Towards a Literature Review Methodology: A Practical Guide in the Context of Using Artificial Intelligence in Education

Abstract

Scientific research plays an essential role in the development of mankind through its ability to provide innovative solutions and technological advances in various fields. In this perpetual quest, researchers must be active members of the scientific community, sharing their experiences and publishing their work and discoveries. All research work generally begins with a literature review (LR), which involves delving into previous work to examine the current state of knowledge, situate a research topic, and thus identify opportunities and explore new avenues of research. This important step can be arduous and complicated for new researchers. This paper aims to address the challenge faced by new researchers in conducting LRs, particularly in formulating search queries, identifying and selecting relevant studies, and extracting data from each paper, by proposing a methodological approach and applying it through a practical example in the context of using artificial intelligence in education. The approach is guided by the PRISMA (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses) framework and focuses on recent studies conducted in 2021, 2022, and 2023. The proposed approach identified 52 out of 336 relevant studies. 65% of these studies were deemed to be of high quality (Q1 and Q2 rankings), and 40% of the articles were published in high-impact academic journals (Q1). This approach is versatile and can be adapted to different fields.