When you begin researching your topic and especially a dissertation, you may not find things exactly on your topic. And that is good.
Your research question is unique, meaning not many people have written about that exact question. Therefore, your goal is to find sources around your question, to explain what we already know that relates (the literature) and what we don't already know (your question).
If you find things and show how they relate to your question, even if they are not exact, then you will have a good lit. review. This, in fact, is what a literature review is. It shows how previous research relates and how your own question will add to the body of knowledge.
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If your search is so narrow that you don't find anything, open it up by using broader terms. ex. IT professional instead of systems analyst
ex. stress instead of burnout
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Q: How does telecommuting affect burnout among computer systems analysts? The introduction might give an overview of telecommuting, how common it is, and how many employees do it. Then a section talks about how telecommuting affects burnout. Does it create autonomy, less social interruptions, etc.? Is that good or bad for burnout? Then the lit. review would talk about the connection between burnout and system analysts. What is their job like? Is it affected by conditions that telecommuting produces? Then you introduce your full research question and how it ties all of these angles together. None of these combinations by themselves directly answer the research question. But they do shed light on it. They explain what is known and how your question fills in the gap. |
