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4.9: Iterative Process

  • Page ID
    289254
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    there’s a lot of this idea of like, continuously moving forward even if moving forward seems like a step backwards in some cases (Graduate student participant as cited in Droog et al. 2024, p. 840)

    Research is an iterative process!

    Our experience of Google’s ability to instantly provide information sets us up to expect the same immediacy from the research process.

    But, conducting a literature review is an evolving process – as you explore, find, and distill the information in your topic area, you’re growing your knowledge and expertise and becoming familiar with the similarities, differences, gaps, and trends in your research area. This process will reveal your initial assumptions about your topic and impact your ultimate focus or research question.

    Rather than approaching your search as a linear process, think of it as an iterative, circular process that represents your ever-evolving understanding of the literature.

    Conduct more searches

    At this point, you have combined two facets of your topic in one database, evaluated the citations, and considered how they impacted your topic.

    Now it's time to try a few more searches.

    • Are there any circles from your Venn diagram you haven't tried yet?
    • Are there any new terms you saw in the citations which you could use as a similar term or synonym?
    • Are there any new facets you'd like to add?

    Put it in practice:

    Example: Iterative searches \(\PageIndex{1}\)

    When I evaluated my searches in section 4.7: Evaluate Citations, I found new ways I wanted to refine and narrow my topic. Since I'd like to narrow my topic, I don't want to look at full text yet, but would rather try another search or two, using some narrowed search terms.

    For example, I could save a few sources and then do another search for:

    • ("graduate students" or postgraduates) and "topic selection" and (emotions or perceptions)

    Or, I might decide that perhaps the more critical term is "affect", not "graduate students" and could change my search to just:

    • "student affect"

    This broad search might not result in articles for my topic, but can provide better terminology to use.

    Activity: More searches \(\PageIndex{1}\)
    1. Add another term from your Venn diagram (or from something you found earlier).
    2. Combine it with one other search term.
    3. Evaluate the citations.
    4. Note new terms you see in the titles.
    5. Save possibly relevant sources.
    6. Repeat by combining the same term with a different term.
    7. Evaluate, note new terms, and save again.
    8. If you aren’t finding anything relevant, try a different database.

    When to stop searching:

    A common question is: When do I have enough sources? How can I know I can stop searching?

    Unfortunately, there's no simple answer. But for this point in your research, aim for 5-10 sources. That's enough to scan and evaluate the sources themselves before trying additional searches.

    Note

    You're not finished searching forever, just for this step!

    You'll return to searching once you learn more from reviewing the sources you found.

    For now, moving forward is more useful than doing exhaustive searches.

    Next Steps

    Once you have 5-10 sources that seem relevant, stop searching for now. In the next unit, you'll learn how to start scanning and engaging with your sources.


    This page titled 4.9: Iterative Process is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Frances Brady.