Week 2

For the 2nd week of the ICPD lessons, we learnt about how to do a literature review and how to evaluate research.

Literature Review
Literature review is an analysis of sources (e.g. books, articles, write-ups, reports) that aid in the discussion of the important issues and concepts relevant to the research area. It aims to provide a critical evaluation and summary of these sources. It allows us to identify knowledge gaps, show the limitations of theories and points of view, formulate areas that require further study and review areas of controversy.

Literature review is done so that a researcher will have a better understanding of the research topic, and how we should have a good feel for the direction for any research that will take place. The team will also be able to identify experts in the research topic that we can consult when in doubt, and this will help us clear up any doubts that we have. Literature review also allows us to identify any gaps in the current knowledge that require further study.

As part of the literature review, we also learnt how to access library materials and how we are able to fully utilize these library resources for our own research. There are many different online resources such as peer-review journals, educational video databases and past year FYP reports which are available online for us to view, which we are able to use as references. They can also be used to improve our current and future projects.

Evaluating Research
Evaluating research consists of Analysis, Comparison and Contrast, Inference and Interpretation, Generating Possibilities and Evaluation.
  • Analysis allows us to classify sources into different categories (e.g. peer-reviewed articles, books), identify the experts in a certain research topic, determine the methodology of the sources, determine how current or outdated a source is, and identify the main research questions.
  • Comparison and contrast is used to spot the similarities and differences among numerous sources, which can help support our arguments or identify research gaps in knowledge that should be looked into more in depth.
  • Inference and Interpretation differentiates between opinions and facts, derive meaningful inferences from data and findings, and pick out important details from resources.
  • Generating Possibilities help us to come up with many different types of possibilities that are novel in nature.
  • Evaluation lets us decide on the criteria that will be used to evaluate certain sources, as well as the applications and importance of such criteria.

Lastly, we learned more about good thinking, which is the use of the methods listed above to solve any problems we face in efficient and effective ways while synergizing these skills together.

In conclusion, literature review is an important skill that we should all possess, as it will provide us with knowledge of a research area that we can use as references to further our own studies. It consolidates all the main points of the sources together in a cohesive fashion. Evaluating research allows us to determine the reliability and relevance of the sources to our research topic. It also allows us to consider different viewpoints and reach conclusions that are supported by facts and are well-thought-out.


For our literature review, we have decided on the research topic of vaccines, as it is an area that is particularly relevant in today's context, due to the Covid-19 outbreak globally. The main focus is on vaccine storage. Our literature review is as shown below.





References

Article 1
Michelle R. Holm, Gregory A. Poland,
Critical aspects of packaging, storage, preparation, and administration of mRNA and adenovirus-vectored COVID-19 vaccines for optimal efficacy,
Vaccine,
Volume 39, Issue 3,
2021,
Pages 457-459,
ISSN 0264-410X,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.12.017.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X2031584X)

Article 2
Didier Clénet,
Accurate prediction of vaccine stability under real storage conditions and during temperature excursions,
European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics,
Volume 125,
2018,
Pages 76-84,
ISSN 0939-6411,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpb.2018.01.005.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0939641117308731)

Article 3
Shitanshu Devrani, Rahul Tiwari, Naseef Khan, Krishnakumar Sankar, Shantanu Patil, K. Sridhar,
Enhancing the insulation capability of a vaccine carrier box: An engineering approach,
Journal of Energy Storage,
Volume 36,
2021,
102182,
ISSN 2352-152X,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2020.102182.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352152X20320077)

Article 4
Kristina L. Phillips, Mary S. Hayney,
Vaccine storage and handling: Maximizing effectiveness while reducing cost,
Journal of the American Pharmacists Association,
Volume 47, Issue 4,
2007,
Pages 536-538,
ISSN 1544-3191,
https://doi.org/10.1331/JAPhA.2007.07044.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544319115313455)

Article 5
Jean-Louis Excler, Lois Privor-Dumm, Jerome H Kim,
Supply and delivery of vaccines for global health,
Current Opinion in Immunology,
Volume 71,
2021,
Pages 13-20,
ISSN 0952-7915,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coi.2021.03.009.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0952791521000297)

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