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Nursing Research: Quantitative or Qualitative?

central gathering place for guidance and links related to nursing information seeking at Oklahoma City University

Finding Research Articles

  • Search CINAHL Complete Advanced Search
  • Enter Key Words
  • Limit to Research Articles
  • Add the oldest usable Date
  • Limit to Nursing Journals

CINAHL Advanced search screen

Identifying Quantitative Articles

Quantitative methods are used most often with research questions that focus on numbers and effectiveness of specific treatments. Look for key words like these:

  • Before-and-after
  • Chi Square Test
  • Cohort
  • Confidence Interval
  • Control Group
  • Cross sectional
  • Experimental
  • Intervention
  • Numbers
  • Percentages
  • Pretest-Posttest
  • Randomized
  • Regression Analysis
  • …. Scale
  • Treatment outcomes
  • [names of specific tests used]

Identifying Qualitative Articles

Qualitative methods are used most often with research questions that focus on perceptions and experiences. Look for key words like these:

  • Case Study
  • Content Analysis
  • Documentary Analysis
  • Ethnographic
  • Experiences
  • Field Notes
  • Focus Group
  • Grounded Theory
  • Interviews
  • Narrative Analysis
  • Observation
  • Open Ended
  • Participatory
  • Perceptions
  • Phenomenological
  • Qualitative

Additional Resources

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