Exploring Literature Review Types in the Soft Sciences: The Case of Papers Published in Language and Linguistics, Management, and Sociology

The literature review plays a crucial role in academic research by effectively identifying research gaps in several dimensions, including conceptual, methodological, and theoretical aspects. This basic content analysis was an attempt to examine the types of Literature Review (LR) used by Persian researchers in the soft sciences, including language and linguistics, management, and sociology. To such an end, we followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) to conduct this systematic review, comprising ۳۱۳ papers from the three journals (Language and Linguistics (n = ۷۷), Iranian Journal of Sociology (n = ۱۳۰), and Journal of Management Research in Iran (n = ۱۰۶)). We codified the LRs in MAXQDA ۲۰, using six major LR types: theoretical, argumentative, integrative, methodological, historical, and systematic. The descriptive results show similarities and differences concerning the types of LRs used by researchers across the three fields of language and linguistics, management, and sociology. The results also indicate that Persian researchers of soft sciences tended to use mostly theoretical (۸۷.۸۹%) and historical reviews (۸۶.۷۴%), and infrequently methodological reviews (۱۱.۵۱%). The Code Map results showed various co-occurrences and relationships among the historical, theoretical, integrative, and systematic reviews. Overall, we concluded that co-construction of knowledge, partially based on previous studies in LRs, is more theoretically- and historically oriented in the soft sciences research conducted by Persian researchers. The study has implications for student researchers and material developers of research writing.

کلیدواژه ها:

Basic Content Analysis ، Literature Review ، Persian Researchers ، PRISMA ، Soft Sciences