Nursing Research: Getting Started: Searching for Quantitative and Qualitative Articles

There are several things to keep in mind when searching for articles in Library databases. Please ask a librarian if you have questions.

• Do not select the "Full Text" limit when searching databases. This will eliminate articles in databases other than the one you are searching
• Change the date limits for your search. A common range is the last 5 years
• Do not pay for article access. Check to see if the Library has access
• Ask a librarian if you need help
• Use Advanced Search in databases and limit your search to Academic Journals, scholarly, peer-reviewed, etc.

Searching for Quantitative Articles

There are several ways to search for quantitative studies. One example is to use "quantitative" in the search box. Or you can use CINAHL Complete's Major Subject Headings by selecting that in the drop-down menu under Select a Field (optional).

Other ways are to use methods as keywords. Such as :

• Statistics
• Chi square
• Correlation
• Data
• Anova
• Survey
• Pretest
• Posttest

Searching for Qualitative Articles

You can perform the same search with the MH (Major Headings) as above, and you can also select Qualitative using the Clinical Queries limiter in the CINAHL Complete Advanced Search.

Start Your Search

To access Library subscribed databases off-campus or via campus wi-fi to have full-text access, login to MyJSU with the single signon when prompted.. Note: Library databases, even the ones that are listed as full-text, do not have the text of every article in every journal.

Internet searches for articles may lead to a paywall, where you are asked to pay for access. Don't pay, just check the Library to see if we have access to the journal by searching the Journal Title List. (see box below)