Abstract

The review of published academic literature, which is often undertaken using a traditional or narrative approach, is usually the starting point of every research project or dissertation. However, there are also established, secondary research methods according to which published academic literature is used as secondary data for analysis. This chapter contains a discussion about the use of published academic literature for traditional literature reviews in research as well as for secondary data when applying qualitative secondary research methods, such as systematic literature reviews, scoping reviews, state-of-the-art reviews or quantitative, secondary research methods such as bibliometric reviews and meta-analysis. Then, the details of systematic literature review as a qualitative secondary research method become the focus of the chapter, based on which the main methods for analysing qualitative secondary data are discussed, paying particular attention to using computer assisted, qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS), such as NVivo, to support this process. Specific guidance on when and how to use NVivo for supporting qualitative systematic literature reviews also is presented. Thus, methodical guidance is proved in this chapter on how to conduct systematic literature reviews of existing academic literature using NVivo - an approach which can also be applied to other qualitative secondary research methods.