefully in the future to ensure the reliability is as high as possible. One thing I will definitely keep in mind is that if I publish any of my thoughts or writings online (like this blog) and they were quoted by someone else that would also qualify as grey literature. Does that mean that my writing is of any lesser quality? Hopefully not.

Sources:

Coad, J. (2006). Searching for and using grey literature.
http://www.nursingtimes.net/searching-for-and-using-grey-literature/201505.article [accessed 13.11.2012]

Knopf, J.W. (Undated). Doing a literature review. http://cas.buffalo.edu/classes/psc/fczagare/PSC%20504/Knopf.pdf [accessed 13.11.2012]

Tyndall, J. (2008). How low can you go?: Toward a hieracrchy of grey literature. http://cas.buffalo.edu/classes/psc/fczagare/PSC%20504/Knopf.pdf [accessed 13.11.2012]

Deciding a research focus.

Having last week managed to whittle my ideas down from five to only two, this week much reflection and research along with the excellent Elluminate session with Dr Karen Aitchison helped me to come to my sole research topic:

Mobile-assisted language learning: Exploring student attitudes towards the use of mobile learning in English as a foreign language. 

The important points Karen raised which helped me to reach this conclusion related to finding a realistic research topic and making it specific enough. As with all objectives Karen reminded us that a research topic should be SMART -

Specific

Measurable

Achievable 

Realistic

Time-based

Whether or not a project idea is achievable remains to be seen but I think with careful planning all of the other points can be clarified  before the project begins as follows:

Specific - this research project will examine the attitudes to mobile learning of undergraduate students of business and engineering degrees at the South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences. In particular, mobile learning techniques will be implemented to aid in the learning of English grammar and vocabulary for second semester students attending the Business English: Professional and Professional English: Engineering modules.

Measurable - Rather than using a statistical measure, such as exam results, to quantify the success of these mobile learning measures, student attitudes will be collected through the use of semi-structured interviews. As there are so many variables at play duing exams it is felt that any differences in performance cannot be reliably ascribed to a change in teaching technology. Student feedback on their feelings regarding the mobile-assisted language learning can however easily be recorded. 

Realistic & time-based - A three-month period, from January to the end of March 2013 will be assigned to the development of the tools for use in this study. In the following summer semester, from April to mid-July students will be surveyed and interviewed. As there are no additional financial resources available for this study all of the material created will be made using existing commercial tools or open-source or free tools. This approach will also mean that it is easier for others to attempt to emulate the research afterwards if they so wish. This hopefully means that a realistic base for the study is established.

The next step is to conduct a literature review to establish a base for my project.