Using literature-based discovery in built environment research

Literature-based discovery (LBD) involves identifying novel relationships/theories from two or more disparate contexts of literature. Particularly, LBD can be used to investigate or search for novel hypotheses. This method has been used successfully in biomedical research, from where it originated. However, use of LBD outside the biomedical domain is still limited. In built environment (BE) research, available studies suggest that there is limited detail about the use of LBD. In addition, there is apparent confusion between LBD and other literature-related approaches such as systematic literature review. The focus in this chapter is on facilitating the development of a robust understanding of LBD among BE researchers in order to increase the use of LBD in BE research. A five-step approach to implementing LBD is proposed, and how the core principles of LBD can be upheld is demonstrated. The proposed approach facilitates rigorous development of plausible research hypotheses and/or justification of existing practices/knowledge based on secondary information from disparate contexts.