1. Researching and Evaluating the Literature
63-171
Helen Power
September 2018

2. Learning outcomes By the end of this session, you will be able to
Refine a research question
Search the literature for relevant research
Evaluate resources

3. Developing a Research Strategy
Why is this important?
Saves time
Makes you think about your topic
Improves your searching techniques
Makes sure you find relevant articles

4. First steps What are the requirements for the assignment?
Read the entire assignment carefully before you begin
What is the purpose of the assignment?
Identify a research question
Turn the topic into a question that interests you
Make sure the question is answerable
Length of the paper
Time for research
Amount of literature available

5. Research Questions
Quantitative RQ P – Patient/Population I - Intervention C - Comparator O – Outcome
Qualitative RQ P – Patient/Population S – Situation

6. Example: Midwifery Population – Perinatal women
Intervention – Midwife providing care
Comparator
Obstetrician
No care
No Comparator
Outcome – healthy pregnancy
Research Question: How does a midwife improve the health of perinatal women compared to an obstetrician?

7. Example: Midwifery Population – pregnant women
Situation – care of a midwife
Research Question: How do pregnant women experience being under the care of a midwife?

8. Activity 1: Practice with your topic
Quantitative RQ P – Patient/Population I - Intervention C - Comparator O – Outcome Qualitative RQ S – Situation
What will your research question be?

9. Break research question into concepts
A concept is one of the key ideas that you need to find in the literature
This is the time to look at the different aspects you need to answer for the assignment
Ex. Include “benefits” and “challenges”
Concepts:
Midwife
Role
Pregnant women
Health outcomes
Benefits
Challenges

10. Break research question into concepts
Midwife
Benefits
Challenges
Pregnancy
Midwife
Midwives
midwifery
Benefit
Health outcomes
Others?
Challenge
Challenges
Costs
Education
Pregnant
Pregnancy
Childbirth
Brainstorm:
Synonyms
Similar terms
Alternate spellings
Broader terms
Narrower terms

11. Activity 2: Brainstorm Keywords
Brainstorm keywords for your research topic
Come up with:
Related terms
Alternate spellings
Broader terms
Narrower terms
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12. Research Tools

13. Research Tools: AND midwife benefits Midwife AND benefits
Midwife AND benefits
Makes sure you’re getting articles that have both terms
Use AND between all concepts
Midwife AND benefits AND pregnancy

14. Research Tools: OR Pregnant OR Pregnancy
Makes sure you’re getting articles that have one term or both terms

15. Research Tools: “ ” “perinatal care” Phrase Searching
Makes sure you’re getting articles that have those words together in that order

16. What types of resources do you use for research?

17. Encyclopedias and dictionaries
Excellent overviews – useful for introduction to a topic
Well-organized
Wide range of topics
Examples: Encyclopedia Britannica
Wikipedia is a non-scholarly encyclopedia

18. Newspapers and Magazines
Can provide current information
Accessible reading level
Not scholarly
Examples: Maclean’s, Globe and Mail, Nature, Biology Today

19. Books/Monographs Covers many aspects of a topic
Written by experts, edited by publishers
Can take years to research, write, and publish

20. General Websites
Can provide broad information, or focus on a specific aspect of a topic
May or may not be current
Are available on practically any topic
Information is not always reliable

21. Scholarly articles Research or review articles written by experts
Evaluated by scholars
Very specialized
Reviewed by experts before being published
Sometimes too specific for an overall picture of a particular topic

22. Where can you find scholarly articles?
Library catalogue
Databases
CINAHL
ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health Source
PubMed
Google Scholar
Nurses’ Associations websites
Brainstorm session

23. Evaluating Resources Websites Books Articles And more…
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24. CRAAP Test Currency Relevance Authority Accuracy Purpose
When was it published? When was it last updated? Does your topic need more recent information?
Relevance
Does this resource answer your question? Who is this intended for?
Authority
Who is the author/publisher? What are their credentials?
Accuracy
Where is the information from? Are arguments supported? Is the source peer reviewed?
Purpose
Is it meant to educate, to sell something, to entertain? Is there bias? Is the information fact or opinion?

25. Activity 4:
Apply the CRAAP criteria assigned to you to evaluate this website Is it a reliable source? Should you use it for your assignment?

26. CRAAP Test Currency Relevance Authority Accuracy Purpose
Continuously updated
Relevance
Intended for general public
Authority
Anyone can be an author…
Accuracy
References at the bottom
Purpose
Meant to educate, might be biased

27. Finding scholarly resources

30. Mention the two guides on the right
List of additional nursing research tools

36. Read the abstract first!

37. PRIMO

39. Activity 3: Searching the literature
Practice searching CINAHL for your research question
Use the keywords you brainstormed with AND, OR, “ ”
Adjust your search depending on the number of results and the relevance of the articles to your topic

44. Summary Refining a research question using PICO elements
Developing a strategy for searching a database
Evaluating resources to be read and included in assignments

45. Helen Power
Information Services Librarian
Leddy Library
Phone: ext. 3205
Office: W118 Leddy Library