Role of the Literature Review

To add to the existing body of knowledge, we need to know what is already there. This is the determined by carrying out a literature review.
It is also used to support and justify research.
Also by reviewing existing work we can identify questions not yet answered, either:

• from “future work” section of existing dissertations/papers, or
• spotting a gap – a question that has not been asked

Used to select, justify and support research methods. i.e. if papers typically use a certain metric for measurement then you should too.
Research does not occur in isolation, literature review sets context to place your work in.