If you do not have a specific research problem, you should review the literature in your broad area of
interest with the aim of gradually narrowing it down to what you want to find out about. After that the
literature review should be focused around your research problem. There is a danger in reviewing the
literature without having a reasonably specific idea of what you want to study. It can condition your
thinking about your study and the methodology you might use, resulting in a less innovative choice of
research problem and methodology than otherwise would have been the case. Hence, you should try
broadly to conceptualise your research problem before undertaking your major literature review.
There are four steps involved in conducting a literature review:
1. Searching for the existing literature in your area of study.
2. Reviewing the selected literature.
3. Developing a theoretical framework.
4. Developing a conceptual framework.
The skills required for these tasks are different. Developing theoretical and conceptual frameworks is
more difficult than the other tasks.