Locating Research Evidence Online - Australian Research Alliance

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

[email protected]

www.aracy.org.au

1

Evidence into Action Paper–- Locating Research Evidence Online – October 2007


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

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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

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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…)

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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’.

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• 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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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• 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.

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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?

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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).

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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



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.

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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?

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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



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

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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.

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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.

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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


Violence Clearinghouse Good

Practice Database


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

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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


Violence Clearinghouse


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/

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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

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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

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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.

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