For the Week 6 assignment in NURS 6052, you are asked to find an article that utilizes a quantitative research method, as well as an article that utilizes either a qualitative or mixed methods research design. In the Week 5 assignment guide, we went over how to find quantitative articles. This guide will focus on finding qualitative and mixed-method studies on a particular topic in a nursing database. Specifically, this guide will discuss how to:

• identify and combine search words to find qualitative studies in the CINAHL Plus with Full Text database
• identify and combine search words to find mixed-method studies
• evaluate the articles that you find to determine if they actually used the desired research method
  * critique templates (Word) for quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies are linked in Week 6 classroom

Qualitative studies seek to describe or understand an experience. They focus on the why of a situation or behavior.

Some keywords associated with qualitative research studies include:

Learn more about qualitative studies in the health sciences

Here is an example of a search for qualitative research articles on a topic in the CINAHL Plus with Full Text database:

1. On the Library homepage, go to the Subject Resources box.

2. Click on Select a subject and choose: Nursing.

3. Scroll down until you see a section called Nursing articles, journals & books.

4. Click on Nursing databases and then click on the link for CINAHL Plus with Full Text to access the database.

Note: If you have not already logged in to the Library databases, you will be prompted to log in with your myWalden Portal user name and password.

5. Once you are in the database, go to the first search box and enter:

qualitative OR case study

Note: Connecting these terms with OR tells the database to search for either of these terms.

6. In the second search box, enter your topic. For example, you could enter:

patient care

Here is what your search boxes should look like:

7. To limit your results to only peer-reviewed articles, go below the search boxes and click in the box under Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals.

Click here to see this image in context.

Note: leave the Full Text box checked to only see articles in Walden Library

8. Then click on the Search button to run your search.

9. As you are looking through your results, you can refer to the Evaluate your results section to make sure the article you pick is indeed a qualitative research study.

If you don't find what you need in the CINAHL Plus with Full Text database, you can use the same search strategy in our other nursing and health databases:

To learn more about picking keywords for your topic, please see our guide:  Evaluating Resources guide

Which of the following keywords would be useful for finding a qualitative research study?

a. Interview

b. Focus Group

c. Clinical Trial

d. Case Study

Quiz answers

Mixed methods studies use a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to gain a more holistic picture of a research question or problem.

Some keywords associated with mixed methods studies include:

Learn more about mixed methods research in the health sciences.

Here is an example of a search for mixed methods research articles on a topic in the CINAHL Plus with Full Text database:

1. On the Library homepage, click on the blue Articles by Topic button.

Articles by Topic

2. Under Select a Subject, click on Nursing.

3. Scroll down until you see a section called Nursing articles, journals & books.

4. Click on Nursing databases and then click on the link for CINAHL Plus with Full Text to access the database.

Note: If you have not already logged in to the Library databases, you will be prompted to log in with your myWalden Portal user name and password.

5. Once you are in the database, go to the first search box and enter:

mixed method OR multimethod

Note: Connecting these terms with OR tells the database to search for either of these terms.

6. In the second search box, enter your topic. For example, you could enter:

patient satisfaction

Here is what your search boxes should look like:

7. To limit your results to only peer-reviewed articles, go below the search boxes and click in the box next to Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals.

Click here to see this image in context.

8. Then click on the Search button to run your search.

9. As you are looking through your results, you can refer to the Evaluate your results section to make sure the article you pick is indeed a mixed methods research study.

If you don't find what you need in the CINAHL Plus with Full Text database, you can use the same search strategy in our other nursing and health databases:

To learn more about picking and combining keywords for your searches, please see our guide:

Which of the following keyword(s) would be useful for finding a mixed-methods research study?

a. Holistic

b. Multimethod

c. Quality

d. Mixed Methodology

Quiz answers

Unfortunately, just because you entered keywords associated with the research type you are trying to find, that doesn't guarantee that all of your results will be the desired research type. Once you have your list of results, reflect on the keywords associated with your desired research method. With those keywords in mind, here are a few places you can look to check that you've truly found what you wanted:

• Title: Sometimes the research methodology will be stated in the title of the article. For example:
  • "Discharge practices for the intensive care patient: A qualitative exploration in the general ward setting."
  • "Expectation and experiences of open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair patients: a mixed methods study."
• Abstract: If the title does not specify what type of research methodology was used, the next place to look is the abstract. The abstract gives you a short summary of the article and will generally include the research methodology.
  • Here is how you can access an article's abstract:
    1. From the list of results, click on the title of the article.
    2. Scroll down until you see the Abstract field.

Note: not all articles have an abstract. If the one you picked does not, you'll need to look at the full text of the article.

• Article: If neither the title nor the abstract makes it clear what type of research methodology was used, you'll need to go to the full text of the article. The sections where you are most likely to find out what type of research methodology was used are the Introduction, Methodology/Method, and Design.

Note: These sections may have slightly different headings, but will generally be near the beginning of the article.

To learn more about evaluating your results, please see our guide: Evaluating Resources guide

Qualitative Quiz Answers:

a. Interviews

b. Focus Groups

d. Case Studies

Interviews, focus groups, and case studies are all examples of qualitative research methods. Clinical Trials are a type of a quantitative research.

Mixed Methods Quiz Answers:

b. Multimethod

d. Mixed Methodology

Multimethod and mixed methodology are both keywords that can be used to find mixed methods research articles.

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