A UTS FASS HDR EVENT

A hermeneutic approach for conducting literature reviews and literature searches

Contributing to knowledge requires a solid understanding of what is published already. Over the last few years so called systematic literature reviews have started to dominate the sciences; however, for work in the arts and social sciences a hermeneutic approach often offers a better way for engaging with existing literature.

This workshop introduces the hermeneutic circle describing literature reviews as fundamentally a process of developing understanding. You will learn different techniques that can assist you with the literature review process related to effective searching in literature databases and keeping track of the literature that you have found. The workshop will increase your ability to handle large volumes of literature in a way that allows you to quickly identify literature that can drive forward your understanding.

The workshop will be conducted by Dr. Sebastian Boell.

Presenter Bio
Dr. Sebastian Boell works at the University of Sydney Business School since 2014 and has published on literature reviews in leading journals. His research draws from a multi-disciplinary training in Information Systems, Information Science, Cognitive Psychology, Engineering, and further expertise in different research methodologies including: historiography, qualitative research, interpretive work, scientometric and bibliometric approaches, practical information retrieval and literature analysis. Sebastian explores foundational questions about information systems, such as: How do ICT shape organisational information? and, How do organisations change and adapt with and through information over time?

Related reading

Workshop participants may wish to read the following, which is available the UTS library:

Boell, S. K., & Cecez-Kecmanovic, D. (2014). A Hermeneutic Approach for Conducting Literature Reviews and Literature Searches. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 34(1), 257–286.