Greetings!
I'm writing a study proposal in the meantime, and I was just wondering if it is common and acceptable practice to include the personal experiences of the author about the phenomenon under study in the literature review part or not?
Thank you!
Is it acceptable practice to Integrate the author's personal experience in the literature review part ?
Think research communities do recognize the important role of personal experience. But it is better to perform some literature review on your personal experience so that your personal experience is in alignment with / supported by literature reviewed. Because you might not know your personal experience / claim can be a unique one that research communities might not agreed with. Unless you can claim that you'd done rigorous literature review but no precedent / literature to support your unique personal experience.
Thank you Dr Han Ping Fung! Actually, my claim is in line with what the literature said. I just wanted to know if that practice is acceptable in term of writing standards or not. I got your point. God bless!
Hi Hamzeh,
If your personal experience is in line with literature, then by all means you can pen down in your literature review part.
Regards,
Fung
Dear Mr. Abunab,
Your question is interesting; I remember having this same question in mind the first time I attempted a lit review. The following are some excerpts from 1) American Psychological Association (APA), and 2) a research writing website by Purdue University.
1) "Include a critical and inclusive review of previous theory related to the relevant topic. "Critical" means that the literature review reveals problems, contradictions, controversies, strengths, next steps, and potentials in the theories. "Inclusive" means that there is an active evaluation of all of the theory relevant to the topic."
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/men/literature-review-guidelines.aspx
2) "Psychology bases its arguments on empirical evidence. Personal examples, narratives, or opinions are not appropriate for psychology."
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/670/
So based on both excerpts, I would rather leave my personal experiences out of my lit review.
Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Cameen
Empirical evidence is rather compelling, especially when it is backed up by literature. It depends on the presentation and conventions in your field but if your Methdology addresses it as well I see no reason why not.
Kind Regards
Roland
Thank you Dr Cameen Kettanun & Dr Roland Berberich for sharing your thoughts!
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