Question

What are your methods for systematically searching the literature for a topic of interest?

Answer 1

For conducting an authentic research a good literature search act as the essential component. Literature review aids in the formulation of the research question and further planning of the study. Due to the availability of the enormous data it needs a strategic planning to choose the appropriate articles relevant to the topic.

The literature search is the well organized and methodical search of the published data to obtain effective references on the topic of interest. It can aim at drawing information for making evidence-based guidelines or an academic assessment. The final purpose of a thorough literature search is to formulate a research question and collect supporting data by evaluating the available literature with an eye on gaps still amenable to further research.

The literature search can be exhaustive and time-consuming due to the availability of the vast database. But the effective use of strategies like formulating the research questions and planning the search can help you plan and manage the process.

The development of a focused question is a critical step for facilitating good clinical research. Literature search based on the developed research question is done to identify appropriate methodology, the design of the study, population sampled and sampling methods, methods of measuring concepts and techniques of analysis. The systematic method also helps in determining extraneous variables affecting the outcome and identifying faults that could be avoided.

For framing a leading research question PICOT approach is proved to be effective. PICOT represents the key components of the research question P - study population, I- intervention, Comparison or control, O-primary outcome, T- the timing of measurement of outcome. The division of research question into searchable key components makes the literature search easy. Sometimes multiple research questions are necessary to be formulated to address the problem.

The research problem is the topic of interest and will have some familiarity to the researcher. The researcher will create a testimony of the research process as the research hypothesis which determines the types of the research question to be answered.

FINER criteria :

F-Feasible

I-Interesting

N-Novel

E-Ethical,

R-Relevant criteria.

FINER criteria make sure that the research idea is interesting and relevant to clinical research. It must be effective in adding information to already done research work. The patient population under study, the resources available and the ethical principles of research must be kept in mind when doing the literature review.

TYPES OF LITERATURE

Primary literature: They are the primary sources of are the authentic information like the publication of an expert's new evidence, conclusions and proposals (case reports, clinical trials, etc), preliminary reports, congress papers and preprints also constitute primary literature and are usually published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Secondary literature: Secondary sources are the material derived from primary source literature like systematic review articles or meta-analyses.

Tertiary literature: Tertiary literature is the sources of compiled information from primary or secondary literature like reference books.

Sources of literature review :

1. Protocol drove:

The hand search of journal

An electronic search of the database

2. Snowballing

Reference chasing

Tracking citations

3. Personal knowledge

Existing theories and basics

Contacts and academic system

Offhand discovery

4.Web-based searches:

Search engines and Electronic source of database like PUBMED, CINHAL, MeSH, Medline

Tactics used:

·         Translate the research question to keywords and search for it

·         Phrase search collects the data only with the words typed in the phrase, and in that exact order.

·         Use of Boolean operators

• The three Boolean operator words AND, OR and NOT are used to include, combine or eliminate article with specific terms.

·         Use of filters to refine the search like the article types, text availability, language, age, sex and journal categories.

·         Using truncated and wildcard searches

·         Searching with subject headings

Points to be kept in mind while searching the literature

• Identify keywords and use them to search for articles
• Utilize several databases to search articles related to the topic
• Start with the most recent issues and go backwards
• Use various databases
• Search for terms used in similar articles
• Use of databases which provide full-text articles
• Start with broad syntheses of the literature, such as overviews, summaries of the literature on your topic or review articles if you are not familiar with the topic.
• Go for the easily available efficient literature

Literature search must be systematic and well-organised in order to help in designing an efficient research.