Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From Paper to the Internet [Paperback]

Arlene Fink (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0761909052 | ISBN-13: 978-0761909057 | Publication Date: April 21, 1998 | Edition: First Edition

This book shows how to interpret and analyze published and unpublished research literature.

The author unravels the intricacies of: selecting questions to maximize the efficiency of the review; identifying subject headings and key words for electronic searches; identifying the most appropriate databases; including supplementing computer and Web-based searches; identifying and dealing with unpublished studies; setting inclusion and exclusion criteria; justifying methods for reviewing only the `highest quality' literature; preparing a structured literature abstraction form; ensuring the reliability and validity of the review; synthesizing and reporting results; conducting and evaluating descriptive literature reviews; and, how to understand and evaluate the principles of meta-analysis.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"There is finally a book available that removes the mystery and guesswork from doing literature reviews. This is especially important for both graduate and undergraduate levels if you are asking the students to make judgments about the quality and applicability of articles they may read. This book is not only timely but also a valuable way to help students evaluate articles they find on the Internet." 

(Anita VanBrackle )

About the Author

Arlene Fink (Ph.D.) is Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles and President of the Langley Research Institute. Her main interests include evaluation and survey research and the conduct of research literature reviews as well as the evaluation of their quality. Dr. Fink has conducted scores of evaluation studies in public health, medicine and education. She is on the faculty of UCLA’s Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and is a scientific and evaluation advisor to UCLA’s Gambling Studies and IMPACT (Improving Access, Counseling & Treatment for Californians with Prostate Cancer) programs. She consults nationally and internationally for agencies such as L’institut de Promotion del la Prévention Secondaire en Addictologie (IPPSA) Paris, France and Peninsula Health in Victoria, Australia. Professor Fink has taught and lectured extensively all over the world and is the author of over 110 peer-reviewed articles and 15 textbooks.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc; First Edition edition (April 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761909052
• ISBN-13: 978-0761909057
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #290,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #75 in Books > Education & Reference > Publishing & Books > Bibliographies & Indexes > Literature

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Readable guide, November 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From Paper to the Internet (Paperback)

This is a readable guide to executing a large-scale literature review, with special attention to the issues of doing a quantitative synthesis. It is written for people in the health professions rather than scholars, so the latter may find the treatment a bit light.