How to do Systematic Literature Review
A systematic literature review is a form of secondary research-based scientific activity. In general, there are two forms of research: primary research and secondary research.
Primary research entails personally asking study the subject’s questions and requires approval. Primary research methods include interviews, internet surveys, and focus groups.
Although, secondary research is acquiring data that already exists or relying on the results of other authors and researchers. It does not require approval and asks direct questions from human beings. Literature reviews and systematic literature reviews are forms of secondary research.
A literature review gives a high-level overview of research, a broad synopsis of what has previously been done and by whom, highlights what sections of study tell us about a topic, identifies gaps and conflicts in the area.
However, when the relevant literature is vast, systematic literature review follows systematic judgments that are fully informed and minimally prejudiced. A systematic literature review is a more transparent and less biased review that is utilized to address empirical questions.
The following are the key steps of a systematic literature review using Kitchenham’s methodology (1):
Step 1. Research Questions: Please define the research questions for your study in the first step.
Step 2. Definitions: In general, we use some formal words in our study, therefore it’s a good idea to provide definitions for these terms to make things clearer. It’s preferable to list them in a tabular style.
Step 3. Keywords: Make a list of the keywords you’ll use to search in the databases. If you’re using more than one language, it’s best to present the information in a tabular format for more simplification.
Step 4. Databases: Mention the databases where you’ll be searching the query, such as IEEE Xplore, SCOPUS, Science Direct, ACM, Web Science, Google Scholar, and so on.
Step 5. Develop Query for Search: The research inquiries can be answered by creating a search string based on the general principles of the search title. You must do advanced searches in each database and create a search string for each, allowing for more focused results based on the proposed keywords.
Step 6. Mention the Exclusion and Inclusion Criteria:
For instance, the inclusion criteria may be: 1) Papers published between the years 20xx and 20xx. 2) Articles in journals and book chapters 3) documents written in a variety of languages. 4) Papers pertaining to specific databases. 5). Papers relating to certain keywords.
Examples of exclusion criteria include 1. Specific articles published over a specific time period. (For instance: Papers submitted before 2015 will not be considered). 2. Papers that aren’t accessible. 3. Papers that are devoid of information.
Step 7. Search Process: Do the research in the databases. For example, After the collection of papers. You can mention the above research papers list in a spreadsheet or in another tool. The following are the examples of spreadsheet table headings: a) date of search, b) database code, c) database, d) search string, e) title, and f) abstract or something similar depending upon your study. Otherwise, you might do your literature review using a research paper management platform such as Mendeley, Papers, Qippa, Cita, Sente, and others.
Step 8. Data Extraction with Exclusion and Inclusion Criteria: 1. How many documents did you find in total as per inclusion and exclusion criteria? 2. How many publications fulfill the criteria for inclusion? and provide a summary.
Step 9. Data Analysis and Results: In the mapping of Systematic Review, you can show the accepted papers from different databases. Additionally, you can show mapping as per different keywords that make sense for reviewers and readers. Furthermore, in the end, you have to map your results as per your research questions.
If you want to read Systematic literature review guidelines yourself, then you can follow these papers:
1. B. Kitchenham, S. Charters, Guidelines for Performing Systematic Literature Reviews in Software Engineering, Tech. rep., Technical report, EBSE Technical Report EBSE-2007–01, 2007.
2. K. Petersen, R. Feldt, S. Mujtaba, M. Mattsson, Systematic mapping studies in software engineering, in: 12th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering, vol. 17, 2008, p. 1.
3. D. Budgen, M. Turner, P. Brereton, B. Kitchenham, Using mapping studies in software engineering, in: Proceedings of PPIG, vol. 8, 2008, pp. 195–204.
4. H. Arksey, L. O’Malley, Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework, Int. J. Soc. Res. Meth. 8 (1) (2005) 19–32.
5. J. Biolchini, P.G. Mian, A.C.C. Natali, G.H. Travassos, Systematic review in software engineering, System Engineering and Computer Science Department COPPE/UFRJ, Technical Report ES vol. 679(05), 2005, p. 45.
6. M. Petticrew, H. Roberts, Systematic Reviews in the Social Sciences: A Practical Guide, John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
7. B. Kitchenham, P. Brereton, A systematic review of systematic review process research in software engineering, Inf. Softw. Technol. 55 (12) (2013) 2049– 2075.
8. Kai Petersen, Sairam Vakkalanka, Ludwik Kuzniarz, Guidelines for conducting systematic mapping studies in software engineering: An update, Information and Software Technology, Volume 64, 2015.