(a) Individual items

• What is the (empirical) basis of this research?
• How does the research relate to other research writings on the topic?
• What theoretical framework is being used?
• What georaphical area does the research refer to?
• What social group(s) does the research refer to?
• When was the research carried out and is it likely still to be empirically valid?

(b)  In relation to the literature as a whole

• What is the range of research that has been conducted?
• What methods have generally been used and what methods have been neglected?
• What, in summary, does the existing research tell us?
• What, in summary, does the existing research not tell us?
• What contradictions are there in the literature - either recognised or unrecognised by authors cencerned?
• What are the deficiencies in the existing research, in substantive or methodological terms?