empirical research nursing

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The Connelly Library is transitioning from Digital Commons to a new institutional repository. There will be a period of time during which access is not available, beginning Monday 10/21/2024. Please reach out to [email protected] with any questions.

What is "Empirical Research"?

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Empirical research is based on observed and measured phenomena and derives knowledge from actual experience rather than from theory or belief.

How do you know if a study is empirical? Read the subheadings within the article, book, or report and look for a description of the research "methodology." Ask yourself: Could I recreate this study and test these results?

Key characteristics to look for:

Specific research questions to be answered
Definition of the population, behavior, or phenomena being studied
Description of the process used to study this population or phenomena, including selection criteria, controls, and testing instruments (such as surveys)

Another hint: some scholarly journals use a specific layout, called the "IMRaD" format, to communicate empirical research findings. Such articles typically have 4 components:

Introduction : sometimes called "literature review" -- what is currently known about the topic -- usually includes a theoretical framework and/or discussion of previous studies
Methodology : sometimes called "research design" -- how to recreate the study -- usually describes the population, research process, and analytical tools
Results : sometimes called "findings" -- what was learned through the study -- usually appears as statistical data or as substantial quotations from research participants
Discussion : sometimes called "conclusion" or "implications" -- why the study is important -- usually describes how the research results influence professional practices or future studies
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Nursing: Searching for Empirical Articles

Reading Scholarly Articles
Searching for Empirical Articles
Clinical Practice Guidelines
Systematic Reviews
Grey Literature
Writing a Literature Review
Annotated Bibliography vs. Literature Review
Quantitative vs. Qualitative?
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What is Empirical Research?

Empirical research is conducted based on observed and measured phenomena and derives knowledge from actual experience, rather than from theory or belief. Empirical research articles are examples of primary research.

How do you know if a study is empirical?

Read the subheadings within the article, book, or report and look for a description of the research methodology. Ask yourself: Could I recreate this study and test these results?

Key characteristics to look for:

Specific research questions to be answered
Definition of the population, behavior, or phenomena being studied
Description of the process used to study this population or phenomena, including selection criteria, controls, and testing instruments (such as surveys)
The article abstract mentions a study, observation, analysis, # of participants/subjects .
The article includes charts , graphs , or statistical analysis .
The article is substantial in size, likely to be more than 5 pages long.
The article contains the following sections (the exact terms may vary): abstract, introduction, methodology , results , discussion, references.
Empirical research is often (but not always) published in peer-reviewed academic journals.

Finding Empirical Research in the Databases

Most databases will not have a simple way to only look at empirical research. In the window below are some suggestions for specific databases, but here are some good rules of thumb to follow:

Search subject-specific databases - Multipurpose databases can definitely contain empirical research, but it's almost always easier to use the databases devoted to your topic, which should have more topical results and will respond better to your keywords.

Select "Peer-reviewed Journals" - Not all empirical research is published in academic journals. Grey literature is a great place to search, particularly in the health sciences. However, grey literature can be difficult to identify, so it is recommended to search the databases until you are more comfortable identifying empirical literature.

Check the abstract / methods - Most articles will not have the phrase "empirical research" in their title, or even in the whole article. A better place to get an idea of what the article contains is by looking at the abstract and the methods section. In the abstract, there will usually be a description of what was done in the article. If there isn't, look in the methods. Ideally, you can get an idea of whether original research is being conducted or if it's reviewing it from other sources.

Consider your keywords - Think about what types of methods are used in empirical research and incorporate those into your keywords. or example, searching for "sleep loss" will certainly bring back many articles about that subject, but "sleep loss and study" might yield some results describing studies being conducted on sleep loss.

The box to the right features some typical methods of conducting empirical research that you might consider including in your search terms.

Empirical research search terms

observation
questionnaire
participants

Specific database examples

CINAHL Plus
APA PsychINFO
Science Direct
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts
CINAHL Complete This link opens in a new window CINAHL, the Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature, is a comprehensive research tool for nursing, allied health, public health, biomedicine, and related fields. It provides indexing for articles from 5,400 journals in the fields of nursing and allied health. This database provides full text access to more than 1,300 journals dating back to 1937.
Use the "Advanced Search"
Type your keywords into the search boxes
Below the search windows, check off "Evidence-Based Practice" in the "Special Interests" menu
Choose other limits, such as published date, if needed
Click on the "Search" button
Empirical Research
Experimental Studies
Nonexperimental Studies
Qualitative Studies
Quantitative Studies
PubMed This link opens in a new window A comprehensive index to biomedical and life sciences journals with citations to over 18 million articles back to 1948. Note: To limit to full-text articles, search PUBMED CENTRAL.

There are 2 ways to find empirical articles in PubMed:

One technique is to limit your search results after you perform a search:

Type in your keywords and click on the "Search" button
To the left of your results, under "Article Types," click on "Customize"
Choose the types of studies that interest you, and click on the "Show" button

Another alternative is to construct a more sophisticated search:

From PubMed's main screen, click on "Advanced" link underneath the search box
On the Advance Search Builder screen type your keywords into the search boxes
Change one of the empty boxes from "All Fields" to "Publication Type"
To the right of Publication Type, click on "Show Index List" and choose a methodology that interests you. You can choose more than one by holding down the "Ctrl" or "⌘" on your keyboard as you click on each methodology
APA PsycINFO This link opens in a new window Available via EBSCO. The American Psychological Associations (APA) notable database for locating abstracts of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations. This resource is the largest of its kind dedicated to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health, and it also includes information about the psychological aspects of related fields such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, technology, linguistics, anthropology, business, and law. Material is drawn from over 2,000 periodicals in more than 20 languages.

To find empirical articles in PsycINFO:

Scroll down the page to "Methodology," and choose "Empirical Study." There are more specific methodologies below.
Choose other limits, such as publication date, if needed

To find empirical articles in ScienceDirect:

Click on "Advanced Search" to the right of the search windows
On next page, click on "Show all fields"
Under "Article Types," select "Research Articles," or any other type of article which might be helpful.
Slick Search
Case Studies
Qualitative Analysis
Quantitative Analysis
Statistical Analysis
ERIC This link opens in a new window Abstracts (and in some cases, full-text) articles, reports, book reviews and government documents covering all aspects of education from 1966 to the present
Action Research
Ethnography
Evaluation Methods
Evaluation Research
Experiments
Focus Groups
Field Studies
Mail Surveys
Mixed Methods Research
Naturalistic Observation
Online Surveys
Participant Observation
Participatory Research
Qualitative Research
Questionnaires
Statistical Studies
Telephone Surveys

Empirical Articles - Sample Research Tips -- CAS & PSYC 101 / PSYC 341 IN-PERSON & ONLINE -- ACCESSIBLE VERSION

This guide helps to identify the major parts of an empirical article and covers sample strategies for locating them through databases such as APA PsycInfo and ERIC . There are also general tips applicable to other databases.

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Next: Books >>
Last Updated: Sep 27, 2024 2:33 PM
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