What are the advantages and disadvantages of a review study?

By Priya Chetty on December 8, 2019
Image by Pressfoto from Freepic

A review paper is the one that simply appraises already published articles.  It does not contain any primary research.

Advantages of such studies include:

  • Since no primary data collection and analysis is involved, it is simpler and faster to write a review paper than an empirical one.
  • Flexibility in length. A review study can be presented anywhere between 1500 and 8000 words.
  • The presentation of arguments is possible in the review paper.

Critical disadvantages include:

  • Empirical evidence can be unavailable if it is an unpopular topic.
  • It can be hard to convince publishers of the novelty of your research if the data is not presented robustly.
  • There are limited options for analyzing and presenting the review. Some of these are critical reviews and a systematic review.
  • Review papers lack originality as compared to empirical studies.
  • Review studies do not involve hypothesis testing.
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