Video link: Find Quantitative Articles Begin Transcript
Visual: Title image Narration: This video shows how to locate research articles that use quantitative methodology.
Visual: Quantitative terms image Narration: You can use terms related to the methodology when you do your search. For quantitative articles that typically means the statistical terminology, such as the statistical method used or terms related to data analysis. For example, a quantitative article may use terms like statistical, correlation, variance, distribution or ANOVA.
Visual: Database search page Narration: You can search for several alternative quantitative keywords at once by putting an OR operator between each keyword. Here I am searching for quantitataive or statistic* or correlat* or ANOVA. The asterisks tell the database to find alternative endings on the root word, like statistics or statistical. You’ll also want to add a topic area keyword to your search, which will help drop out any how-to articles on methodology. For this search I’m using post-traumatic stress disorder as my topic area. Be aware that not all research topics lend themselves to quantitative research methods. You may have to adjust your topic slightly if most of the research done in that area uses qualitative methods.
Visual: Methods section of an article Narration: To be sure that your article is actually using the methodology you want, you’ll need to open the full text and look at the methods and results sections. There you will find a detailed description of the methods used and the end results. It’s important to remember that quantitative studies may not use that term. Instead you’ll be able to tell that a study is quantitative by seeing statistical terminology, formulas, lots of percentages and other numbers in the text. Quantitative articles will often contain detailed tables showing the results. This study includes both a section describing the statistical analysis used and contains many references to numerical findings.
Created September 2013 by Walden University Library
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