As part of the literature review it will be necessary to collect and organize literature and other written works to inform the research project. This will include information regarding various theories such as systems, action science, and change theory as well as theoretical frameworks in the psychology of education. In addition to these, background material will be needed to better understand issues and problems in an institutional setting and a plan to ensure the critical analysis of the information which is used in this process. The search for materials involves processes, as does the analysis of each resource which is chosen for inclusion.
Systems theory, action science, and change theory are lenses of interpretation which highlight practical aspects of application as part of their framework. In order to use them in this study it will be necessary to ensure that the broad outlines of each theory are well understood, and also to understand how they have been applied in the past in the field of education and how they have been applied to psychological phenomena such as morale. In order to collect and organize literature that uses these theories, searches will be conducted using the keywords of the theories. These would include both the author of the original theory, such as Von Bertalanffy in the case of systems theory, as well as finding researchers who have excelled in recent application of these theories. Organizing these theories may begin by using the original theories, but the end result is likely to be structured by the themes of the research.
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"Building Your Literature Review Plan: Part Two".
In order to collect and organize literature that uses theories of a specialization, searches will be conducted across journals specializing in education such as the International Journal of Educational Research published by Elsevier. These searches would use terms such as “teacher morale” as well as terms such as “Professional Recognition”, “Teacher Attitudes”, “teacher motivation”, “teacher burnout” and “teacher welfare”. When articles are found that meet the criteria and appear to have value to my research it will become possible to move backwards by looking at the reference for that study or article, and then move forward by reviewing the abstracts of other articles which have cited that article.
When seeking to collect and use background materials in order to understand issues and problems in an institutional setting it is easiest to begin with communications provided by the institutions themselves. With regard to teacher morale that will include the collection of school board policies that may relate to morale, human resources policies affecting teachers, and an understanding of the organization and structure of schools and authorities in education. Other activities would include reading broadly and generally on the topic, such as Ballantine and Hammack’s (2015) The sociology of education: A systematic analysis. Essentially any information that provides a formal description of the context or defines and delineates the rules and structure of teaching would be useful for better understanding the positioning of teacher morale.
All materials for use in the study should be analyzed critically with regard its usefulness in the research. This will include assessing the source of the data and its contents, and this approach changes depending on the type of resource. In evaluating other research it is important to pay attention to the qualifications and context of other researchers, the research design and criticisms or contrary views. With regard to theory critical analysis is needed in order to understand and apply the theory. Background and institutional resources require determinations of meaning within the context of the research question and study. Synthesis is then required of all lines of inquiry.
