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Physical Education, Sport & Exercise Sciences: Reviewing the Literature

What is a Literature Review?

A Literature Review is a thorough and methodical study of existing research information on a specific topic, presented in a well-ordered, scholarly manner.

It is an important part of your thesis, whether your thesis is by research or by publication, where you examine previous and current literature so that you can:

  • identify key information relevant to a topic
  • assess the status or quality of existing research
  • situate your research and point to the research gap that you identified
  • critically examine support  for alternative theories or arguments
  • evaluate research methods used in previous studies.

Different Types of Literature Reviews

Different disciplines will require different sorts of literature reviews. In Arts and Humanities studies, literature may be reviewed throughout the thesis as required by the topic. For Social Sciences and Sciences research, the literature review often consists of a separate chapter that informs the research design and methods. For some topics, there may be no literature review due to the 'cutting edge' nature of the research topic.

The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions is a very detailed, high level approach used when undertaking a Cochrane review - the highest level of evidence on which to base clinical treatment decisions.  

If you are simply wanting to apply a systematic approach to your literature review, you may want to choose one of the other options e.g. PRISMA,  which provides an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

e.g. Scoping Review - a "preliminary assessment of potential size and scope of available research literature.  Aims to identify nature and extent of research evidence (usually including ongoing research) (Grant & Booth, 2009)."

Traditional / Narrative review - a critical summary and synthesis of previously published literature about a particular topic involves systematically exploring related literature. Narrative reviews can be organised by chronology, theme, or methodology, and may highlight issues of debate and gaps in current research.

Systematic Review - "[a] high-level overview of primary research on a particular research question. It seeks to collate all evidence that fits pre-specified eligibility criteria with the aim of minimising bias by using explicit systematic methods" - Cochrane Database. Commonly used within Health Sciences to compare and assess effectiveness of clinical interventions. Check Otago's guide on Systematic Reviews.

Scoping Review - a "preliminary assessment of potential size and scope of available research literature.  Aims to identify nature and extent of research evidence (usually including ongoing research) (Grant & Booth, 2009)."

Grant, M. J., & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: An analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 26(2), 91-108. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x

Books about Literature Reviews

Books about Systematic Reviews