When searching through literature searching strategies for the purpose of writing your dissertation, you need to seek a good strategy which is both comprehensive and systematic. A systematic collection of observations from research subjects (such as demographic characteristics, physical characteristics, biological markers, behaviours, or feelings, emotions or views) aiming to create information about these subjects is otherwise referred to as research. This can be performed in the following order:
- Reflect on potential research areas or questions which are of interest to you
- Carry out simple searches, both on Google and in textbooks so as to obtain general knowledge on the subject of your interest
- Attempt to develop your research question; you may find the need to refine your question at a later stage or even restart your search from scratch to change your chosen subject
- Seek assistance by experts in the field of your interest and discuss related information sources
- Carry out advanced electronic research
- As part of the selection process, search manually through resulting key studies so as to confirm their relevance to your PICO question
- At this stage you should now have a clear idea of which relevant studies you can use for your own review
- Seek once again your chosen expert in the same field of study to confirm whether your refined idea is appropriate and relevant to the local scenario and clarify any related questions
Study Approaches and Designs
Every research study aims to answer a research question, which in itself determines the best approach and design to be used.
CHOOSING THE BEST DESIGN:
- EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN – Randomised Control Trial (RCT)
- OBSERVATIONAL DESIGN – Cross Sectional, Cohort, and Case Control Study
CHOOSING THE BEST APPROACH:
- QUANTITATIVE APPROACH – emphasises on objective quantifiable measurements of attributes, aiming to generalise to a wider population; this approach involves theory testing and numerical data collection which can be analysed using statistical techniques
- QUALITATIVE APPROACH – emphasises on subjective measures which may be varied or may change over time; this approach, which usually relies heavily on data interpretation, involves theory development, commonly including data in words and narratives such as perceptions and experiences aiming to understand or explain a typical behaviour.
NOTE: in qualitative research, rigor influences the validity of the produced results, which in turn determines how useful the evidence produced is, in terms of evidence based practice.
Literature Searching Strategies
Carrying out an Electronic Search
To carry out an electronic search you should search for articles within electronic databases which provide access to various electronic journals eg. International Journal of Nursing Studies and Journal of Nursing Education. Such journals include a number of publications a.k.a. articles.
The efficacy of an electronic search depends on how well your research question has been designed, how extensive was your search in relation to words and phrases used, the use of search tools such as Truncations and Boolean Operators, the use of good databases, and your review of literature search strategies until you are happy with your end results.
Choosing Search words and/or Phrases
A well designed research question should feature PICO elements…
Search terms used can be in the form of single words or phrases. Phrases should be put in inverted commas. Always keep in mind that search engines provide you ONLY with articles containing the words you use in your searches.
Finding synonyms for each of the PICO components may be facilitated by:
- brainstorming
- thesaurus
- MeSH browser
- taking ideas from previously written related articles
- using all word options including words containing hyphenations, alternative spelling and abbreviations
Additional Search Tools
Boolean Logic Operators
Use of Boolean Logic Operators AND, Or, and NOT:
- AND combines words/phrases together so that both appear within one article found by a search.
Example: a search for ‘needles AND fear’ will find only those articles that contain both the words needles and fear.
- OR enables a selection of any one of a number of specified words in a list.
Example: behavioural OR behavioral
- NOT excludes specific words so articles containing them will not be identified.
Example: ‘fear of needles NOT fear of hospitals’
Truncation
- Truncation helps search all the variations of a word without writing them.
Example: Child* picks up child, children, childhood etc
Wildcard
- Wildcard helps you identify alternative spellings of the same word easily.
Example 1: An?emia would pick up anaemia and anemia
Example 2: H?emoglobin would pick up haemoglobin and hemoglobin
Phrase Searching
- Phrase searching through the use of inverted commas helps you pick up articles containing your chosen phrase only.
Example: “pressure sores” picks up the phrase as written and not where both words are used separately
Searching within a Database
When conducting an electronic search, you can use databases that facilitate your work. Universities tend to subscribe to a substantial number of databases which include a wide variety of articles across different fields of study. For students following a course at the University of Malta there are a good number of databases that students can use for their literature searching strategies.
After finding a database to search in:
- use limiters – eg. ticking peer reviewed articles increases the likelihood of finding articles which are of good quality
- choose date/s – ideally limit your search to the last 3 years; if no interesting articles come up, widen your search to the last 5 years or more if need be
- do not use ‘Full text’ as a limiter
- do not use unnecessary limiters
- combine keywords in your searches using Boolean Operators
- use other search tools as mentioned further above to help define your searches
- stop searching only when you have exhausted all possible literature searching strategies for relevant content
NOTE: Keep a record of ALL searches you apply, including implemented changes, as well as the results obtained with each of your searches!
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