To develop an effective search strategy you need to:
Identify what you are trying to find out
Develop / plan in advance
Use background reading and identified articles to help generate keywords
Consider any limits (date range, inclusion/exclusion criteria)
Record your ideas
Before you can get your research underway, you need to have a good understanding of your research topic so that you can scope out exactly which research questions, concepts and issues you will address. This will help you keep focused so that your searching is targeted and you can define your inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Do some brainstorming to think around your topic and do some scoping searches.
Start with a scoping search
You will already have a good understanding of your research interest or area but conducting a scoping search will help you identify key terminology that may be associated with this. In your results look for articles which have useful keywords or subject terms you can use when conducting the Systematic Literature Review.
Map out your research concepts / themes / key words
An important part of the planning process is scoping out the topic areas that you are researching. It can help to do some brain storming to map out the main topics/concepts you will be looking at.
Mind mapping can be a useful way of capturing these concepts, themes and sub themes - but use whatever technique works best for you.
Break your research topic down in to a number of smaller sub concepts and address each of those in turn.
This process will help you develop your understanding of exactly how to develop your search strategy (keywords/concepts/combining terms/search techniques).
As you move through your research you may wish to refresh or adapt your scoping search in order to encompass new areas you discover as you begin to explore the literature or to close off particular avenues of research that you considered at the outset. You will have to modify and test your search strategy to ensure that it retrieves relevant studies. Keep a record of your tried and tested searches.
The scoping search is a key process to be undertaken prior to the recorded Systematic Literature Review.
Alternative words and/or phrases are imperative to your search in order to ensure you are conducting a comprehensive review of the literature.
For example:
If you were researching the failure of small business in the UK you could use the following keywords:
failure, success, demise, challenges, risk etc.
As well as searching for the UK, you might also search for United Kingdom, GB, Great Britain etc.
If you are looking for material on the Conservative Government you might also search for the Tory Government.
Check if the database you are using has a thesaurus or index of keywords / subject terms.
A thesaurus or index means that subject content is tagged in a consistent way, even where authors use differing terminology for the same concept. By using the subject terms in your search you can easily search for related content. The thesaurus will also help you identify broader, narrower and related terms for your keyword(s) which you can use in your search if you need to amend it.
Are there acronyms or abbreviations associated with your research area? Include these as search terms in order to be fully comprehensive.
For example:
small and medium-sized enterprises and/or SMEs
Doctor and/or Dr
SEND and/or Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
EYFS and/or Early Years Foundation Stage
When you are searching the global literature think about differences in spellings and terminology, and incorporate alternatives into your search strategy. Truncation and wildcard symbols can help with this (see further detail in the search techniques section).
For example:
globalisation (British spelling)
vs. globalization (American English spelling)
Also think about differing terminology for the same subject. Subject terms and thesauri can help you with this.
holiday vs. vacation
underground vs. subway
kindergarten vs. nursery school or reception
If you are searching across long time periods, remember that terminology changes over time.
New words appear, others change meaning so be prepared to reflect this in your search strategy.
For example:
tweet or twitter has a dual meaning:
For example, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was previously known as shellshock.
Some terminology which may have been acceptable and used in the literature of the time may be considered inappropriate now, but should not be excluded.
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