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What is Empirical Research?

Published in Finding Research 4 mins read

To find empirical research, you primarily search academic databases and specialized search engines designed for scholarly literature.

Empirical research is a methodology that relies on direct observation or experience. It involves collecting and analyzing data derived from real-world phenomena, experiments, surveys, observations, or other systematic methods to answer research questions.

Key Resources for Finding Empirical Research

Locating empirical studies typically involves using academic search tools that index scholarly articles, theses, reports, and other publications. These resources allow you to search by keywords, authors, topics, and publication types, often including filters for research methodology or study design.

Here are some widely used databases and search engines for finding empirical research, including those referenced:

Specialized Databases

These databases often focus on specific disciplines, allowing for more targeted searches within a particular field:

  • [1] APA PsycInfo: A comprehensive database covering psychology and related fields, excellent for finding empirical studies on human behavior and mental processes.
  • [3] Social Work Abstracts: Useful for locating empirical research specifically within the field of social work.
  • [4] Social Services Abstracts: Covers areas related to social services, including empirical studies on social issues and interventions.
  • [5] Sociological Abstracts: Provides access to research in sociology and related disciplines, including empirical studies on social structures, groups, and interactions.
  • [6] PubMed: A leading database for biomedical literature, essential for finding empirical research in medicine, health sciences, and biological sciences.
  • [7] Cochrane Library: Known for high-quality, independent evidence, particularly systematic reviews and clinical trials, which are forms of empirical research.

General Academic Search Engines

These resources cover a broader range of subjects and can be a good starting point, though they may require more specific search terms to narrow down to empirical studies:

  • [2] Academic Search Complete: A large, multidisciplinary database covering a vast array of academic subjects, including empirical research from various fields.
  • [8] Google Scholar: A freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines, useful for finding empirical studies broadly.

Effective Search Strategies

Using these resources effectively requires strategic searching:

  1. Identify Keywords: Start with clear keywords related to your research topic. Think about the main concepts, populations, interventions, or outcomes.
  2. Use Boolean Operators: Combine keywords using operators like AND, OR, and NOT to refine your search. For instance, (therapy OR intervention) AND anxiety.
  3. Look for Methodology Terms: Add terms related to empirical methods to your search, such as empirical study, research, experiment, survey, qualitative, quantitative, methods, data analysis, clinical trial, observational study.
  4. Utilize Database Filters: Most databases offer advanced search options or filters. Look for options to limit results by:
    • Publication type: Select "Empirical Study," "Research Article," "Report," "Clinical Trial," etc.
    • Methodology: Some databases allow filtering by specific research designs (e.g., qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, experimental).
    • Peer-Reviewed: Filter for peer-reviewed articles to ensure scholarly rigor.
  5. Explore Subject Headings: Databases like PsycInfo or PubMed use controlled vocabulary (like MeSH in PubMed). Finding the correct subject headings for your topic can lead to highly relevant results.
  6. Check References and Citations: Once you find a relevant empirical article, examine its reference list for other relevant studies. Use citation features (like "cited by" in Google Scholar or databases) to find newer articles that have cited the one you found.

Refining Your Results

Even with targeted searches, you may need to review abstracts and sometimes the full text to confirm a study is empirical and relevant to your specific needs. Pay attention to sections like "Methods," "Results," and "Discussion," which are hallmarks of empirical reporting.

By systematically searching these databases and employing effective strategies, you can efficiently locate empirical research relevant to your area of interest.

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