Learn Nursing Research Process
According to the Standards of Practice for Nurse Practitioners from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), "Nurse practitioners support research and dissemination of evidence-based practice by:
developing clinical research questions,
conducting or participating in studies,
implementing quality improvement, and
incorporating system changes into practice."
Research Help Quick Links
Access Library Resources - get tips for on and off campus full text access.
Interlibrary Loan - receive articles not in our collection from other institutions in 1-5 business days.
Meet with a Librarian - schedule a consultation with a librarian.
Search the Literature - develop an effective search strategy to find the information you need quickly.
Search PubMed - learn how to search PubMed.
Develop a Clinical Research Question
There are generally four components of a good practice question and they are represented by the PICO mnemonic.
P=Patient, Population or Problem of interest
I=Intervention - therapy, prognostic factor or exposure
C=Comparison intervention (if relevant)
O=Outcome(s)
- EVIDENCE-BASED NURSING PRACTICE: 7 Steps to the Perfect PICO Search Short article from EBSCO Health that explores the importance of evidence-based nursing practices, takes a deep dive into the PICO process and provides an example of the PICO process in action through a case scenario.
- Johns Hopkins EBP Model Question Development Tool This form is used to develop an answerable question and to guide the use in the evidence search process.
- PICO Formation and Search Strategy Tutorial Walks users through definition of PICO and using the framework to identify search terms. Plus, includes a short video demonstrating how to use identified search terms to locate evidence using the advanced search builder in the PubMed database.
Evidence Search Strategies
Strategy |
Function |
|
Keyword Searching |
Similar to "Google-like" searching where the database will retrieve results based on the terms you enter Does not take into consideration the context of those terms Typically retrieves several results, although many may not be relevant to the topic Keyword searching is very flexible and is a good way to begin a search, especially if you are unsure of the correct terminology to use. As you begin reading through your results, you may notice trends and patterns in terminology that you can then apply and adapt to your search strategy. |
|
Subject Heading Searching |
A targeted, specific way to search using a database's built-in controlled vocabulary Various databases have their own subject headings - i.e. CINAHL Headings in CINAHL and the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) in MEDLINE/PubMed. Controlled vocabulary subject headings function like a thesaurus and will take into consideration synonyms, abbreviations, and variations in spelling Typically retrieves fewer results than keyword searching, yet results are oftentimes more relevant |
|
Boolean Operators |
Boolean operators provide a logical way to combine keyword or subject heading terms using AND, OR, or NOT "AND" will narrow your search by combining one of more terms together "OR" will broaden your search by retrieving results on any of the terms you enter "NOT" will exclude designated terms from your results |
|
Phrase Searching |
Use of quotes will tell the database to retrieve results with that exact phrase "Algase Wandering Scale" |
|
Nesting |
Use of parentheses will group desired search terms together in combination with appropriate Boolean operators (dementia OR "Alzheimer's disease") AND ("fall prevention" OR "fall risk assessment") |
|
Truncation |
Use of an asterisk * searches for the root of a word nurs* will find nurse, nurses, nursing |
Evidence Appraisal
Parts of a Research Article
Abstract
A brief overview of what the article is about and why the authors did the experiment.
Introduction
Gives you the motivation and importance of the study, includes background information.
Methods
How the experiment was carried out. You need to see the general method and processes used.
Results
This is the raw data from the experiment. There will be charts and tables. Understanding the charts and tables is very important for understanding the paper.
Discussion
Also called analysis or conclusions - learn the reasons for the conclusions. This is where you test if you agree with the logic of the conclusions. Using this and the abstract you can determine if the article is relevant to your research.
Questions to Ask as You Read
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What questions do I hope this article will answer?
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What do the authors conclude?
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Why did the authors do this study?
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What data/results emerged from the study?
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How did the authors do this study?
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What is the significance of these findings?
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How does this article relate to other articles I've read?
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Did this article answer my questions?
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Are there other articles cited that I should read?
- Johns Hopkins EBP Model Individual Evidence Summary Tool Use this form to document and collate the results of your literature searches in preparation for evidence synthesis.
Hierarchy of Evidence
