locating research evidence online - australian research alliance
TRANSCRIPT
Locating Research
Evidence Online
Prepared by Sarah Frost, Policy and Research Unit, Barnardo’s (UK).
For the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth October 2007
ABOUT ARACY
The Australian Research Alliance for
Children and Youth (ARACY) was founded
by a group of eminent experts and
organisations in reaction to increasingly
worrying trends in the wellbeing of
Australia’s young people.
ARACY is a national organisation with
members based across Australia.
ARACY asserts that by working together,
rather than working in isolation, we are
more likely to uncover solutions to the
problems affecting children and young
people.
ARACY is a broker of collaborations, a
disseminator of ideas and an advocate for
Australia’s future generation.
ARACY has two primary goals:
1. To promote collaborative research
and agenda setting for children
and young people
2. To promote the application of
research to policy and practice for
children and young people.
This paper is one of a series commissioned
by ARACY to translate knowledge into
action. This series of papers aims to convert
research findings into practical key
messages for people working in policy and
service delivery areas.
This paper is one of a series
commissioned by ARACY to translate
knowledge into action of papers aims
to convert research findings into
practical key messages for people
working in policy and service delivery
areas.
The ARACY topical papers may also be
the focus of workshops or seminars,
including electronic mediums.
Developed for the Facilitating Partners
CONTENTS
About This Series 1
About This Paper 2
Learning Outcomes 3
Introduction 4
Identifying Sources to Search 5
Search Engines 5
Gateways 8
Electronic Databases 10
Statistics 15
Websites of Relevant Organisations 17
Electronic Journals 19
Conclusions 22
References 27
Appendices
1. Summary of Electronic Resources 23
ISBN: 978-1-921352-21-8
All rights reserved. No part of this paper may be used for
commercial use without Barnardo’s (UK) express written consent.
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
PO Box 1360 WEST PERTH WA 6872
Level 13, Dumas House
2 Havelock Street WEST PERTH 6005
Telephone: 08 9476 7800
www.aracy.org.au
1
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
ABOUT THIS SERIES
Locating Research Evidence Online is the second in a series of 3 papers
produced by Barnardo’s (UK) and commissioned by the Department of
Families, Communities and Indigenous Affairs thorough the Australian
Research Alliance for Children & Youth. It is primarily intended for people
working in the Communities for Children Initiative which encompasses a
broad range of services and sites of practice. We hope that managers and
practitioners seeking to utilise research evidence in their practice will find this
series of three papers of value. The 3 papers are:
• Paper 1: How To Use Data Effectively
• Paper 2: Locating Research Evidence Online
• Paper 3: Developing Your Research Skills
The content of these 3 papers is taken from The Evidence Guide, a modular
training and learning resource produced by Barnardo’s (UK). The Evidence
Guide is made up of 5 Modules each aimed at a particular aspect of
developing the readers’ use of research. This guide is based on Barnardo’s
The Evidence Guide © Copyright Barnardo’s 2006.
• MODULE 1 : Using research evidence in practice: an introduction
• MODULE 2 : Locating research evidence in five steps
• MODULE 3 : Appraising and reviewing research evidence
• MODULE 4 : Adapting and applying evidence: Issues for individual
practitioners and organisations
• MODULE 5 : Outcome-focused evaluation
More information about The Evidence Guide can be found at:
www.barnardos.org.uk/theevidenceguide
The Evidence Guide should be referenced as follows:
Frost, S, Moseley, A, Tierney, S, Hutton, A, Ellis, A, Duffy, M and Newman, T with Scott, S
and Pettitt, B (2006) The evidence guide: using research and evaluation in social care
and allied professions. Barnardo’s/ What Works for Children?/ Centre for Evidence-
Based Social Services www.barnardos.org.uk/theevidenceguide
2
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
ABOUT THIS PAPER
This paper provides a guide to using the internet as a tool for social care
practitioners wanting to make more use of research evidence in their
practice. It is aimed at those looking for guidance on the range of internet
resources available and how these can be used.
The content of this paper is taken from Module 2 of The Evidence Guide, a
training resource produced by Barnardo’s (UK). Module 2 provides an
introduction to searching for research evidence using the internet and online
resources and seeks to help answer questions such as: How can we find the
research evidence we need? Are we looking in the right places?
The paper is designed to be interactive, in order to encourage you to reflect
on your own practice. To help with this, throughout the text you will find
individual activities to aid individual self-learning as you progress through the
paper.
3
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
LEARNING OUTCOMES
As a result of completing this paper, readers will be able to:
• describe the main functions of search engines
• list a range of search engines and outline their pros and cons
• list a range of gateways and describe their strengths, limitations and
purposes
• list a range of databases and describe their strengths, limitations and
purposes
• Identify sources of statistical data of relevance to practice
• Identify and locate useful websites
• Identify and locate useful Journals, both electronic and hard copy
This paper aims to provide a basic grounding in how to acquire research
evidence in social care using online resources. As you become more familiar
with these resources, the searching process should speed up significantly.
New resources are being created all the time so it is worth keeping an eye on
a couple of gateways, e.g. Intute or Social Care Online – to ensure that you
are up-to-date.
If you are unfamiliar with the world wide web, you may find it useful to try
some online tutorials on how to use the internet (see Appendix A).
4
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
INTRODUCTION
An inability to find or access relevant research evidence is often cited as a
barrier to the development of evidence-based practice. A key skill of the
evidence-based practitioner is being able to find research evidence relevant
to their needs.
Electronic online resources are fast becoming the most easily accessible and
affordable means of finding research information related to social care.
This paper describes the main electronic sources of research evidence to be
found on the world wide web.
Key electronic resources
1. Search engines 2. Gateways 3. Databases 4. Statistics 5. Websites of relevant organisations 6. Electronic journals
The process of locating research electronically can be done by following five steps.
The 5 steps: a step-by-step framework for locating research evidence
Step 1 Formulating a ‘search question’ Step 2 Deciding on key search terms and creating your ‘search strategy’ Step 3 Identifying sources to search Step 4 Refining your search strategy (if required) Step 5 Obtaining ‘hard copies’ of documents
A description of the 5 steps is provided in Paper 3.
This paper focuses on Step 3 - Identifying sources to search and should be
read in conjunction with Paper 3.
5
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
IDENTIFYING SOURCES TO SEARCH (STEP 3)
1. Search engines (e.g. Google)
What are they?
Search engines operate by looking for web pages containing the search
terms you have identified. Search engines are a good means of finding out, in
a general sense, what is ‘out there’ on the world wide web. They literally
search every website for instances of the word or phrase you have typed into
the search box. They provide you with a list of links to those websites which
you then click the mouse on to visit.
The main function of search engines in locating research evidence is to find
websites of general relevance, rather than specific pieces of research. For
example, by entering the terms ‘mental heath’ and ‘charity’ or ‘organisation’
and ‘Australia’, you would be provided with a list of websites of mental health
organisations or charities in Australia, many of which might contain references
(or even full text versions) of their own research reports or policy documents.
Search engines are also extremely useful for locating specific websites of
organisations that you know the name of but not the website address (or URL
– Universal Resource Locator). For instance, if you type the phrase ‘Joseph
Rowntree Foundation’ (JRF) into a search engine, it is highly likely that the first
link which appears in the returned list will be to the homepage of the JRF
website (www.jrf.org.uk).
Search engines attempt to prioritise their results in terms of perceived
importance (according to how often the sites are accessed) so even if you
do end up with a list of 23,143 links, the one you are looking for will hopefully
KEY MESSAGE
The main function of search engines in locating research evidence is to find
websites of general relevance rather than specific pieces of research.
6
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
be found near the top of the list or certainly within the first page of links
returned. This and other pros and cons of search engines are listed below:
Search engine pros
• They will pick up so-called ‘grey’ literature belonging to individual charities
or organisations, unlike traditional academic databases.
• They are an easy way to locate the web addresses and contact details of
specific organisations.
• They are a good way of finding policy documents which you may have
trouble locating on individual government department websites.
• They remove the need to memorise web addresses.
Search engine cons
• Because the information search engines find is not filtered in any way, you
can be left with hundreds of irrelevant ‘hits’.
• Anyone with the appropriate computer equipment and know-how can
post information on the web. You therefore have to be very careful about
trusting the information you find using search engines.
• Search engines will rarely provide you with direct access to original
academic research papers published in journals.
Some search engines you might like to try
• Google (www.google.com)
• Yahoo (www.yahoo.com)
• AltaVista (www.altavista.com)
• Excite (www.excite.com)
• Lycos (www.lycos.com)
To find out about the pros, cons and features of specific search engines, visit
the following website: www.searchenginewatch.com
7
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
Example: Using search engines
Scenario A
You have recently seen a new client, a 13 year old boy who cares for his
single mother who has multiple sclerosis (MS). You are interested in finding
research evidence relating to the needs of young carers to provide you with
information that may help you in assessing the needs of the boy you are
working with.
If you were searching for material for Scenario A above, you might try using
Google, which has an Australian version (www.google.com.au) which gives
you the option of looking for information from Australian web pages only.
You might want to search the websites of key children’s charities or social
care research organisations for relevant research. Therefore you might type in
‘Barnardo’s’, ‘AIFS’ or ‘ARACY’ into the search box.
Individual Activity 1: Using search engines
The task:
Try using one of the search engines listed on page 6 to find the websites of
organisations relevant to your field of practice.
(Hint – Try combining some of your key search terms eg ‘learning disabilities’
or ‘children’ with terms such as ‘research centre’ or ‘charity’).
Which websites of interest did you find?
Name URL (www…)
Are there any organisations you are already aware of in your field that you
think might produce research of interest? Try typing the names of these into a
search engine and see if you can locate their URLs.
Name URL (www…)
8
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
2. Gateways (or directories)
What are they?
Gateways, like search engines, are a means of finding information on the
web. However, unlike search engines the information on gateways has been
categorised and filtered by an editor or a subject specialist. A social sciences
gateway, for example, would typically have a section on social work. This
section would contain links to information about relevant organisations,
databases, policy documents, research papers and events. It may also allow
you to join discussion groups or e-mail lists. You can browse gateways by
clicking on headings and subheadings, or search using their in-built search
engines.
Gateways Pros
• Because the information has been sifted, you can be more certain of
finding information which is relevant to you.
• Quality filters also mean you are unlikely to find inappropriate, unreliable or
offensive material.
Gateways Cons
• In terms of breadth of coverage, you have to rely on the judgments of the
authors/ compilers, who will categorise information into sections.
• By sticking to one gateway, you might be missing important information
that the compiler was not aware of. Therefore it is always advisable to use
a combination of different gateways.
Some gateways you might like to use
• Yahoo (http://au.dir.yahoo.com/Social_Science/) has a ‘social sciences’
section that contains the subcategories ‘social research’ and ‘social
work’.
9
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
• INTUTE (www.intute.ac.uk) Formerly the Social Sciences Information
Gateway, intute has been put together by academics and librarians at UK
universities who sift online information for high-quality material relating to
social sciences, including ‘social welfare’, which has numerous subsections
including social work.
• Social Care Online (www.socialcareonline.org.uk) is owned and run by the
UK’s Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and is a database and
gateway specific to social care. It provides access to databases of
research, practice guidance and standards, links to key websites and
additional information of relevance to service users and carers. It also
contains links to websites containing tutorials on skills for evidence-based
practice. NB: Social Care Online contains all the information formerly on
the Electronic Library for Social Care (eLSC) and CareData.
• Research Web (www.researchweb.org.uk/research.html) is a resource
funded by the Scottish Executive in the UK which aims to provide social
care professionals with a ‘sound knowledge base’. It focuses mainly on
practice-related research and contains summaries of selected research
articles, access to databases and a regular Research into Practice bulletin
which summarises new research in the social care field and official
publications.
Example: Using gateways
If you wanted to find information about the needs of young carers on INTUTE,
you could click on the ‘social welfare’ section of this gateway (within the
‘social sciences’ area) and then enter the search term “young carers” (in
double quotation marks as shown) into the white search box at the top of the
page and press ‘Go’.
This search (on 15th August 2007) revealed eight references about young
carers, including information about the National Strategy for Carers, a briefing
on the health and well bring of young carers and a Young Carers Research
Group. Following the links to any of these resources would lead you on to
further publications and links.
10
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
Individual Activity 2: Using gateways
The task:
1) Have a look at the Social Care Online (SCO) gateway and see if there is
any research there that is relevant to your practice. (HINT: look in the ‘Other
social care Resources’ section)
Are there any journals listed that it would be useful to consult in the future?
Make a note of any websites linked from SCO that will be useful to you.
Can you locate any relevant practice guidelines? List them below.
3. Electronic databases
What are they?
Electronic databases contain references of published work (ie journal or
magazine articles and occasional book chapters). They usually provide an
abstract (summary) of any references related to the topic or author you are
11
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
searching for, as well as details of where it is located (eg journal title, edition
and page numbers).
Database pros
• Databases are a very good way of finding evidence to answer specific
search questions.
• If you search the right combination of databases, you can be pretty sure
that you will have covered the key research information published in
journals.
• Some online databases are free.
Database cons
• Most databases do not include information about unpublished or ‘grey’
literature
• Most have fairly costly subscriptions, so rather than purchasing these as an
individual, you will probably prefer to access them through a library.
University libraries are far more likely to subscribe than public facilities so it
is worth trying to negotiate access if you are not a member of a university
or college. It is also worth trying to persuade your organisation to purchase
database subscriptions on an institutional basis.
• Databases rarely provide full text versions of the materials referenced –
usually just an abstract. If you want to read a journal article in full, you will
probably have to order it as an inter-library loan (see paper 3).
Numerous databases exist, covering a range of subject areas. Some of the
key databases containing information relating to social care are as follows.
Databases that are free of charge1
• UTS Education: Bibliographic Database
(www.projects.education.uts.edu.au/poped/webpages/bib_search.lasso)
Hosted by the University of Technology in Sydney, this database includes a
1 These databases were free at the time of writing.
12
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
range of references to books, journal papers, reports, websites, newspaper
articles and videos relating to education and social care.
• Australian Domestic & Family Violence Clearinghouse Research and
Resources Database
www.austdvclearinghouse.unsw.edu.au/rr_simple.htm
Provides a central directory of all material on domestic and family
violence produced in Australia, including formal research findings, journal
articles, pamphlets, unpublished reports, training kits and videos from 2000
onwards. It also includes information on key international material and
selected material published prior to 2000.
• Social Care Online (www.socialcareonline.org.uk) is produced and
managed by the UK’s Social Care Institute for Excellence. This database
specialises in social care and social welfare material. It contains
references to research, but also includes summaries of social services
inspectorate reports, best practice guides, magazine articles and policy
documents. It allows you to search by topic, author, title and journal.
• PubMed (http://www.pubmed.gov) is located at the Electronic National
Library of Medicine in the USA. This resource covers the medical and
health literature, and is therefore of particular interest to medical social
workers. However, it also contains references relevant to those working in
the fields of physical disability, learning disabilities and mental health. It
contains information about the aetiology of different illnesses and
conditions and research into effective treatments.
• ERIC (www.eric.ed.gov/) is the Educational Resources Information Center.
It is a freely available resource produced in the USA which aims to
increase access to education research and practice. It contains over
1,200,000 documents and journal articles on education research and
practice written since 1966.
• Research Evidence in Education Library
(http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/EPPIWeb/home.aspx) contains databases relevant
for those seeking to locate evidence in the field of education. The
databases are run by the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information
and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre) in the Institute of Education,
University of London.
13
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
• Current Educational Research in the UK (CERUK)
(www.ceruk.ac.uk/ceruk/) is sponsored by the National Foundation for
Educational Research, the Department for Children, Schools and Families
and is supported by the EPPI-Centre (above). It aims to provide a
complete record of current or on-going educational research in the UK
across all phases of education from early years to adults.
Databases that require a subscription
• Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA) covers research
relating to the social sciences (empirical and theoretical) and is therefore
a good source for locating references relevant to social care. For more
information about this database visit the manufacturer’s website
(www.csa1.co.uk/csa/factsheets/assia.shtml). You can also request a trial
of this resource via this website.
• ChildData was developed by the National Children’s Bureau in the UK. This
database contains references to academic literature and also information
on conferences, news items and key organisations. For further information
about the resource visit www.childdata.org.uk.
• PsycINFO® (formerly known as Psychlit) scans a large number of
psychology and psychiatry journals for research information that will be of
interest to those working in the mental health field. To find out more, visit
the following link: www.apa.org/psycinfo/about.
Example: Using databases
You decide to use Social Care Online (www.socialcareonline.org.uk/) to find
information on young carers relevant to Example A above. The first step when
using any database is to consult the ‘help’ screens to find out how to
combine search terms. Social Care Online uses the signs & / !, rather than the
words ‘and’, ‘or’ ‘not’ to combine terms.
Type in the terms young carers & research into the white box with ‘simple
search’ next to it.
Then click on the grey ‘search’ box and you will be provided with a list of
references, some of which will be articles examining the needs of this group of
young people.
14
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
Make a note of two of the articles here:
Individual Activity 3: Using databases
The task:
Try to search for references using your own search terms. Try searching both
Social Care Online (www.socialcareonline.org.uk/) and PubMed
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?DB=pubmed). Enter your
search terms into the search box on each database and see what
information you can retrieve.
Tip: Keep it simple! Just use one or two search terms to start with e.g. children
& drug, parent & confidence.
NB: Each database has its own rules and idiosyncrasies. It is therefore always
advisable to have a quick look at the help section of a database.
In the box below, make a list of the search terms you used, any useful
references you found and note which database you used.
Search terms used Useful references: Database?
15
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
4. Statistics
Statistics produced by both official and unofficial sources, covering an array
of topics, are increasingly being made available (free of charge) online.
Statistical information is important in evidence-based practice since it can
provide useful facts about prevalence, risk ratios, epidemiology and service
use.
Example: Using statistics
For instance, for a social worker working with a child in public care, one
option being considered may be adoption. However, until he or she looks at
the statistics relating to the chances of successful adoption among children in
public care at different ages and according to the length of time they have
been in care, how do they know if this is a realistic option? In this scenario, by
consulting the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) – Children,
Youth and Families Portal (www.aihw.gov.au/childyouth/index.htm), the
social worker would find out that children aged under 1 year are most likely to
be successfully adopted from care, and that this trend is growing stronger.
When looking for online statistics, the following sources may be useful:
(a) International figures
The United Nations website has a statistics section which contains a range of
interesting data relating to a wide range of countries (including Australia), as
well as references to printed sources produced by the UN
(http://unstats.un.org/unsd/default.htm).
(b) National figures
Official statistics for Australia are produced by the Australian Bureau of
Statistics (ABS). Statistics can be accessed online (www.abs.gov.au) and
cover Australia’s economy, environment, industry and people, including data
from the census
(www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/home/Census%20data). The Key
National Indicators tables are updated regularly and contain a summary of
Australia’s key economic and social indicators. The UK equivalent to ABS is
the Office for National Statistics (ONS), (www.statistics.gov.uk).
16
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
Australian Social Trends (www.abs.gov.au/ausstats) is another mine of
national statistical information, divided into sections focusing on different
areas of social policy, including population, family and community, health,
education and training, work, economic resources and housing. This is
produced annually.
Headline facts and statistics about children and young people can be found
at Youth Facts and Stats (www.youthfacts.com.au). More detailed statistics
can be found at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) –
Children, Youth and Families Portal (www.aihw.gov.au/childyouth/index.htm)
which provides access to a range of statistics relating to child and youth
health and wellbeing; child protection; adoptions; children’s services, family
support services and youth justice services. Other health and social care
statistics can be found at AIHW – Data Online
(www.aihw.gov.au/dataonline.cfm).
If you’re interested in comparing figures from the UK, the following sources
may be of interest. In the UK, most children’s services are managed by the
Department for Children, Schools and Families and their website has a wide
range of UK statistics (http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/). The Department
of Health has a useful set of statistics covering adult and children’s services
that can be accessed online
(www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Statistics/fs/en). The Research
Development and Statistics Directorate for the UK Home Office produces
figures relating to crime, youth justice and probation
(www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/a-zsubjects.html).
Some of these resources have produced statistics over a number of years,
allowing you to compare figures and identify trends over time.
(c) Local figures
These can be more difficult to locate than national figures, and their quality
may vary. Some local statistics have been gathered by the ABS, such as
QuickStats, which covers key census topics for states/terroritories and can be
17
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
compared against national census data. Community Profiles provide detailed
census information for small areas (www.censusdata.abs.gov.au)
Another good source to access is the government’s website. Individual
websites for states and territories can be accessed at www.australia.gov.au.
Many of these will have facts and figures relating to the local area. For
example, the Australian Capital Territory website has a ‘statistics’ section
which contains a range of information about the local community.
5. Websites of relevant organisations
It is worthwhile familiarising yourself with websites of organisations related to
your field of work as these often have useful ‘grey’ or unpublished literature.
Some of the best and most locally relevant research is produced by charities,
research centres, councils and other organisations. Some organisations
produce practitioner-friendly research summaries or reviews, which can often
save time by bypassing the need to go trawling through lots of journal articles.
They may also be a more up-to-date source of research information than
books or even journals. Government websites now contain useful information
in relation to policy and research.
Example: Using Websites The Australian Institute of Family Studies (www.aifs.gov.au/) might be a good
place to look for information since its focus is on children and families. The
AIFS is an Australian government statutory authority established in February
1980 to promote the identification and understanding of factors affecting
marital and family stability in Australia.
The AIFS website provides access to a range of resources including full text
publications, trends and statistical data and current / completed research
projects. It also has a searchable library catalogue.
The following websites provide access to research that is of relevance to
social work practice. Most of these sites are designed with the practitioner,
policy-maker or service user, rather than the academic, in mind. A longer list
of Websites containing research findings by subject area is provided in
Appendix A.
18
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
Children and families
Barnardo’s (Au) www.barnardos.org.au
Barnardo’s (UK) www.barnardos.org.uk
NSPCC Inform www.nspcc.org.uk/inform/
Australian Institute of Family Studies www.aifs.gov.au
What Works for Children? (WWfC) www.whatworksforchildren.org.uk
Research in Practice (RIP) www.rip.org
Social care
Joseph Rowntree Foundation www.jrf.org.uk
Social Care Institute for Excellence www.scie.org.uk
Health
Centre for Reviews and Dissemination www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd
Cochrane Library www.cochrane.org/reviews/clibintro.htm
Individual Activity 4: Key websites
Try out some of the websites listed above and make a note of any which you
feel will be of use to you in locating research, practice or management
information. You may then like to save these as ‘bookmarks’ or ‘favourites’ in
a folder on your computer.
Website URL / www….
KEY MESSAGE
Why not keep a list of web addresses of relevant websites in your
‘bookmarks’ or ‘favourites’ folder on your computer?
19
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
6. Electronic journals
What are they and how do I access them?
Some Electronic (or online) journals are unique to the web. But most are
simply electronic versions of printed titles. With a few notable exceptions (see
below) online journals are generally not freely available and require
subscriptions which allow you to download any article contained in current
and most past issues.
Some initiatives are making access to electronic journals easier for those
working in public services. For example, in an effort to make electronic
journals more widely used by practitioners, all social care staff involved in the
delivery of health-related care in England are currently entitled to an ‘Athens’
password. This enables access to the full text of many electronic journals and
databases free of charge. Similar initiatives may be available in Australia.
Some electronic journals will provide you with one edition free of charge as a
sample copy. Many also allow you to browse their contents pages or
abstracts at no cost. Most have a free contents alerting service, which allows
you to be kept up-to-date via e-mail with the contents of new issues as they
are published. Often you will be able to purchase a single article straight from
the publisher’s website. The other option is to obtain a photocopy of the
relevant article through the inter-library loans service using your local public
library (see Paper 3).
Locating journals of interest
To find journals (either electronic or printed) in your own field, go to a search
engine, type in your area of interest (eg child*) and the term ‘journal’. A list of
links will appear – simply click on any that are of interest and see if the
relevant journal offers sample copies or access to the contents page of
available issues. Links to Australian electronic journals can be found via the
National Libraries website at www.nla.gov.au/ajol. Alternatively, gateways or
20
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
websites such as Social Care Online (www.socialcareonline.org.uk) can be
used to locate lists of journals.
Freely available online journals
The following journals are freely available in full text format (ie not just
abstracts) via Social Care Online:
• Research, Policy and Planning (Full text from 1999 to 2004)
• Social Work in Europe (Full text of journal content older than 2 years and
abstracts for most recent editions).
• Adoption and Fostering (Full text of journal content older than 3 years and
abstracts for most recent editions).
Original research articles in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) are also freely
available direct from http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/.
Examples of electronic journals available by subscription:
Title
(individual URLs are listed on Social
Care Online – see above)
Contents e-
Alerting Service
available?
List of contents of
current and past
issues available on
website?
British Journal of Social Work Y Y
Child Abuse Review Y Y
Clinical Social Work Journal N Y
Journal of Social Work Practice Y Y
Research on Social Work Practice Y Y
Journals (Hard copy)
Since journals are published on a regular basis (usually monthly, bi-monthly or
quarterly) they contain relatively up-to-date research. There are many
different types of journal ranging from magazine-type sources, such as
Community Care (www.community-care.co.uk), which summarise research,
to more academic ones, which publish longer articles that have been
subjected to ‘peer review’ (ie assessed for quality and rigour by one or more
reviewers for the journal). An example of a peer reviewed publication is the
21
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
KEY MESSAGE
Use your local university library to photocopy journal articles or ask your
department to consider subscribing to one or two key professional journals.
British Journal of Social Work (http://bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/), which includes
empirical findings and theoretical debate. Finally, there are ‘practice journals’
(eg the Journal of Social Work Practice
www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/02650533.asp) which, as the name suggests,
focus on practice issues, but also include research findings.
Three key types of journal are:
• magazine-type sources (eg Community Care)
• practice journals (e.g. Journal of Social Work Practice).
• academic peer reviewed journals (e.g. Australian Social Work)
Access to journals
Most journals require you to purchase a subscription, and these are often too
costly to pay for as an individual. However, your department may wish to
subscribe to a journal on behalf of you and your colleagues. You may also be
able to access relevant hard copy journals from local university libraries,
which usually allow members of the public to use their facilities for reference
purposes (ie you will be able to read publications in the library and
photocopy relevant articles, but you will not be able to borrow the journals
themselves).
Libraries Australia
(www.librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au) allows you to search the combined
content of all Australian libraries, including university, public and government
libraries with one search.
22
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
CONCLUSIONS
This paper has sought to provide a basic understanding of the range of online
electronic resources available to help you acquire research evidence. As you
become more familiar with these resources, the searching process should
speed up significantly. New resources are being created all the time so it is
worth keeping an eye on a couple of gateways, e.g. Institute or Social Care
Online – to ensure that you are up-to-date.
The next paper in this series (Paper 3) provides further guidance on using
electronic resources and an overview of the 5 step process of locating
research online.
23
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
APPENDIX A: Summary of electronic resources
Search engines
AltaVista www.altavista.com
Excite www.excite.com
Google www.google.com.au
Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com
Lycos www.lycos.com
See also:
www.searchenginewatch.com
Gateways
Social Care Online www.socialcareonline.org.uk
National Electronic Library for Mental
Health (UK)
www.library.nhs.uk/mentalhealth
National Library for Health (UK) www.library.nhs.uk
Research Web (UK) www.researchweb.org.uk/research.ht
ml
Intute www.intute.ac.uk
Yahoo! Social Sciences http://au.dir.yahoo.com/Social_Scien
ce/
Education Index www.educationindex.com/educatio
n_resources.html
Databases
Applied Social Sciences Index and
Abstracts (ASSIA)
www.csa1.co.uk/csa/ids/trialsub.html
Australian Domestic & Family
Violence Clearinghouse Research
and Resources Database
www.austdvclearinghouse.unsw.edu.
au/rr_simple.htm
Australian Domestic & Family
Violence Clearinghouse Good
Practice Database
www.austdvclearinghouse.unsw.edu.
au/gp_simple.htm
Social Care Online www.socialcareonline.org
ChildData www.childdata.org.uk
Educational Resources Information
Center (ERIC)
www.eric.ed.gov/
PsycINFO® www.apa.org/psycinfo/about
PubMed http://www.pubmed.gov
Research Evidence in Education
Library
http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk
24
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
Science Direct www.sciencedirect.com
UTS Education: Bibliographic
Database
www.projects.education.uts.edu.au/
poped/webpages/bib_search.lasso
Key websites
ARACY www.aracy.org.au
Australia 21 www.australia21.org.au
Australian Clearinghouse for Youth
Studies (ACYS)
www.acys.info/resources
Australian Council for Educational
Research (ACER)
www.acer.edu.au
Australian Domestic & Family
Violence Clearinghouse
www.austdvclearinghouse.unsw.edu.
au
Australian Housing and Urban
Research Institute
www.ahuri.edu.au
Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet www.healthinfonet.edu.au
Australian Policy Online www.apo.org.au
Barnardo’s (UK) www.barnardos.org.uk
Barnardo’s (Au) www.barnardos.org.au
British Psychological Society Research
Digest (UK)
www.bps.org.uk/publications/rd.cfm
Centre for Disability Studies (UK) www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/
Centre for Reviews and Dissemination
(CRD) (UK)
www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd
Cochrane Library www.cochrane.org/reviews/clibintro.
htm
Communities and Families
Clearinghouse Australia (CAFCA)
www.aifs.gov.au
Directory of Australian Youth
Researchers
http://www.ythresearcher-
db.utas.edu.au
Diversity Health Institute
Clearinghouse
www.dhi.gov.au/clearinghouse
Early Childhood Connections www.rch.org.au/ecconnections/inde
x.cfm?doc_id=1247
Education Network Australia www.edna.edu.au
Institute of Psychiatry (UK) www.iop.kcl.ac.uk
Joseph Rowntree Foundation (UK) www.jrf.org.uk
King’s Fund (UK) www.kingsfund.org.uk
National Centre for Vocational
Education Research (NCVER)
www.ncver.edu.au
National Child Protection
Clearinghouse
www.aifs.gov.au/nch
National Research Register (UK) www.update-software.com/national
Norah Fry Research Centre (focus on
Learning Difficulties) at Bristol
University, UK
www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/NorahFry
NSPCC Inform (UK) www.nspcc.org.uk/inform/
25
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
Paradigm (UK) www.paradigm-uk.org
Participate in Health Clearinghouse www.participateinhealth.org.au/clea
ringhouse
Research in Practice (UK) www.rip.org.uk
Research Register for Social Care (UK) www.researchregister.org.uk
Social Care Institute for Excellence
(UK)
www.scie.org.uk
The Australia Institute www.tai.org.uk
The Smith Family www.thesmithfamily.com.au
What Works for Children? (WWfC) UK www.whatworksforchildren.org.uk
YouthGAS www.youthgas.com
Australian government websites
Access to Australian Government
publications
www.publications.gov.au
Australian Government portal www.australia.gov.au
Australian Institute of Family Studies www.aifs.gov.au
Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare
www.aihw.gov.au
Australian Research Council www.arc.gov.au
Community portal www.community.gov.au
Communitybuilders.nsw www.communitybuilders.nsw.gov.au
Department of Education, Science
and Training
www.dest.gov.au
Department of Families, Community
Services and Indigenous Affairs
www.facsia.gov.au
Department of Health and Ageing www.health.gov.au
Education portal www.education.gov.au/goved/go
National Health and Medical
Research Council
www.nhmrc.gov.au/nics
National Institute of Clinical Studies www.nhmrc.gov.au/nics
Statistical sources
Australian Bureau of Statistics www.abs.gov.au
Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare
www.aihw.gov.au/dataonline.cfm
Australian Social Trends www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/4
102.0?OpenDocument
Basic Community Portals www.censusdata.abs.gov.au
Census Data www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d33101
14.nsf/home/Census%20data
Department of Health and Ageing www..health.gov.au/internet/wcms/p
ublishing.nsf/Content/Statistcs-1
Key National Indicators www.abs.gov.au
Population Clock www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/9
4713ad445ff1425ca25682000192af2/1
26
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
647509ef7e25faaca2568a900154b63?
OpenDocument
Quick Stats www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d33101
14.nsf/home/census%20data
United Nations Statistics http://unstats.un.rg/unsd/default.htm
Youth Facts and Stats www.youthfacts.com.au
Journals
Australian Journals Online www.nla.gov.au/ajol
Australian Social Policy www.facsia.org.uk/internet/facsintern
et/nsf/research/asp-nav.htm
British Journal of Social Work http://bjsw.oupjournals.org
Community Care Magazine (UK) www.community-care.co.uk
Journal of Social Work Practice (UK) www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/02650
533.asp
Research, Policy and Planning http://www.socialcareonline.org.uk/D
isplayJournalTitles.asp
Sociology: A SAGE Full-Text Collection
of 33 journals published by SAGE and
participating societies
www.csa.com/factsheets/sagesoc-
set-c.php
Highwire (access to peer-reviewed,
full text articles from over 130
publishers).
http://highwire.stanford.edu/
Library catalogues/ resources
British Library Public Catalogue http://catalogue.bl.uk
Libraries Australia www.librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au
National Library of Australia www.nla.gov.uk
Online tutorials on using the internet/ locating research
Internet Social Worker www.vts.rdn.ac.uk/tutorial/social-
worker
CEBSS Internet tutorials www.ripfa.org.uk/aboutus/archive/
Research Mindedness ‘Finding
Research’
www.resmind.swap.ac.uk/content/04
_finding/finding_index.htm
ScHARR Introduction to Evidence-
Based Practice on the Internet
www.shef.ac.uk/scharr/ir/netting
27
Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007
Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth
REFERENCES
• Booth S, Booth A and Flazon L (2003) The need for information and
research skills training to support evidence-based social care: a
literature review and survey. Learning in Health and Social Care 2(4):
191–201.
• Sheldon, B and Chilvers, R (2000) Evidence-based social care: a
study of prospects and problems. Russell House Publishing, Lyme
Regis.