La imatge turística: un reflex de l’autèntica identitat de la  destinació

The originality of a research topic often depends on a critical reading of a wide-ranging literature. The nature of this concerns, on the one hand, immersing oneself in the topic to avoid the shallowness of quick and 'dirty' research and, on the other, there is the need to identify the key ideas and methodologies from which some contribution to knowledge might be made. Without a systematic search and critical reading of the literature it would be very difficult to see how academic research could make a new application of a methodology or contribute in some way, no matter how small, to knowledge. In other words, knowledge generation and under-standing is an emergent process and not a universal product. In order to know the nature and character of the implications of a development you need to know the intellectual context of that development. This chapter therefore looks at the purpose of the literature review and what is meant by the research imagination.

THE PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW IN RESEARCH

The review of a literature differs significantly from the review of a book on a topic. Whereas the review of, say, a novel by Virginia Woolf might aim to make the public aware of the novel and contribute to contemporary literary debate, the review of a topic literature has a personal dimension that aims to develop the skills and abilities of the researcher as well as having a public dimension. This latter dimension embodies the design features of the research, for example, the plan for the research. It also embodies the educational purposes of carrying out a piece of independent research.

Reviewing the literature on a topic can therefore provide an aca-demically enriching experience, but only if it is done properly. To achieve this the review should be regarded as a process fundamental to any worthwhile research or development work in any subject irrespective of the discipline. The research student has the responsibility to find out what already exists in the area in which they propose to do research before doing the research itself. The review forms the foundation for the research proper. The researcher needs to know about the contributions others have

Reviewing and the research imagination 27 made to the knowledge pool relevant to their topic. It is the ideas and work of others that will provide the researcher with the framework for their own work; this includes methodological assumptions, data-collection tech-niques, key concepts and structuring the research into a conventional academic thesis.

A basic requirement for the research student is that they should under-stand the history of the subject they intend to study. This means acquiring sufficient knowledge of the subject area along with comprehending the significance of work already done in the field. This knowledge serves the purpose of providing a perspective on how the subject has developed and become established, and assists in the development and acquisition of the appropriate vocabulary.

By becoming familiar with the history of the subject the researcher will also become acquainted with the current research and debate on their topic. This will make it possible to identify the general areas of concern that might give pointers to specific matters worth studying. Areas of concen-trated, current interest and, possibly, areas of relative neglect will become apparent. The review will also help the researcher to gain an under-standing of the interrelationships between the subject being considered and other subject areas. Thus, they will be better placed to recognize or establish a context in which the subject for study exists. The overall result is that the researcher will become thoroughly knowledgeable about a topic and they will be ready to do research that advances knowledge on that topic. We can therefore say that the review serves at least the following purposes in research:

1 distinguishing what has been done from what needs to be done;

2 discovering important variables relevant to the topic;

3 synthesizing and gaining a new perspective;

4 identifying relationships between ideas and practice;

5 establishing the context of the topic or problem;

6 rationalizing the significance of the problem;

7 enhancing and acquiring the subject vocabulary;

8 understanding the structure of the subject;

9 relating ideas and theory to applications;

10 identifying the main methodologies and research techniques that have been used;

11 placing the research in a historical context to show familiarity with state-of-the-art developments.

These purposes should not be seen as ranked in order of importance. No one purpose is of greater significance than any other. They are all equally important in a review of relevant literature. In many cases the individual purposes merge into one another and manifest themselves in numerous places and in various ways in a review. There are some good reasons therefore to take time on a search of the literature. At a very basic level, a

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thesis that duplicates what has already been done is of very little use and is a waste of resources. It might even be invalidated and rejected by the university concerned. The search of the literature can help to avoid this.

Getting to know who is doing what and where they are doing it enables the researcher to evaluate its relevance. Other researchers in the field are

therefore worth noting because they can be very good sources for ideas or even to use in further search strategies. It may also prove possible to identify people and organizations with whom, or with which, some degree of co-operation may be fruitful and who may be able to suggest sources and ideas that will help in the research.

Your methodological starting point

One of the most important outcomes of the search and review will be the identification of methodological traditions which, in turn, will help to iden-tify data-collection techniques that can be considered for use in the work.

When reviewing the work of others you will be able to identify the methodological assumptions and research strategies that they have employed. In evaluating the relative merits of current methodologies you will soon become acquainted with thinking about the importance of methodology. This will assist you in deciding on the methodological assumptions for your own work while helping you to make decisions on the design features of your research strategy. In Example A at the end of this chapter we can begin to see how a group of cognitive psychologists, Oakes and colleagues, developed an argument for their own work through the process of reviewing the literature on their topic.

Oakes et al. (1994), in the study of stereotyping, dedicate two chapters of their book (based on their research) to outlining the nature and scope of the literature on stereotyping. In the first chapter they provide a detailed description of the origins of academic interest in the topic and explicate the main points from the landmark studies. In the second chapter they critically analyse previous approaches to stereotyping to show how their work differs from previous work, while at the same time aiming to show how it forms a development in our understanding of stereotyping. In the example we can see many of the things that we have just been discussing. Read the example and see if you can identify the ways in which the authors:

Reviewing and the research imagination 29 1 place the topic in a historical perspective;

2 identify key landmark studies selecting what they consider to be the key sources and authors;

3 establish a context for their own interest;

4 distinguish what has been done in order to identify a space for their own work.

Turn to Example A now on p. 32.

In Example A we see the social psychological approach and explication of a key area which is of concern to social psychologists. Different subject disciplines tend to have differing ways of framing their approach to a given problem. Some disciplines have specific issues and debates that are particular to that discipline. The researcher can only become sufficiently familiar with disciplinary debates and perspectives through an investiga-tive search and analytical reading of the literature. Knowledge of the perspectives distinct to the discipline or topic will be required in order to establish the significance of the topic. This needs to be done in order to be able to justify a research topic from within the conventions and intellectual tradition of the most relevant discipline.

As a consequence, familiarity with subject knowledge will enable gaps and anomalies in previous research to be identified. Questions can then be asked that have significance and which can be turned into a viable research topic. The literature is therefore an essential resource: it can help to find an appropriate and valid topic. The same materials are nearly always useful in defining the parameters, dimensions and scope of what is to be investi-gated.

THE RESEARCH IMAGINATION

In his short and useful book, The Sociological Imagination (1978), C. Wright Mills provides the would-be researcher with some guides on how to think, how to manage large amounts of information and how to generate an attitude conducive to a research imagination. In his definition of the sociological imagination, Mills provides us with a starting point for under-standing the need for a research imagination:

The sociological imagination, I remind you, in considerable part consists of the capacity to shift from one perspective to another, and in the process to build up an adequate view of a total society and of its components. It is this imagination, of course, that sets off the social scientist from the mere technician. (1978: 232) A researcher therefore needs to have the basic skills to do competent research. Some of these have already been mentioned, such as being able to use a library. However, what Mills is saying is that the effective use of these skills involves the development of an imaginative approach to research. It is something not easily acquired. A research imagination takes

30 Doing a literature review

time to develop: something that is part of the research apprenticeship. For Mills, the research imagination is about: having a broad view of a topic;

being open to ideas regardless of how or where they originated; ques-tioning and scrutinizing ideas, methods and arguments regardless of who proposed them; playing with different ideas in order to see if links can be made; following ideas to see where they might lead; and it is about being scholarly in your work. What better examples of the research imagination, claims Mills, than the work of some of the founding theorists. It is thinkers like Marx, Weber, Spencer, Mannheim and Durkheim, according to Mills, who can provide illustrations of what a research imagination can promise:

The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society. That is its task and its promise. To recognize the task and its promise is the mark of the classical social analyst. It is characteristic of Herbert Spencer – turgid, polysyllabic, comprehensive; of E.A.

Ros – graceful, muckraking, upright; of August Comte and Emile Durkheim; of the intricate and subtle Karl Mannheim. It is the quality of all that is intellectually excellent in Karl Marx; it is the clue to Thorstein Veblen^'s brilliant and ironic insight; to Joseph Schumpeter's many-sided constructions of reality; it is the basis of the psychological sweep of W.E. Lecky no less than of the profundity and clarity of Max Weber. (1978: 12)

These and other social theorists (including many women) may be dead and some long forgotten, but Mills emphasizes the usefulness of reading their work. This is because contemporary society is dominated by information rather than knowledge. Many academic libraries have embraced the concept of just in time rather than just in case. They have become access points to information. It is for these reasons that the researcher faced with this confusing mass of information needs to acquire the searching skills to exploit the technology and develop an intellect that enables them to think their way through it; to be able to construct summations of what is going on in the world. But where and how do you begin? Mills suggests that the researcher should adopt a questioning and critical attitude. The following, adapted from his book (1978: 13) are some of the sorts of questions which can be useful when beginning a journey into the literature of a topic: they can lead back to those social theorists whose names and works are forgotten or have become vague, but which laid the foundations on which contemporary ideas, views and standpoints have been built.

The first set of questions relates to the structure of the knowledge on a topic.

• What is the structure of the knowledge on this topic?

• What and who are the key works and theorists?

• What methodological and moral assumptions have been deemed necessary in order to study this topic?