Research method I would like to know how a desk research, i.e. analyzing thoroughly literature, can be an acceptable research method for academic journals. Very often, I read research articles with mainly quantitative research methods which are very poor in theory and literature analysis. Often, these articles "discover" what is extensively explained in the literature. At the same time, extensive analysis of the literature, some call it "systematic review" might bring genuine discoveries. However, academic journals do not accept articles with exclusively extensive analysis, because they do not see any "research method" in them! Is there any academic solution to this problem? I know the method of "systematic review". Unfortunately many journals do not know or do not consider it. Is there any other research method based on (interdisciplinary) literature review? I have an article on "gift giving". It's temporary title is "What does it cost, when it is free?". I have reviewed anthropological, economic and marketing literature for preparing it. However, I do not have any field research method, because I think I cannot have any at this stage. I have not submitted it to journals because I know by experience they do not accept it without a field research. Do you know any solution for this particular research problem
I have been able to publish quite number of literature review articles over the years. I must admit that the last one was 8 years ago, so may be times have changed. It might also be due to differences between areas of research. Sometimes special issues especially devoted to reviews have been published. So do not give up, keep looking for a journal that will accept it (although may be with a lower citation index score) .
I fully agree that a good critical review is really worth more than quite a number of "new" discoveries, which have been poorly executed and poorly described.
Thank you Justyna, thank you C.A.
I thank you for comments and guidelines. I should go and submit my article anyway.
I have some good references of articles that have adopted the method of systematic review approach, such as:
Stead, M., Gordon, R., Angus, K., & McDermott, L. (2007). A systematic review of social marketing effectiveness. Health education, 107(2), 126-191.
Sánchez-Fernández, R., & Iniesta-Bonillo, M. Á. (2007). The concept of perceived value: a systematic review of the research. Marketing theory, 7(4), 427-451.
Johnson, B. R., De Li, S., Larson, D. B., & McCullough, M. (2000). A Systematic Review of the Religiosity and Delinquency Literature A Research Note. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 16(1), 32-52.
Peloza, J., & Shang, J. (2011). How can corporate social responsibility activities create value for stakeholders? A systematic review. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39(1), 117-135.
Aguinis, H., & Glavas, A. (2012). What we know and don’t know about corporate social responsibility a review and research agenda. Journal of Management, 38(4), 932-968.
What about you, do you know any? In particular in journals with a high citation index score
Sorry, I have been working in a completely different area, so I can not give you any suggestion.
Dear Djamhid,
There are some good examples in many journals and you quote some of them. I can also tell you my method for this systematic approach. I use to build a data base with all the references and include different variables such as author, tittle, topic, sub-topic, objective, journal, hypoteheses/propositions, empirical methodology, main results and gaps/limitations. I add some other variables if I read something different (i.e. countries if there are multicultural studies). I even include coefficients of the results just in case I need a meta-analyses (or at least a similar approch). It helps me a lot. Now if you cross the information of some columns (I use to do it in excel) with some programe such as mendeley it is a useful approach. At least with new topics.
Hope it helps.
Best gards
Thank you very much Monica.
A practical question.
Do you prepare your data base din Word or Excel?
Do you treat it statically too?
All the best
Yes, I prepare it in excel and afterwards some of the variables can be coded and treat it with spss. I send to you two incomplete examples that I am working with my Ph.D students. After reading all the literature, I include variables such as sample size, coefficients for dependent variables, etc.
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