Which type of traditional RRL makes the researcher deal with the latest research studies on the subject?

Narrative or Traditional literature reviews critique and summarise a body of literature about the thesis topic.  The literature is researched from the relevant databases and is generally very selective in the material used. The criteria for literature selection for a narrative review is not always made open to the reader. These reviews are very useful in gathering and synthesising the literature located. The principle purpose of a narrative review is the give the author and reader a comprehensive overview of the topic and to highlight significant areas of research, narrative reviews can help to identify gaps in the research and help to refine and define research questions. Where a narrative approach differs from a systematic approach is in the notation of search methods criteria for selection,this can leave narrative reviews open to suggestions of bias. 

Scoping Reviews

A scoping review is quite similar to a Systematic literature review. The key difference being that there are no restrictions on the materials resourced. The purpose of the scoping review is to find ALL the materials on the topic. When undertaking a scoping review it is important to systematise your search strategies to ensure you can replicate your searches and to attend to any gaps that appear in results. 

When reading and sorting the results, again apply some of the measures used in a systematic review so that your search results are sorted by key themes and well organised. 

Systematic style literature review

A Systematic style literature review uses elements and methods of a systematic quantitative or Qualitative review in its research methods but is then generally written up in a more traditional form.  For example, when researching a systematic styled review you would take careful notes of what you have searched for and in which databases in the same way as you would with a more formal review type. You would also include your inclusion and exclusion criteria for papers read in your final literature review, but you do not necessarily need to gather quantitative or qualitative evidence from your reading.  This style of review is very common in social science research as recording your search and evaluation methodology adds authority to you final product.

Systematic Quantitative Literature Review

Catherine Pickering, academic staff member of Griffith University has been instrumental in developing and promoting the Systematic Quantitative Literature Review or SQLR.

Pickering Systematic Quantitative literature review 

The Pickering method web page is a thorough guide to the systematic literature review process and contains links to videos and examples of:     Setting up a systematic quantitative literature review     Development review criteria categories     How to record criteria data with spreadsheets

    How to undertake analysis of the literature

The purpose of an SQLR is to find, quantify and codify all relevant literature in a spreadsheet or table for analysis. Quantifying the status and characteristics of literature relating to a research area helps to and identify theme and gaps in available research to better guide your research project..  The quantification process helps with evidence-based decision making and informs future research directions. The review process identifies, evaluates and summarises the findings of all eligible studies.  SQLRs are useful for providing a comprehensive overview and interpretation of research on a topic.

Creators of this guide acknowledge the influence of Catherine Pickering's method.

Cochrane Reviews

Cochrane Reviews

Cochrane Reviews are systematic reviews primary research in human health care and health policy, and are internationally recognised as the highest standard in evidence-based health care. They investigate the effects of interventions for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. They also assess the accuracy of a diagnostic test for a given condition in a specific patient group and setting.

Campbell Collaboration

Campbell Collaboration The Campbell Collaboration is an international research network that produces systematic reviews of the effects of social interventions in Crime & Justice, Education, International Development, and Social Welfare. 

Integrative     

Integrative reivews are designed to Give researchers a more complete picture of a situation or experience.  An intergrative review combines the findings of diverse types of research (that is, both empirical and theoretical). This review type is most useful when trying to gain an understanding people's needs and experiences.

Meta-analysis     

  Combines data from multiple independent studies addressing the same question.    Requires empirical evidence in the form of randomised controlled trials. Meta-Analysis are undertaken by groups of researchers as the numbers of papers reviewed is very large. Meta- analysis are useful for providing a better estimate of the impact or effectiveness of an intervention, meta-analysis are used in health, sciences and humanities.

Iterative

An iterative review is a relatively comprehensive, algorithm-based literature review that collates all studies in a field of research. A reduction process is used to remove unnecessary titles, then a manual process applied to assess relevance to the field of research. Remaining articles and studies are categorised, which enables iterative coding to be applied to remaining data arrays to show interesting and useful information across a field of research.

Meta-synthesis     

Examines, interprets and integrates findings of several qualitative studies using qualitative methods. Meta-synthesis are used in research looking at theory development. Meta-synthesis are used for clarifying concepts and patterns, and refining existing models and theories.

Rapid     

Rapid reviews are undertaken to help support time-sensitive decision making. Standard systematic review procedures are adapted by removing or modifying some steps. These reviews are undertaken to quickly find information on a topic to support a project or decision making. Rapid reviews are useful in delivering answers in a shortened time frame.

Umbrella     

Umbrella reviews bring together reviews that answer different questions which all relate to a shared topic. These reviews find, contrast and synthesise the findings from other systematic-style reviews. Umbrella reviews are developed to giver researchers and decision makers  a clear understanding of a broad topic area in a shortened time frame. 

These definitions have been developed with thanks from https://www.griffith.edu.au/library/research-publishing/working-with-literature/systematic-reviews

It is important to think of knowledge in a given field as consisting of three layers. First, there are the primary studies that researchers conduct and publish. Second are the reviews of those studies that summarize and offer new interpretations built from and often extending beyond the primary studies. Third, there are the perceptions, conclusions, opinion, and interpretations that are shared informally that become part of the lore of field.

In composing a literature review, it is important to note that it is often this third layer of knowledge that is cited as "true" even though it often has only a loose relationship to the primary studies and secondary literature reviews. Given this, while literature reviews are designed to provide an overview and synthesis of pertinent sources you have explored, there are a number of approaches you could adopt depending upon the type of analysis underpinning your study.

Types of Literature Reviews

Argumentative Review
This form examines literature selectively in order to support or refute an argument, deeply embedded assumption, or philosophical problem already established in the literature. The purpose is to develop a body of literature that establishes a contrarian viewpoint. Given the value-laden nature of some social science research [e.g., educational reform; immigration control], argumentative approaches to analyzing the literature can be a legitimate and important form of discourse. However, note that they can also introduce problems of bias when they are used to make summary claims of the sort found in systematic reviews [see below].

Integrative Review
Considered a form of research that reviews, critiques, and synthesizes representative literature on a topic in an integrated way such that new frameworks and perspectives on the topic are generated. The body of literature includes all studies that address related or identical hypotheses or research problems. A well-done integrative review meets the same standards as primary research in regard to clarity, rigor, and replication. This is the most common form of review in the social sciences.

Historical Review
Few things rest in isolation from historical precedent. Historical literature reviews focus on examining research throughout a period of time, often starting with the first time an issue, concept, theory, phenomena emerged in the literature, then tracing its evolution within the scholarship of a discipline. The purpose is to place research in a historical context to show familiarity with state-of-the-art developments and to identify the likely directions for future research.

Methodological Review
A review does not always focus on what someone said [findings], but how they came about saying what they say [method of analysis]. Reviewing methods of analysis provides a framework of understanding at different levels [i.e. those of theory, substantive fields, research approaches, and data collection and analysis techniques], how researchers draw upon a wide variety of knowledge ranging from the conceptual level to practical documents for use in fieldwork in the areas of ontological and epistemological consideration, quantitative and qualitative integration, sampling, interviewing, data collection, and data analysis. This approach helps highlight ethical issues which you should be aware of and consider as you go through your own study.

Systematic Review
This form consists of an overview of existing evidence pertinent to a clearly formulated research question, which uses pre-specified and standardized methods to identify and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect, report, and analyze data from the studies that are included in the review. The goal is to deliberately document, critically evaluate, and summarize scientifically all of the research about a clearly defined research problem. Typically it focuses on a very specific empirical question, often posed in a cause-and-effect form, such as "To what extent does A contribute to B?" This type of literature review is primarily applied to examining prior research studies in clinical medicine and allied health fields, but it is increasingly being used in the social sciences.

Theoretical Review
The purpose of this form is to examine the corpus of theory that has accumulated in regard to an issue, concept, theory, phenomena. The theoretical literature review helps to establish what theories already exist, the relationships between them, to what degree the existing theories have been investigated, and to develop new hypotheses to be tested. Often this form is used to help establish a lack of appropriate theories or reveal that current theories are inadequate for explaining new or emerging research problems. The unit of analysis can focus on a theoretical concept or a whole theory or framework.

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