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Research on Social Work Practice
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Systematically Retrieving Research: A Case Study Evaluating Seven Databases

Brian Taylor

University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Emma Wylie

Causeway Health and Social Services Trust, Ballymoney, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Martin Dempster

Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Michael Donnelly

Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Objective: Developing the scientific underpinnings of social welfare requires effective and efficient methods of retrieving relevant items from the increasing volume of research. Method: We compared seven databases by running the nearest equivalent search on each. The search topic was chosen for relevance to social work practice with older people. Results: Highest sensitivity was achieved by Medline (52%), Social Sciences Citation Index (46%) and Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) (30%). Highest precision was achieved by AgeInfo (76%), PsycInfo (51%) and Social Services Abstracts (41%). Each database retrieved unique relevant articles. Conclusions: Comprehensive searching requires the development of information management skills. The social work profession would benefit from having a dedicated international database with the capability and facilities of major databases such as Medline, CINAHL, and PsycInfo.

Key Words: databases • bibliographic • evidence-based practice • information storage and retrieval

This version was published on November 1, 2007

Research on Social Work Practice, Vol. 17, No. 6, 697-706 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1049731507304402
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This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Research on Social Work PracticeHome page
G. Holden, K. Barker, L. Covert-Vail, G. Rosenberg, and S. A. Cohen
Social Work Abstracts Fails Again: A Replication and Extension
Research on Social Work Practice, November 1, 2009; 19(6): 715 - 721.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Research on Social Work PracticeHome page
B. J. Taylor
Invited Commentary on Papers by Holden et al. and Shek on the Quality of Social Work Abstracts
Research on Social Work Practice, May 1, 2009; 19(3): 366 - 369.
[PDF]

Home page
 Research on Social Work PracticeHome page
G. Holden, K. Barker, L. Covert-Vail, G. Rosenberg, and S. A. Cohen
Does Social Work Abstracts Work?
Research on Social Work Practice, September 1, 2008; 18(5): 487 - 499.
[Abstract] [PDF]