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HDFS 371: Research Methods in HHD

Guide for students in HDFS 371: Research Methods in HHD

HDFS 371 Research Guide

Digital Handout (Accessible PDF)

Finding Research Articles

Where to start?  Depending on your topic, you might start your research with an interdisciplinary database, such as WEB OF SCIENCEThe PSYCINFO behavioral sciences database is another great database for research on a wide variety of issues in HHD. If you're doing an extensive literature review, you will likely need to search in more than one database because each database contains unique content.  Read each database description, below, to decide if your topic overlaps with the coverage of that database. 

HOW DO I FIND ..........

How do I find a REVIEW JOURNAL in my field?   Go into the JOURNALS BY TITLE database and do a "TITLE CONTAINS ALL WORDS" search for REVIEW and EXERCISE (or NUTRITION, or PUBLIC HEALTH or whatever your field is). 

How do I find 10 journals in my field?  Search the JOURNAL CITATION REPORTS database in the middle column of this guide; search by SUBJECT CATEGORY and select HEALTH.  Choose 10 from the list.  Open each of your 10 journal titles by clicking on it and you'll see IMPACT FACTORS for each title. (note: You can also find journals in your field using the Journals By Title database, linked above, but this database won't give you impact factors if that's what you're also seeking.)

Do journal IMPACT FACTORS change year to year?  Sometimes, and if so, the impact factor change might be influenced by several different factors:  if a journal publishes more review articles in a given year, its impact might go up because review articles are typically cited more than other types of articles (studies); or a journal's impact factor might change because of publishing trends in the field, etc.

How do I find a QUANTITATIVE STUDY on my topic?  Go into the PSYCINFO database, listed in the middle column of this guide, and on the search screen, scroll down to the METHODOLOGY drop-down menu and check QUANTITATIVE to add that to your search.  Then limit also to JOURNAL ARTICLES and search your topic (for example, nutrition counseling  OR knee injuries, or any topic of interest to you in your field).  OR search your research topic in any database and include the term STUDY in your search.  Once you locate an article of interest, look for the components of a quanitative study in that article, including Methods/Methodology, Population sample studied, Findings/Results, statistics gathered in the study represented in charts, graphs, tables, etc.

PEER REVIEW-- note that many of the library databases allow you to limit to PEER REVIEWED articles right from the search screen; you can also often narrow to PEER REVIEWED from your results list -- look for this option in either the right or left column of your results page, depending on which database you're in.

How do I find a QUALITATIVE STUDY on my topic?  Go into the PSYCINFO database, listed in the middle column of this guide, and on the search screen, click on BROWSE METHODOLOGY, check QUALITATIVE and add that to your search.  Then limit also to JOURNAL ARTICLES and search your topic.  For example, nutrition counseling  OR knee injuries or any topic of interest to you in your field. OR use any database, and include the term QUALITATIVE in one of your search boxes along with your topic:  for example, nutrition and athletes and qualitative.

How do I find 2 research articles done by MSU researchers?  Go into the WEB OF SCIENCE database, type in your topic (such as exercise science); in the second search box, type in MONTANA STATE and then change the drop down menu to ADDRESS.  Click Search and pick any two that you like.

How do I find 5 lead authors/researchers in my field? Go into the WEB OF SCIENCE  (exercise science, nutrition, community health, etc.).  From the results page, click the AUTHORS link in the left column to see the top five authors listed.  The number of articles that each of those authors have published which have been indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection database will appear after their name in parentheses.