Problem
Exercise I: Preparatory reading. Review Chapters 5 and 6 in Garrand (2017). After completing the preparatory reading, memo your thoughts regarding the following prompts:
i. What is the function of the column headings in a Review Matrix? How are the column headings determined?
ii. All sources appearing in the matrix should have a publication date. How should you integrate and use the publication date while using a review matrix?
iii. What is the Rule of Rows and how does it help you abstract source documents? What is the Rules of Columns and how is it applied to the Review Matrix?
iv. If you added a new reference to abstract in your Review Matrix, should you also put a copy of the new article in the Source Documents Subfolder in the Documents Folder, as well as in a separate row in the Review Matrix?
v. What is a synthesis of the literature? Also, what is not a synthesis of the literature?
vi. How can you adapt the PRISMA Flowchart to show how you might track the number of documents from the beginning to the end of your review?
Exercise II: Build the Review Matrix! This exercise will have you:
i. collect numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and grey literature publications;
ii. reduce the collected peer-reviewed journal articles and grey literature publications to approximately 20-25 sources suitable to abstract in the Review Matrix;
iii. update the PRISMA Flowchart;
iv. correctly name and store the sources in the Document and other folders; and
v. build the Review Matrix to prepare for writing the mini-literature review.
Time to gather sources! Visit the university library and websites listed under Supplementary Materials, located earlier in the syllabus, and collect a wide swath of peer-reviewed journal articles and grey literature publications helping you better understand the big idea driving your dissertation which you created during Activity 1.
Make sure you:
i. Label each source document with the year of publication and a brief title.
ii. Store all source documents in the Source Documents
Review the source documents for inclusion into the Review Matrix. In the case you reject a source document, add the reason for the rejection to the document's title and place it into the Papers Not Included Subfolder, in your Documents Folder. Continue culling sources until you have a group of 20-25 sources you want to use for your miniature literature review.
Update the PRISMA Flowchart. Modify the flowchart (Figure A1 in the prospectus template) by filling in blanks with appropriate numbers. The flowchart is easier to update as you find, cull, and organize sources!