1. Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Chapter 5 Finding and Critiquing Evidence: Research Literature Reviews

2. Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Purposes of a Literature Review Identification of a research problem Orientation to what is known/not known Determination of gaps or inconsistencies in a body of research Determination of a need to replicate a study Identification of clinical interventions that need to be tested

3. Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Purposes of a Literature Review (cont’d) Identification of relevant conceptual frameworks for a research problem Identification of suitable designs and data collection methods Identification of experts who could be used as consultants on a project Assistance in interpreting findings and developing implications

4. Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Sources of Information in a Research Literature Review Principal reliance on primary sources (research reports written by researchers who conducted the study) Less reliance on secondary sources (summaries of studies by others) Peripheral use of anecdotal reports, opinion articles, case reports

5. Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Types of Search in Electronic Databases Subject search Search for topics or keywords in the database Textword search Search for specific words in text fields of the database record Author search Search for a specific researcher

6. Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Key Electronic Databases for Nurse Researchers CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) MEDLINE® (Medical Literature on-Line) The Institute for Scientific Information’s (ISI) Web of Knowledge

7. Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Example of a Printout From a CINAHL Search

8. Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Example of a Printout From a PubMed Search

9. Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Abstracting and Recording Information Coding the studies Literature review protocols Literature review matrixes

10. Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Codes for Results Matrix/Coding in Margins

11. Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Example of a Literature Review Protocol

12. Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Critiquing Studies and Evaluating the Evidence Research critiques of individual studies Evaluating a body of research

13. Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Analyzing and Synthesizing Information Theme Analysis: Substantive themes Theoretical themes Methodologic themes Generalizability/transferabilty themes Historical themes “Researcher” themes

14. Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Preparing a Written Literature Review Organizing the review Writing a literature review 1. Content 2. Style

15. Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Guidelines for Critiquing Literature Reviews