What are the most common challenges when conducting a product r&d literature review?

1 Defining the scope

One of the first challenges when conducting a product r&d literature review is to define the scope of your review. This means deciding what topics, questions, and keywords you will use to search for relevant literature, as well as what criteria you will use to select, exclude, and evaluate the sources. If your scope is too broad, you may end up with too much information that is difficult to manage and synthesize. If your scope is too narrow, you may miss important aspects or perspectives that are relevant to your product idea or problem. Therefore, you need to balance the breadth and depth of your review, and adjust your scope as you go along based on your findings and feedback.

3 Assessing the quality and relevance

A third challenge when conducting a product r&d literature review is to assess the quality and relevance of the sources you find and select. Quality refers to the credibility, validity, and reliability of the sources, while relevance refers to the fit and usefulness of the sources for your product idea or problem. You need to critically appraise each source and determine whether it meets your standards and expectations. You also need to compare and contrast different sources and identify any inconsistencies, contradictions, or gaps in the literature. Therefore, you need to apply various criteria and methods to evaluate and synthesize your sources, such as peer review, citation analysis, meta-analysis, etc.

5 Avoiding plagiarism and bias

A fifth challenge when conducting a product r&d literature review is to avoid plagiarism and bias in your review. Plagiarism is the act of copying or using someone else's words or ideas without proper acknowledgment or citation. Bias is the tendency to favor or oppose certain sources, perspectives, or conclusions based on your own preferences, assumptions, or beliefs. Both plagiarism and bias can undermine the credibility, validity, and reliability of your review and expose you to ethical and legal consequences. Therefore, you need to follow the principles and practices of academic integrity, such as quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, citing, and referencing your sources correctly and consistently. You also need to acknowledge and address any potential sources of bias or limitations in your review, such as personal interest, cultural background, sample size, etc.

6 Communicating and updating findings

A sixth challenge when conducting a product r&d literature review is to communicate and update your findings to your product team, stakeholders, and customers. This means presenting your review in a clear, concise, and engaging way that highlights the main points, implications, and recommendations for your product idea or problem. You also need to solicit and incorporate feedback from your audience and revise your review accordingly. Moreover, you need to monitor and update your review regularly to reflect any new developments or changes in the literature or the product environment. Therefore, you need to use various formats and channels to communicate and update your review, such as reports, presentations, blogs, podcasts, etc.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?