This guide provides a research starting point for Nursing students at MGCCC. Click on the menu to the left to discover library resources that may help you with your research assignments. If you have questions, please reach out to a Librarian using the contact links under the menu.
There are different models of Evidence Based Practice but they all contain the common elements of finding evidence to answer a clinical question and then translating and then implementing that evidence (research findings) into nursing care, practices, and procedures.
Evidence-based medicine : how to practice and teach EBM. - 3rd ed. / Sharon E. Strauss ... [et al.]. - Edinburgh ; New York : Elsevier/Churchill Livingstone, 2005.
PICO
The PICO model can be used to create the clinical question that will be the basis of your search strategy. For nurses, the "T" can be added to the end, but it is not required for the model to be useful.
| P | the patient or problem being addressed |
| I | the intervention or exposure being considered |
| C | the comparison intervention or exposure, when relevant |
| O | the clinical outcomes of interest |
| T | time it takes for intervention to achieve the outcome(s) |
Melnyk, B. M., Fineout-Overholt, E., Stillwell, S. B., & Williamson, K. M. (2010). Evidence-based practice: step by step: the seven steps of evidence-based practice: AJN, American Journal of Nursing, 110(1), 51–53. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0000366056.06605.d2
When your assignments ask you to find primary research studies, this simply means that you are looking for original research. Do not confuse primary research studies with primary sources.
Unlike primary sources, primary research studies will cite other studies. In order to do effective and valid research, scientists must evaluate current research to see what conclusions can be drawn and what gaps there are to fill with additional research. This research is usually reported in the introduction/overview or literature review section at the beginning of the article or report.
While there is no fool-proof formula for identifying primary research studies, there are some clues you can look for.
Abstract
Typically, the abstract will contain a brief summary of the paper. It should include essential points or findings and may include methods and results. Sometimes scanning the abstract will give you enough information to be able to tell if research performed by the authors is being described. The condensed information may be too difficult for you to interpret right away, though, so you will need to move on to the rest of the paper.
Methods
You should see a section that says, "Methods" or "Materials and Methods."
In this section, you should be able to find the answers to the simple questions:
If you can answer all these questions, it is typically a primary research study.
One exception will be case studies/reports. Case studies/reports are not required to include a methods section, but are still considered a primary research study.
Another exception will be systematic reviews and meta-analyses. These are research studies that include a methods section, but, because they are using secondary data (other researchers' studies), they are not primary research studies.
Results
Look for a section that tells you the results of the research the authors did in the methods section. If this section is too complex, look for a subsequent section that discusses the results. If you do not see a section that informs you of the outcome of the authors' research, then this is a big clue that this is not a primary research study.
Tables and Figures
Lastly, scan the tables and figures that seem to be displaying the results of the research study performed. If citations are given for these tables or figures, then they are not the results of a study being reported in the article you looking at but most likely the results of primary research studies being reviewed by the authors.
A simple rule of thumb for identifying secondary literature is that the authors of the article did not perform the research being described.This type of literature includes reviews (such as systematic reviews and meta-analyses), clinical practice guidelines, and evidence summaries. Some journals will make secondary literature easy to identify by actually printing, "Review" or "Review Article" on the first page.
Quantitative Studies are, " scientific investigations in which numbers are used to measure variables such as characteristics, concepts, or things" (CINAHL).
This type of research approach is much more common than the qualitative approach in scientific and medical research. Clues about the type of study you are looking at can potentially be found in the abstract, but the main sections you will want to look at will be the methods and the results section.
Methods
Sometimes, you will be fortunate enough to find the word, "quantitative" in the abstract or in the methods section, but most likely you will need to scan the abstract and methods section for words that you know are associated with the quantitative approach to research.
Some examples are:
Results
Quantitative data will be expressed as numbers and will be associated with a scale measure. Natural language description will not be used to express quantitative data.
Qualitative Studies are, "investigations which use sensory methods such as listening or observing to gather and organize data into patterns or themes" (CINAHL).
Clues about the type of study you are looking at can be found in the title, abstract, methods section, and results section.
Title
Sometimes, you will be fortunate enough to find the word, "qualitative" in the title of an article. Other words to keep an eye out for are:
Methods
When you scan through the methods section, look for terms such as:
Results
Data gathered in a qualitative study will usually be presented in a way that include text-based results, such as a descriptive interpretation, narrative, or quotes. Do not be confused if you see statistical expressions of qualitative data. This will be categorical data and is not the same as numbers associated with a scale measure as found in quantitative data.
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