lecture 3 advanced research methods

What is academic literature?

Academic literature focuses on the exploration of theory and represents the state-of-the-art theoretical knowledge.

What is professional literature?

Professional literature focuses on practice, specifically managerial problems and their solutions.

Does professional literature always appear in academic literature reviews?

No, professional literature is not always used in literature reviews of academic publications.

Why is professional literature important for a Bachelor project?

Because Bachelor projects are often centered on managerial problems, professional literature provides practical insights.

What do academic and professional literature together form in a Bachelor project?

A critical literature synthesis.

Main types of Academic Literature

1. Conference & Working Papers

• Core: Early-stage academic research

• Good: Very recent, fast to appear

• Bad: Limited review, quality not guaranteed, often short

2. Academic Journal Articles

• Core: Peer-reviewed research articles

• Good: High quality, main source for literature reviews

• Bad: Publication takes long, quality differs per journal

3. Academic Books

• Core: In-depth academic overviews

• Good: Good for topic overview, multiple perspectives

• Bad: Quality varies, may be outdated, not always accessible

4. Theses & Dissertations

• Core: Student and PhD research

• Good: Novel ideas, many references, good overviews

• Bad: Quality varies a lot, not always accessible

Some types of Professional Literature

1. Reports & White Papers

• Core: Practice-based reports (companies, consultants)

• Good: Very relevant to real problems, up-to-date

• Bad: Can be biased, quality varies

2. Professional Journals

• Core: Practice-oriented magazines/journals

• Good: Latest developments in practice

• Bad: Not peer-reviewed, may be biased

3. Newspapers

• Core: News on current developments

• Good: Helps generate ideas and focus topics

• Bad: Written from a viewpoint, biased

4. Social Media / Blogs

• Core: Online opinions and discussions

• Good: Very current, expert insights possible

• Bad: Highly biased, unclear expertise

5. Professional Books

• Core: Books for managers/practitioners

• Good: Practical insights, some are classics

• Bad: One-sided perspective, not a full overview

Quick Comparison

Type	Purpose	Approach	Focus
Systematic	Whole review	Strict, step-by-step	All studies
Meta-Analysis	Combine results	Statistical	Numbers, effect size
Narrative	Background only	Flexible	Theory & gaps

Know Your Topic First

Key idea: Before starting a literature review, make sure you understand your topic.

Why:

• Main challenge = not knowing enough about your research theme

• Helps you choose relevant sources and focus your review

Organize Your Topic

Key idea: After learning your topic, organize it visually.

How:

• Use a mind map or concept map

• Group ideas, themes, and connections

• Makes it easier to structure your literature review

Getting Insights into Your Topic

What it means: Learn the big picture before your literature review.

Look for:

• How new or well-studied the topic is

• Which fields study it

• Main theories and top researchers

• Key ideas and their definitions

• Questions already studied & how

• Suggestions for future research

Systematic literature search (applies to academic literature)

Core idea: Start broad, then narrow down to the most relevant academic sources.

Steps:

1. Build info pool – Collect lots of sources (AI can help, but check carefully)

2. Apply filters – Narrow by journals, sectors, countries, keywords

3. Rough assessment – Read titles/abstracts; classify as relevant, maybe, or not relevant

4. Analyze literature – Scan references, group by theory/strategy/findings, spot gaps

5. Refine or stop – Adjust search terms or stop if sufficient sources found

Tip: Think of it as a funnel: wide at the top, narrow at the bottom.

Snowballing (Complement to Systematic Search) applies to academic literature)

1. Pick an academic article

2. Check REFERENCES – see which papers it cited

3. Check CITATIONS – see who cited this paper (Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar)

4. Repeat to grow your sources incrementally (back and forth)

Tip: Unlike the funnel, snowballing adds sources step by step instead of narrowing down

Decisions Before a Systematic Search

• Databases/Engines – choose relevant ones and know why.

• Search Parameters – language, period, literature type, subject area.

• Search Terms – main terms, synonyms; AI can help, document process.

• Where to Search Terms – titles, abstracts, keywords; more fields = more results.

• Filters – journals, methods, other inclusion criteria.

• Research Question – the clearer the question, the better the results.

When to use Gen AI safely?

• ✅ Always check & read references

  • ✅ Sources: Wikipedia, Reddit → verify

• ⚠ Avoid plagiarism / personal info

• ⚠ Watch for AI errors

• 🧠 User skill matters

  • 📚 Know your field & literature type

  • 🔍 Vet relevance & quality carefully

What is relevant & good-quality literature?

Relevance

• Answers your research question

• Judged by title, abstract, quick scan

Quality

• Trusted source/journal, author authority

• Truly judged after reading full text

Sufficiency

• Covers classic + recent studies

• New searches give same results = saturation

• Enough to understand & justify your LR

General signs of quality in academic literature

Articles

• Many citations (not always for new/niche papers)

• Clear, transparent methods & data

• Reflection on methodological quality

Journals

• Journal ranking / impact factor (limited)

• ERIM journal list (ask supervisor)

Theses / Conferences / Books

• Reputation of school or authors

• Well-known names in field

• Books: multiple editions = quality

Quality of professional (non-academic) literature

4 Criteria

• Credibility – strong author/source reputation

• Accuracy – complete, verifiable facts

• Objectivity – balanced, considers counter-arguments

• Support – transparent use of sources

Four ways of being critical (reading & writing)

• Critique of tradition – question repeated assumptions; don’t blindly follow common views

• Critique of authority – be skeptical of experts/theories; include alternatives

• Critique of rhetoric – check if conclusions are well-supported and logical

• Critique of objectivity – spot bias; note strong opinions & limitations