Finding qualitative & quantitative studies Lydia Thorne, MLIS Co-op Student Elizabeth Yates, Health Sciences Librarian January 2016

Why am I here? Annotated Bibliography Assignment (10% - Due Feb. 3rd!) 2 peer reviewed research articles 1 qualitative; 1 quantitative study

Agenda Keywords In-Class Activity #1: Keywords Focusing your search: tips & tricks PsycINFO How to find qualitative & quantitative studies How to use subject headings In class Activity #2: PsycInfo Writing & citing

Getting the good stuff What works for you?

Today’s outcomes You will recall strategies for finding: Qualitative & quantitative health articles using: PsycINFO Help writing an annotated bibliography Help with APA style

Think like a search engine Next stop: where & how to search >> think before you search To start, pull 1-2 keywords out of your topic and use them for your search Search engines such as Google and SuperSearch – and the library catalogue -- work by matching the words you enter in the search box to the words in the documents it searches. So for Google, that’s billions of web pages; for Supersearch it’s records for everything the library has – books, articles, movies, music, etc. Generally, search engines work by trying to match all the words you put in the search box – so the more words you type, the fewer results you will get; the fewer words you type, the more results you will get because it’s easier for the search engine to match fewer words Keywords & synonyms

What’s a keyword? The most important, relevant word(s) for your topic Usually nouns Usually 1-3 words Think about broader, narrower and related terms Keyword searching isn’t an exact science, because researchers sometimes use different words to talk about the same topic – e.g teenagers/adolescent/youth etc But choosing relevant keywords and thinking about related words can really help your search focus on highly relevant results To generate good keywords: -think about what your books or articles should be about to answer your research question -use nouns – search engines/databases don’t look for articles and prepositions -keywords are 1-2 words – not sentences or phrases

https://www.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/xZTcLbkuscLyBn5

Topic: What are the keywords in the following topic sentence? Stress and/or coping among university students Website Audience can respond atPollEv.com/hlsc3p07727, as long as the poll is active. (?)  Text messaging Presenter session: Audience textsHLSC3P07727 to 37607 to join the session, then they text a response. Keywords: Audience texts an auto-generated code and a response each time they reply.

https://www.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/wqekeMjQgmq3WUp

Keywords & synonyms Stress Coping University students Anxiety Worry Pressure Tension Strain Adapt Manage Handle Capacity Students College students Young adults Post-secondary students

Broader and Narrower Terms Students Brock University Students First-year Undergraduate Brock Students

Search tips & tricks Use “quotes” to search for an exact phrase, e.g. “coping with anxiety” Use * to search for variations of a word ending e.g. student*(student, students) Quotes are particularly helpful if you’re the words in your phrase are common and might generate a ton of results otherwise e.g. “capacity building”

Search tools: combine the concepts Search words AND, OR are powerful tools for retrieving relevant results Distinct concepts: use AND e.g. Hemophilia AND exercise Similar concepts (synonyms): use OR e.g. Anxiety OR worry home.howstuffworks.com/power-drill.htm

Finding foreground info Search engines Databases/Indexes e.g. Google: - broad scope - may not know where you are searching - few options for focused searching e.g. OVID MEDLINE, PsycINFO - defined/subject-specific scope - you can discover what journals are being searched - many options for focused searching e.g. by subject, age group, methodology, article type Both tools are great – choose the one that’s best for your search

Finding qualitative & quantitative studies Most efficient method? Search in a subject database Use methodology filters Lydia

PsycINFO Citations and abstracts for journal articles, books, book chapters, theses, dissertations and reports in psychology and related disciplines Search by: Keyword Subject heading – use Term Finder

SH = consistency, efficiency Subject Headings SH = consistency, efficiency Standardized words assigned to an article based on its topic Groups together all the information on a given topic SH searches retrieve targeted information Image Using MeSH means your searches only return articles that are relevant to the topic Keyword searches return articles that mention your keyword anywhere in the article – but the article itself may not be relevant for your topic Image

Find subject databases Research Guide for Health Sciences Library website > left menu “Research Guides by Program” > Health Sciences > Articles tab = Databases relevant to Health Sciences (including PsycINFO) Show find books, find articles, writing and citing help

Key filter: Methodology

Refine your results in PsycINFO Methodology Age group Population group Publication year Index term Need to quickly decide if an article is relevant? Scan the abstract!

Find good articles? Email them to yourself! Dive in: try PsycINFO > Health Sciences Research Guide > Articles > PsycINFO Find good articles? Email them to yourself!

Finding enough articles: Find one good article? Check its references! They’ll lead you to other studies on the same topic! GIF: http://cdn1.theodysseyonline.com/files/2014/11/20/635520961476244888798720642_tumblr_inline_mgrr62xnrl1rsns0p.gif

Annotated Bibliography & APA style Research Guide for Health Sciences Library website > left menu “Research Guides by Program” > Health Sciences Writing and Citing tab: APA style Annotated bibliographies Writing and citing resources: -guides to APA style – OWL at Purdue, Dalhousie University handout Image: http://nwtc.libguides.com/citations Image: http://memegenerator.net/instance/58248516

Getting Help @ the Library Visit our AskUs desk or call 905-688-5550 x4583 Chat with us via Ask-a-Librarian Watch a short video on our Help page -- www.brocku.ca/library/help-lib Contact us! Lydia Thorne, MLIS Co-op Student lthorne@brocku.ca Elizabeth Yates, Health Sciences Librarian eyates@brocku.ca

Questions? GIF: http://giphy.com/gifs/ellen-degeneres-ask-ama-BBxHcL8SudpXq