Research Methods

PsycINFO Search

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Suppose you want to find out about psychological aspects of a child being adopted by non-biological parents. A search for Adoption results in different numbers of hits, depending on how you structure the search. As of August 13, 2012, such a search produces the following results:

• No category selected: 14,851. Two of the first 20 related to adoption of children.
• All Text: 15,068. Two of the first 20 related to adoption of children.
• Keyword: 3,369. Six of the first 20 related to adoption of children.
• Subjects: 3.937. Seven of the first 20 related to adoption of children.

As of August 2012, the first 10 hits for adoption Anywhere are as follows:

• Imagining radical women in interwar Japan: Leftist and feminist Perspectives
• Leveraging health information technology and health information management in rural America: A health summit commentary
• Differences in readiness between rural hospitals and primary care providers for telemedicine adoption and implementation: Findings from a statewide telemedicine survey
• The adoption and use of health information technology in rural areas: Results of a national survey
• The role of academic motivation in high school students' current and lifetime alcohol consumption: Adopting a self-determination theory perspective
• Using online collaboration applications for group assignments: The interplay between design and human characteristics
• What factors predict undergraduate students' use of technology for learning? A case from Hong Kong
• Green practices in the restaurant industry from an innovation adoption perspective: Evidence from Taiwan
• How “green” are North American hotels? An exploration of low-cost adoption practices
• Why are religious individuals more obsessional? The role of mental control beliefs and guilt in Muslims and Christians

This pattern in 2011 is not an accident. Here are the first 10 hits as of February 2008:

• Testing the genetic hypothesis of group mean IQ differences in South
• Repeated transport and isolation during pregnancy in ewes: Differential effects on emotional reactivity and weight of their
  offspring.
• Decision points in child welfare: An action research model to address disproportionality.
• Emotional, behavioral and social problems among Israeli children in residential care: A multi-level analysis.
• Judgements of Solomon: Anxieties and defences of social workers involved in care proceedings.
• Research review: In a rush to permanency: Preventing adoption disruption.
• Attachment handbook for foster care and adoption:" Erratum.
• Volumetric neuroimaging investigations in mood disorders: Bipolar disorder versus major depressive disorder.
• Meta-analysis of patient education interventions to increase physical activity among chronically ill adults.
• The relationship of e-Learner's self-regulatory efficacy and perception of e-Learning environmental quality.

Ways to reduce the number of hits:

• Use the PsycINFO thesaurus to see how your concept is listed [e.g., Adoption (child)]
• Restrict hits by type of publication (e.g., journals, books)
• Restrict by type of population (e.g., children, infants, nonhuman animals)
• Restrict by year (e.g., only material since 2000)
• Restrict by language (e.g., only English)

Ways to increase the number of hits:

• Check your spelling
• Use the PsycINFO Thesaurus to find appropriate terms
• Use a wild card (e.g., adopt*, which would lead PsycINFO to search for any word beginning with adopt, like adoption or adoptive)
• Search by an author's name if you know somebody who has written on the topic you are searching

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Modified August 13, 2012