The main review tasks to cover in literature review at the individual theory level and the usage of perplexity: a note

The main review tasks to cover in literature review at the individual theory level and the usage of perplexity: a note

To write the chapter of literature review, with regard to the task of reviewing a chosen theory to be employed in a dissertation project, I suggest five questions to ask perplexity.ai for information. Reflecting on the replies from perplexity.ai constitutes the 5 main literature review tasks at the individual theory level:

Question 1. What is the XXX theory in the field of XXX all about? [the purpose is to describe the characteristics and ingredient ideas of the theory]

Question 2. Have there been any conceptual enhancements of the XXX theory in the field of XXX over the years? [the purpose is to describe the evolutionary pathway of the theory: the chronological perspective].

Question 3. What are the other academic theories that are often employed together with the XXX Theory in XXX research works? [the purpose is to inform theory-focused literature synthesis]

Question 4. What are the strengths and limitations of the XXX theory in the field of XXX as discussed in the academic literature? [the purpose to inform the theory evaluation task at the individual theory level]

Question 5. What are the research gaps and research issues related to the XXX Theory employment in the field of XXX? [the purpose is to inform the discussion of how the employment of the XXX theory [to serve the dissertation research objectives] is linked to the academic context of the dissertation project on hand.]

• A housing studies example
• A business management example
• An accounting and finance example

Lastly [the last task], after discussing the topics covered by the 5 questions above, the research student needs to explain how the XXX theory is to be employed to inform the the research design and findings analysis so as to address the dissertation project objectives and research issues. This last task, essential to the dissertation literature review, is not explored in this blog note.

** Some students ask me how to literature review on their chosen theories for their dissertation projects. I hope this study note is useful to them. 

** These five review tasks are only required if the academic theory is one of the few key ones (normally within 2-3 key theories) to be employed in the core-focus-domain of your dissertation project with word count limit figure at 12,000 to 15,000 words.

Reference: a collection of blog notes on using chatgpt for research purpose.