The Research Process
Research for class may sound intimidating, but it's actually pretty simple when you break it down. Fortunately, there is a straightforward process you can follow.
The health care research process should always follow the same steps.
- Background research
- PICO
- Search for evidence
- Evaluate evidence
Example of comparing sources:
Critical Thinking: What's missing? Contradictory? Inconsistent? Nonsensical?
A credible website is not a credible website (Whitewashing): https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm
A newspaper article is not a newspaper article (Deeper facts #): http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jan/25/local/me-hendon25
Critical Thinking: Like Prius is not a Tesla
An "article" is not just an "article" http://isu.libguides.com/evidence/findarticles
Whitewashing deaths by way of omission (i.e. lying)
https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hsb/disaster/casper/pdf-html/flint_water_crisis_pdf.html
Critical Thinking about Deaths Reported (Flint Water Crisis & Led Poisoning)
Wikipedia doesn't always capture all the data
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis
What is Health Research?
In the medical and allied health fields, researchers conduct scientifically-designed experiments to answer specific research questions. Each study builds on previous research to add a new piece of evidence to the larger puzzle. The goal of health research is to improve understanding of a particular field or subject area in order to improve technology, care, and decision-making.
Evidence-based Practice
As a practitioner, it's important to develop an evidence-based practice (EBP). EBP focuses on combining current research evidence with a practitioner's own experience and judgement and the patient's preferences . It's a three-part approach called the three-legged stool of EBP.
Clinical research can usually be found on special websites that search peer-reviewed journal databases. Our library has subscriptions to some of these journal sites.
Read more about EBP in a peer-reviewed article from Credo Reference.
What Does Peer-Reviewed Mean?
Peer-reviewed sources are have been reviewed for quality by experts before they are published, which is different than many websites.
All of the links to library collections are peer-reviewed. This means that you can generally trust information from the library's collections more than the information on the Web.
|
Peer-Reviewed |
NOT Peer-Reviewed |
|
Created by healthcare professionals, health researchers, or other experts |
You don't know who wrote the information |
|
Reviewed for quality by experts according to professional process |
You don't if anyone checked the author's facts |
|
Lists the sources and/or research used to create these materials |
You don't know where the author got her or his information |
|
Guaranteed to meet the highest quality standards in the field |
You can't rely on the quality of information |
| ACC's Peer Reviewed Collection | Not Peer Reviewed |
| Credo Reference | Wikipedia |
| Nursing Reference Center | WebMD |
| Rehabilitation Reference Center | Drugs.com |
| SMART Imagebase | Google Images, YouTube |
| CINAHL + w/ Full-Text | Blogs, discussion forums, social media posts |
| ProQuest Databases | Ask.com, ehow |
Scribbr: Primary and Secondary Sources
Check out this guide for determining the difference between a Primary and Secondary source.