A methodological review of systematic literature reviews in higher education : heterogeneity and homogeneity
Abstract
The field of higher education research has bourgeoned in the past decades, addressing a wide range of topics. Being in a rapidly expanding and interdisciplinary field of research, higher education scholars have demonstrated exigency for aggregating research findings to map the research landscape, identify future research directions, and bridge the research-practice divide. In this connection, systematic literature reviews have been carried out to consolidate research findings. With a proliferation of systematic literature reviews in higher education, the aim of this meta, methodological review is to provide a state-of-the-art systematic literature review methodologies in the field of higher education. Adhering to the exploratory nature of this study, this review analyses systematic literature reviews published in 16 top-tiered international journals in higher education (n = 160). Through qualitative research synthesis using thematic analysis and informed by grounded theory, a methodological framework comprising six stages and 20 steps is developed, which might help to instigate methodological dialogue between researchers when it comes to conducting systematic literature reviews. A handy checklist for conducting and evaluating systematic literature reviews in higher education is created.
Citation
Chong , S W , Jun , L T & Chen , Y 2022 , ' A methodological review of systematic literature reviews in higher education : heterogeneity and homogeneity ' , Educational Research Review , vol. 35 , 100426 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2021.100426
Publication
Educational Research Review
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1747-938XType
Journal article
Collections
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