Common literature retrieval method

Welcome the subject of research method. In the previous chapter, we have learned different types of the research question, research objectives, and the relationship between the research question and the research objective. In this chapter, we will proceed with our research method class. And together we will share with you how to search the information and how to write the paper in an academic way. In this chapter, we will cover the six topics. Firstly, the ways of how to retrieve relevant literature. Secondly, we will learn databases which are useful when you search the literature. Thirdly, the academic journals in tourism research field. Fourthly, how to read the literature, especially how to overcome certain difficulties when you read the literature.

Let’s see what are the normal methods when you try to retrieve the literature.

The first method we normally use is the conventional method – the typical way we use when we want to search the relevant literature. Conventional retrieval method refers to the use of keywords, title, index or other search indictors to find required literature. And it can be divided into two methods. Firstly, you can retrieve literature by direct checking. Secondly, you can retrieve literature by reverse search. Direct checking method is searched from past to present in chronological order. This method has a high recall rate, but it is time-consuming. And the research workload is quite heavy. Comparatively, inverse research methods means that you search the relevant literature from the present to the past. It is a reverse chronological order.

This method can save search time and discover the latest literature in the field. But the recall rate is quite low. If we compare the two methods together, we can see that direct checking method is suitable for research for complex topics with a large score and long time. But inverse search method is used to retrieve the latest topics. The second method to retrieve literature is a tracking and retrieval method. The definition of this method is to follow the references and bibliographies in the reference list of a book or a published journal article. It means that you can track the literature on the existing articles or books. This method is pretty highly targeted.

You can grasp the main ideas, problems, and the existing achievement in the field. However, the information obtained by this method is not comprehensive enough. And it is easy to miss some search information and the recall rate is also low.

The last method we want to share with you is a journal retrieval method. It means that you use a journal website, a specific journal website as your retrieval platform. But in this way, you must be familiarize with yourself of your keywords, topics, and author names you want to search in a particular journal.

If you want to use this way, firstly you should determine the direction and the theme of your own research topic. Second, you should determine the search index such as the keywords and author name. Finally, the search content might be quite massive. After you search a range of the articles or books, you need to determine the trade-offs, and you need to decide which is meaningful information.