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Session 3:��Searching the Literature; Constructing a Review Table

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Agenda & Objectives

Member check-in
Recap last week (brief)

Decide on the Journal

Journal of Nurses in Professional Development
American Nurse

Purpose of a literature review
Process of searching online databases
Constructing a literature review table

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Defining the Concept

What is a literature review?

Written analytical summary of research findings on a topic of interest

Comprehensive compilation of what is known about a phenomenon

So why do nurses conduct a review of literature?

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Purpose of the Review

Identification of a research problem
Generates new research questions or hypotheses
Clarifies and provides evidence of the importance of a problem
Identifies what is known
Identifies gaps or inconsistencies in knowledge
Provides examples

New or better practice interventions, protocols, or policies

Identifies theoretical frameworks and conceptual models
Identifies experts in the field
Identifies research design and methodologies
Provides a context for analysis
Identifies possible research instruments

The timing of the review of literature varies depending on the research problem and the design of the study or project:

Quantitative research – conducted before a study is undertaken and the information is used to plan the study

You will see citations in almost all sections of the research report. It is not uncommon for the researcher to perform a limited, second ROL after the study is complete to be sure nothing new has been published.

Qualitative research – in some cases a review of literature is conducted before a study (ethnography) while others are not conducted until after the study is done (phenomenology)

There are a few reasons: often limited availability of published studies on the topic and the researcher does not want to introduce any bias into the data collection, analysis, and findings.

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Where is the Literature Review Situated?

Introduction

Significance
Problem
Purpose, aim
Research questions/hypotheses
Literature review

Methodology

Design
Procedures
Population/sample
Instruments

Results
Discussion

Highlights major findings, gaps
Limitations
Recommendations

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What Sources are Included?

Article

Periodical vs. Monograph
Peer-reviewed
Theoretical vs. Empirical literature

Systematic Review

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Cochrane Library)

Conference proceeding

Appropriate professional organization

Thesis/dissertation
Websites

Limit to government agencies & professional organizations

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Quality of the Source

Primary Sources

The actual report written by researcher who conducted the study

Secondary Sources

Summaries of studies by someone other than the researcher

Literature reviews
Systematic reviews

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Identify Keywords

Identify concepts from the research question to focus the search
Determine synonyms for identified concepts (keywords/search terms)
Keywords do not always have to be the same as the subject heading in the database because most search programs have mapping capabilities

For quantitative studies

Keywords are typically the independent and dependent variables and often the population

For qualitative studies

Keywords are the central phenomenon of interest and the population

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MESH Headings (Pubmed)

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html

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MeSH on Demand

Let’s start to determine the MeSH Terms for our manuscript:

https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/MeSHonDemand

Topic:

Challenges for Preceptors in Orienting New Graduate Nurses with a Lack

of Clinical Experience due to the Pandemic

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Tools for Searching

Wildcard characters

Can extend a search to multiple words with the same root by adding the database’s wildcard character to a truncated word

Different databases / software packages use different wildcards, such as * or $
Example: nurs* would search for nurse, nurses, nursing

Boolean operators: used to combine, restrict, or broaden searches

AND: retrieves references in which two or more terms are present (e.g. obesity AND diabetes)
OR: retrieves references containing any of 2+ terms separated by “OR” (e.g., obesity or diabetes)

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Tools for Searching: Cont’d

Quotation marks

The use of quotation marks around a phrase can change the search results

Example: a search for “high blood pressure” would yield overlapping but non-identical results to high blood pressure.

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Databases Commonly Used by Nurses

CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature)

Nursing and Allied Health
1982 to present
Subject headings based on MeSH

MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis & Retrieval System Online)

1946 – National Library of Medicine journal citation database
MeSH (Medical Subject Headings)

PubMed

1996
Includes MEDLINE
MeSH

Cochrane Library

Systematic Reviews
Searchable in CINAHL & MEDLINE

Clinical Practice Guidelines

www.ngc.org or www.guidelines.gov

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Finding Sources

Screen and retrieve

Abstracted

Evaluated

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Evaluating Each Article

Use analytical skills as basis for evaluation

Look at the discussion section for identified limitations

Driving force is to determine if the study supports the issue/question identified and any gaps that are seen

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Parts of the Article to Review

Author’s credentials
Citation information
Purpose of the study
Sample size and selection
Study design
Data collection procedures
Data analysis
Major findings
Conclusion

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Organizing the Information

Authors, Title of Article, Journal	Year of Publication	Purpose	Design	Number of Subjects	Describe Subjects	Results	Impli-cations	Comments

Judith Garrard (2016). Health Sciences Literature Review Made Easy:

The Matrix Method (5^th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Publishing.

I created a Word document for each person so that

you can enter the information as you complete a

review of your assigned article(s).

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Let’s Go Find Some Articles