* difference significant (p < 0.05)
Table Table3 3 shows descriptive results of element scores displayed per type of note. What can be observed from the data in Table Table3 3 is that for structured documentation, the standard deviation decreases in most elements scores, indicating the variability in quality seems to be lower in structured notes. Furthermore, when comparing the grand mean score for IOC and FUC notes separately, an increase for both types of notes was found (Fig. 1 ). IOC Qnote score increased by 14.9 (95% CI 11.3–18.5) points from 67.3 to 82.3. FUC Qnote score increased by 10.8 (95% CI 4.6–17.0) from 61.3 to 72.1.
Descriptive results of Qnote element scores, per note type
Chief complaints | 89,4 | (22,2) | 97,2 | (11,5) | 78,6 | (30,2) | 89,4 | (23,8) |
HPI | 87,4 | (27,7) | 97,4 | (8,6) | 55,8 | (46,4) | 76,7 | (36,3) |
Problem list | 33,8 | (46,6) | 46,5 | (49,0) | 12,7 | (33,1) | 31,5 | (45,8) |
Past medical history | 73,7 | (41,5) | 85,2 | (31,6) | 4,7 | (19,1) | 8,0 | (26,6) |
Medications | 29,5 | (45,3) | 42,0 | (49,5) | * | |||
Adverse reactions | 25,6 | (40,0) | 84,7 | (31,1) | * | |||
Social and family history | 72,5 | (36,2) | 88,3 | (19,4) | * | |||
Physicial findings | 87,3 | (15,5) | 87,0 | (16,4) | 78,2 | (26,5) | 83,6 | (20,6) |
Assessment | 83,3 | (20,6) | 88,3 | (18,7) | 65,8 | (39,3) | 83,6 | (23,5) |
Plan of Care | 80,1 | (25,1) | 89,6 | (17,3) | 69,3 | (41,0) | 69,9 | (43,4) |
Follow-up information | 63,9 | (32,1) | 88,0 | (22,0) | 81,0 | (27,9) | 85,7 | (27,1) |
Grand Mean | 67,4 | (12,6) | 82,3 | (8,7) | 61,3 | (25,4) | 72,1 | (20,2) |
* grey marked elements were not evaluated for this note because these elements were considered not relevant in this type of consultation
Boxplot of grand mean score per note type
Subsequently, analysis was conducted on data from both centers separately to determine whether structured documentation led to increased quality in both centers. In center B, an increase of 14.59 was found (95% CI 7.22–21.96) in IOC note quality, and a 16.36 point increase (95% CI 8.99–23.73) in FUC note quality was found. A significant improvement in IOC Qnote score by 15.10 (95% CI 8.26–22.10) was observed in center A. The 5.3 point increase in FUC note quality was not statistically significant (95% CI -1.61–12.14).
Analysis of secondary outcome measures showed a significant increase in note length for structured documentation in both note types. IOC notes increased from 442.1 to 639.6 words, with a mean difference of 197.5 (95% CI 146.9–248.1), translating to a 44.7% increase. A significant 53.3% increase was found in FUC notes, increasing with 46.5 words (95% CI 31.7–61.2) from 86.9 to 133.4. To evaluate whether this increase in note length led to unnecessary long notes containing excessive non-essential information, all scores for a given component were averaged. For example, the component concise was used to rate 9 of the 11 elements used to rate a note. The mean of all conciseness scores was calculated to get an overall indication of the conciseness of the note. Table Table4 4 shows the difference in mean component scores. As can be seen from the data in Table Table4, 4 , the mean conciseness score, indicating whether note elements were focused and brief, increased significantly. Furthermore, the mean clearness score, indicating whether note elements were understandable to clinicians, also increased significantly.
Mean component score difference between unstructured and structured documentation
| |||
---|---|---|---|
Sufficient information (7) | Enough information for purpose | +14.3 (10.2 – 18.4) | < 0.001* |
Concise (9) | Focused and brief, not redundant | +10.7 (6.5 – 14.9) | < 0.001* |
Clear (8) | Understandable to clinicians | +14.8 (10.6 – 18.9) | 0.009* |
Organized (3) | Properly grouped | +14.5 (7.8 – 21.2) | < 0.001* |
Complete (3) | Adresses the issue | +7.9 (1.61 – 14.3) | 0.014* |
Ordered (1) | Order of clinical importance | +16.2 (4.5 – 27.9) | 0.007* |
Current (3) | Up-to-date | +24.5 (17.3 – 31.7) | < 0.001* |
When analyzing the scores of the general instrument that rated the notes on a scale of one to ten, a significant increase in documentation quality was also found. Mean scores increased from 6.83 to 7.52, which was an 0.68 increase (95% CI 0.44–0.94).
The study offers some important insights into the impact of increased structured and standardized documentation on EHR note quality in outpatient care. In this retrospective multicenter study, our results show that structured documentation is associated with higher quality documentation. In summary, our results show a 20.0% increase measured on a 0–100 scale. Furthermore, results showed that structured notes were significantly longer than unstructured notes, but were more concise nevertheless.
This study showed an overall increase in documentation quality after the implementation of structured and standardized recording. In 8 of the 11 elements measured with the Qnote instrument, a significant increase in quality was found. This result may be explained by the fact that relevant elements and items that have to be documented are presented to the health care provider in an intuitive, uniform way. Therefore, clinicians are less likely to forget certain elements and items within the note. Furthermore, repeatedly recording in the same format ensures the physician is trained to record properly and completely. The medication element showed a minor, insignificant increase. This might be because medications were not included in notes in one center and therefore did not contribute to the observed results on this element. Additionally, minor, insignificant increases were found in physical examination and plan of care. This could be explained by the fact that the score for these elements was already high in unstructured documentation.
A recent study found variation in the quality of documentation between healthcare providers [ 9 ]. This variation could lead to inefficient documentation and the risk of patient harm from missed or misinterpreted information. Therefore, reducing this variability may also be considered relevant. The descriptive data on element scores in this study showed a trend indicating that the variation in documentation quality decreases when using structured documentation. However, some elements still showed significant variation. Therefore, implementing solutions that reduce variation in documentation quality between encounters and healthcare providers should be encouraged.
In addition, when the notes were analyzed differentiated by center, a significant increase in the quality of IOC notes was observed. This was also the case for follow-up notes in one of the two centers. This supports the conclusion that structured and standardized recording increases documentation quality, independent of a specific center or EHR vendor.
The results also show notes were longer when structured documentation was used. This could be because structured documentation contributes to including all relevant elements, or because health care providers are more reliant on CIT. CIT can be a problem if it leads to unnecessary, unorganized, or unclear information in a note and distracts the reader from the essential information buried within the note. This is known as note bloat. When considering the results of this study, there is no evidence that the longer notes were the result of note bloat. Firstly, an increase in quality in almost all elements where CIT is mainly used (problem list, past medical history, adverse reaction, social and family history) was observed. Secondly, the analysis on components used to assess the individual elements showed significant increases in clearness and conciseness. Therefore, it is safe to assume that in this study, the longer notes were not associated with note bloat and are most likely the result of more complete, and therefore higher quality, documentation.
The reports in the literature to date have mainly focused on the effect of electronic documentation versus handwritten documentation. Some studies have shown a perceived decrease in quality after implementing EHRs, identifying copy-paste functions (CPF) and note clutter as the main reasons for this quality decrease [ 17 ]. Others claim that EHRs increase note quality compared to manual recording in inpatient and outpatient care [ 11 – 13 , 18 ]. A small number of studies have evaluated semi-structured templates that mainly use free-text documentation, comparing them to traditional templates or fully unstructured free-text notes. A small (n = 36) trial comparing outpatient notes written using a traditional template with an optimized template found mixed results, with no difference in overall quality [ 19 ]. However, the intervention notes were inferior in accuracy and usefulness, although better organized. Another study evaluating a quality improvement project to improve clinical documentation quality found no increase in quality [ 20 ]. A third, larger study did find a significant increase in inpatient documentation quality using a semi-structured template [ 21 ]. The abovementioned studies indicate that further research on this topic is warranted. However, our findings show compelling evidence that structured documentation can improve documentation quality.
This study has several strengths. This is the first study to use a validated measure instrument for outpatient notes to examine the impact of structured and standardized recording on outpatient note quality. Given the rising demand for reuse and exchange of healthcare data, structured and standardized data recording will become increasingly important. This study proves that structured documentation can also improve the quality of EHR notes. Furthermore, the increase in quality was found in two centers with different EHRs. These factors contribute to the generalizability of the results.
Another strength of this study is the method used to assess the quality of the notes. Of the instruments available in the literature that are used to assess the quality of documentation, most focus on the absence of data or only assess the global quality of the note, such as the PDSI-9 [ 22 ]. However, the Qnote instrument is based on a qualitative study in which relevant elements of an outpatient clinical note were identified [ 23 ]. Therefore, it is possible to rate the quality of all note elements independently and subsequently calculate a total score. This structured approach is likely to be more objective than other, more general rating instruments. Besides, rating elements individually benefit from being able to identify specific deficits in note quality. Because of this, improving the quality of clinical EHR notes can be conducted in a more targeted and effective way.
This study also has some limitations. Firstly, the main limitation of the retrospective nature of this study is that a causal relationship between the implementation of structured and standardized documenting cannot be established with certainty. In one center, the interval between the two study periods was several years. Therefore, the influence of other factors cannot be eliminated. In the other center, the interval between study periods is shorter, making it highly likely that implementing the standardized care pathway with structured documentation is the primary reason for the increase in note quality. Moreover, analyzing the data differentiated by center resulted in similar outcomes. Secondly, the Qnote instrument has been validated on a population of diabetic patients and not for oncological patients. However, the elements used are general and not disease- or setting-specific. Moreover, the general score given by the raters in this study showed similar or marginally lower scores than the Qnote instrument. This conclusion was also stated in the initial Qnote validation study [ 16 ]. Lastly, due to the visual similarity of structured and standardized notes, the complete blinding of study notes for raters was impossible. This might have led to an unconscious bias. However, the risk was minimized by recruiting note raters employed at another hospital.
The findings of this study support the assumption that structured documentation positively influences documentation quality. This is an important finding, given that the need for structured documentation will only increase in the near future because structured data is key in enabling the reuse of healthcare data. Data reuse will become increasingly important in health care, for various purposes, such as automated quality measurement, information exchange when referring patients to other health care centers, and less time-consuming data collection methods for scientific research. Furthermore, the use and implementation of decision support tools also require structured recording of healthcare data. The abovementioned applications of data reuse in healthcare can lead to increased efficiency and quality of healthcare. Nevertheless, there could be a concern that as data reuse becomes more important, healthcare providers are required to capture more data while providing care. This, in turn, might lead to an increased administrative burden. This should be avoided, as healthcare providers are unlikely to accept a documentation method that adds a significant burden to their workload [ 24 ]. Efforts should be made to to implement structured documentation methods within EHRs to enable data reuse while reducing the administrative burden. The results of this study raise further questions about the benefits and pitfalls of structured documentation systems, on which future studies should focus. These include the effect of the structured documentation systems on documentation time and effort, how physicians' perceptions regarding the documentation process and the EHR are influenced, and how these factors affect adoption, and how these factors affect adoption. As a result, we have started another study to answer such questions.
This study demonstrated that structured and standardized recording led to an increase in the quality of notes in the EHR. Additionally, a significant increase in note length was found. Moreover, the results showed that the longer notes were also considered more clear and concise. Considering the benefits of structured data recording in terms of data reuse, it is recommended to implement structured and standardized documentation into the EHR.
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Declarations.
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Published on August 25, 2022 by Shona McCombes and Tegan George. Revised on September 5, 2024.
Your research methodology discusses and explains the data collection and analysis methods you used in your research. A key part of your thesis, dissertation , or research paper , the methodology chapter explains what you did and how you did it, allowing readers to evaluate the reliability and validity of your research and your dissertation topic .
It should include:
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How to write a research methodology, why is a methods section important, step 1: explain your methodological approach, step 2: describe your data collection methods, step 3: describe your analysis method, step 4: evaluate and justify the methodological choices you made, tips for writing a strong methodology chapter, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about methodology.
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Your methods section is your opportunity to share how you conducted your research and why you chose the methods you chose. It’s also the place to show that your research was rigorously conducted and can be replicated .
It gives your research legitimacy and situates it within your field, and also gives your readers a place to refer to if they have any questions or critiques in other sections.
You can start by introducing your overall approach to your research. You have two options here.
What research problem or question did you investigate?
And what type of data did you need to achieve this aim?
Depending on your discipline, you can also start with a discussion of the rationale and assumptions underpinning your methodology. In other words, why did you choose these methods for your study?
Once you have introduced your reader to your methodological approach, you should share full details about your data collection methods .
In order to be considered generalizable, you should describe quantitative research methods in enough detail for another researcher to replicate your study.
Here, explain how you operationalized your concepts and measured your variables. Discuss your sampling method or inclusion and exclusion criteria , as well as any tools, procedures, and materials you used to gather your data.
Surveys Describe where, when, and how the survey was conducted.
Experiments Share full details of the tools, techniques, and procedures you used to conduct your experiment.
Existing data Explain how you gathered and selected the material (such as datasets or archival data) that you used in your analysis.
The survey consisted of 5 multiple-choice questions and 10 questions measured on a 7-point Likert scale.
The goal was to collect survey responses from 350 customers visiting the fitness apparel company’s brick-and-mortar location in Boston on July 4–8, 2022, between 11:00 and 15:00.
Here, a customer was defined as a person who had purchased a product from the company on the day they took the survey. Participants were given 5 minutes to fill in the survey anonymously. In total, 408 customers responded, but not all surveys were fully completed. Due to this, 371 survey results were included in the analysis.
In qualitative research , methods are often more flexible and subjective. For this reason, it’s crucial to robustly explain the methodology choices you made.
Be sure to discuss the criteria you used to select your data, the context in which your research was conducted, and the role you played in collecting your data (e.g., were you an active participant, or a passive observer?)
Interviews or focus groups Describe where, when, and how the interviews were conducted.
Participant observation Describe where, when, and how you conducted the observation or ethnography .
Existing data Explain how you selected case study materials for your analysis.
In order to gain better insight into possibilities for future improvement of the fitness store’s product range, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 returning customers.
Here, a returning customer was defined as someone who usually bought products at least twice a week from the store.
Surveys were used to select participants. Interviews were conducted in a small office next to the cash register and lasted approximately 20 minutes each. Answers were recorded by note-taking, and seven interviews were also filmed with consent. One interviewee preferred not to be filmed.
Mixed methods research combines quantitative and qualitative approaches. If a standalone quantitative or qualitative study is insufficient to answer your research question, mixed methods may be a good fit for you.
Mixed methods are less common than standalone analyses, largely because they require a great deal of effort to pull off successfully. If you choose to pursue mixed methods, it’s especially important to robustly justify your methods.
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Next, you should indicate how you processed and analyzed your data. Avoid going into too much detail: you should not start introducing or discussing any of your results at this stage.
In quantitative research , your analysis will be based on numbers. In your methods section, you can include:
In qualitative research, your analysis will be based on language, images, and observations (often involving some form of textual analysis ).
Specific methods might include:
Mixed methods combine the above two research methods, integrating both qualitative and quantitative approaches into one coherent analytical process.
Above all, your methodology section should clearly make the case for why you chose the methods you did. This is especially true if you did not take the most standard approach to your topic. In this case, discuss why other methods were not suitable for your objectives, and show how this approach contributes new knowledge or understanding.
In any case, it should be overwhelmingly clear to your reader that you set yourself up for success in terms of your methodology’s design. Show how your methods should lead to results that are valid and reliable, while leaving the analysis of the meaning, importance, and relevance of your results for your discussion section .
Remember that your aim is not just to describe your methods, but to show how and why you applied them. Again, it’s critical to demonstrate that your research was rigorously conducted and can be replicated.
The methodology section should clearly show why your methods suit your objectives and convince the reader that you chose the best possible approach to answering your problem statement and research questions .
Your methodology can be strengthened by referencing existing research in your field. This can help you to:
Consider how much information you need to give, and avoid getting too lengthy. If you are using methods that are standard for your discipline, you probably don’t need to give a lot of background or justification.
Regardless, your methodology should be a clear, well-structured text that makes an argument for your approach, not just a list of technical details and procedures.
If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.
Methodology
Research bias
Methodology refers to the overarching strategy and rationale of your research project . It involves studying the methods used in your field and the theories or principles behind them, in order to develop an approach that matches your objectives.
Methods are the specific tools and procedures you use to collect and analyze data (for example, experiments, surveys , and statistical tests ).
In shorter scientific papers, where the aim is to report the findings of a specific study, you might simply describe what you did in a methods section .
In a longer or more complex research project, such as a thesis or dissertation , you will probably include a methodology section , where you explain your approach to answering the research questions and cite relevant sources to support your choice of methods.
In a scientific paper, the methodology always comes after the introduction and before the results , discussion and conclusion . The same basic structure also applies to a thesis, dissertation , or research proposal .
Depending on the length and type of document, you might also include a literature review or theoretical framework before the methodology.
Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.
Quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses . Qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail.
Reliability and validity are both about how well a method measures something:
If you are doing experimental research, you also have to consider the internal and external validity of your experiment.
A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population . Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research. For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.
In statistics, sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population.
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Social scientists often conduct documentary research. Its primary use is to assess various documents in the interest of social or historical value. Researchers also conduct documentary research to study multiple documents surrounding events or individuals.
Documentary research is the research conducted through the use of official documents or personal documents as the source of information.
Documents can include anything from the following:
The above may not fit the traditional bill of a “document”, but companies can use them towards documentary research since they contain information.
Documentary research is similar to content analysis, which involves studying existing information recorded in media, texts, and physical items. Here, data collection from people is not required to conduct research. Hence, this is a prime example of secondary research.
It is essential to consider the quality of the documents while using it as evidence on social relations and social meanings. Keep in mind that, unlike surveys and research interviews, the records are originally published/generated without keeping the purpose of research in mind. It is good practice to cross-verify documents against other similar documents before reaching a decision.
Bellow, we can find a few real-life examples of documentary research applied to companies’ daily events.
Although documentary research is not used extensively today, it is the go-to research method to conduct social research studies. For example, Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim used documentary research extensively for their research.
Karl Marx used documents like:
There’s also a record of his use of reports by the Medical Officer of the Privy Council, reports on children’s employment in factories, the Corn-laws, the Banking Acts, and Census Reports for Wales and England to name a few.
Durkheim, one of the founders of Sociology, wrote a book on suicide, which is recognized as the first modern example of a methodical and consistent use of documents for social research.
The field of sociology has a popular, longstanding tradition of documentary inquiry. Many historians refer to and rely on primary documents for their research. Historians give historical documents more emphasis while conducting research. Of course, as we evolve, virtual documents like emails will play a significant role in research activities conducted by these researchers.
Documentary research is not limited to text only. Pictures, paintings, videos, audio files, monuments are also used to conduct research. Documentary researchers use these tools in addition to texts while studying social sciences. The use of these tools adds to the authenticity of the textual research, or may very well point out deviations in the findings.
This deviation suggests that investigators research more to draw accurate conclusions.
Documentary research, if conducted thoroughly, can help develop a hypothesis or prove or disprove an existing theory. This of course depends on the methodology applied and the depth of research conducted. The researcher must conduct his/her own secondary research to analyze the contents before extracting it. They must handle the data scientifically.
Follow this four-step approach to control the quality of the content:
The authenticity of the documents
The credibility of the documents
Representativeness of the documents
The meaning derived from the documents
Let’s take a look at these in detail.
Authenticity implies whether the document’s origin is reliable, is the evidence genuine, are the intentions sincere, and what were the commitments to creating the document. The authenticity of the source is the primary criterion of documentary research.
Credibility means the subjective and objective components that make one believe the source of information and whether the data is free from distortion and error. The information must be trustworthy and must have some level of expertise.
Representativeness refers to whether the document represents a more extensive collection of the data point, and it is an aggregation of the topic being studied. That said, documents get distorted with time due to the inclusion of new factors, and a check has to be made to ensure the documents are representative.
Meaning means whether the findings are understandable and clear to be called evidence. The goal of examining documents is to understand its significance and meaning. Researchers must find out whether the document fits within the historical context or not.
Here are the advantages of the documentary research method:
Here are the disadvantages of the documentary research method:
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When publishing research , it is important to make documentation available so that readers can understand the details of the research design that the work reports. This includes all of the technical details and decisions that could influence how the findings are read or understood. Usually, this will involve producing a document along the lines of a methodological note or appendix. That document will describe how a given study was designed and how the design was carried out. The level of detail is in such a document should be relatively high. This page will describe some common approaches to compiling this kind of material and retaining the needed information in an organized fashion throughout the life of a research project.
Research documentation should include all the information that is needed to understand the underlying design for the research output. This can include descriptions of:
All of the research documentation taken together should broadly allow a reader to understand how information was gathered, what it represents, what kind of information and data files to expect, and how to relate that information to the results of the research. Research documentation is not a complete guide to data, however; it does not need to provide the level of detail or instructions that would enable a reader to approach different research questions using the same data.
Documentation will take different forms depending on the information included. Much of it will be written narrative rather than, for example, formal datasets . Understanding research documentation should not require the user to have any special software or to undertake any analytical tasks themselves. Relevant datasets (such as tracking of units of observation over time) might be included alongside the documentation, but the documentation should summarize in narrative form all the information from that dataset that is likely to affect the interpretation of the research.
If you are preparing documentation to accompany the publication of an academic output such as a working paper or journal article, the most common form of research documentation is a structured supplemental appendix. Check the journal's publication process for details. Some publishers allow unlimited supplementary materials to be included in a format such as an author-created document. These materials may or may not be included under the peer review of the main manuscript and might only be intended to provide context for readers and reviewers. In this case you should provide complete information in that material. Other publishers expect all supplementary materials to be read and reviewed as part of the publication process. In this case you should provide the minimum additional detail required to understand the research here (since much of the appendix will likely be taken up by supplementary results rather than documentation), and consider other methods for releasing complete documentation, such as self-publication on OSF or Zenodo.
Since there is unlimited space and you may have a large amount of material to include in a documentation appendix, organization is essential. It is appropriate to have several appendices that cover different aspects of the research. For example, Appendix A may include information about the study population and data, such as the total number of units available for observation , the number selected or included for observation, the number successfully included, and descriptive statistics about subgroups, strata, clusters, or other units relevant to the research. It could be accompanied by a tracking dataset with full information about the process. Appendix B might include information about an intended experimental manipulation in one section, and information about implementation, take-up, and fidelity in a second section. It could be accompanied by a dataset with key indicators. Appendix C might include data collection protocols and definitions of constructed variables and comparisons with alternative definitions, and be accompanied by data collection instruments and illustrative figures. Each appendix should included relevant references. Supplementary exhibits should be numbered to correspond with the appendix they pertain to. More granular appendices are generally preferable so that referencing and numbering remains relatively uncomplicated.
There have been many attempts to standardized some of these elements, such as the STROBE and CONSORT reporting checklists . Journals will let you know if they expect these exact templates to be followed. Even if they are not required, such templates can still be used directly or to provide inspiration or structure for the materials you might want to include.
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Research methods--quantitative, qualitative, and more: overview.
This guide provides an overview of research methods, how to choose and use them, and supports and resources at UC Berkeley.
As Patten and Newhart note in the book Understanding Research Methods , "Research methods are the building blocks of the scientific enterprise. They are the "how" for building systematic knowledge. The accumulation of knowledge through research is by its nature a collective endeavor. Each well-designed study provides evidence that may support, amend, refute, or deepen the understanding of existing knowledge...Decisions are important throughout the practice of research and are designed to help researchers collect evidence that includes the full spectrum of the phenomenon under study, to maintain logical rules, and to mitigate or account for possible sources of bias. In many ways, learning research methods is learning how to see and make these decisions."
The choice of methods varies by discipline, by the kind of phenomenon being studied and the data being used to study it, by the technology available, and more. This guide is an introduction, but if you don't see what you need here, always contact your subject librarian, and/or take a look to see if there's a library research guide that will answer your question.
Suggestions for changes and additions to this guide are welcome!
Without question, the most comprehensive resource available from the library is SAGE Research Methods. HERE IS THE ONLINE GUIDE to this one-stop shopping collection, and some helpful links are below:
Library Data Services Program and Digital Scholarship Services
The LDSP offers a variety of services and tools ! From this link, check out pages for each of the following topics: discovering data, managing data, collecting data, GIS data, text data mining, publishing data, digital scholarship, open science, and the Research Data Management Program.
Be sure also to check out the visual guide to where to seek assistance on campus with any research question you may have!
Library GIS Services
D-Lab Supports Berkeley faculty, staff, and graduate students with research in data intensive social science, including a wide range of training and workshop offerings Dryad Dryad is a simple self-service tool for researchers to use in publishing their datasets. It provides tools for the effective publication of and access to research data. Geospatial Innovation Facility (GIF) Provides leadership and training across a broad array of integrated mapping technologies on campu Research Data Management A UC Berkeley guide and consulting service for research data management issues
Here are some general resources for assistance:
Discover the world's research
Get in touch
Document research method refers to the analysis of documents that contains information about the scenario or event under consideration. It is used to investigate, categorize and analyze physical sources, most commonly written documents, in the social, public or digital world. This research method is just as good as and sometimes even more cost effective than the surveys, in-depth interviews or other observation based methods such as ethnography.
Preparation:
Documents to be researched
Deliverables:
Research notes, Documentation, Insights
A document is defined as written text. Documents can be files, statistical data, records of official or unofficial nature providing an account of an event, images, other written material that can be accessed in a social, public or digital context. For example, institutional memoranda and reports, census publications, government pronouncements and proceedings, diaries and other written, visual and pictorial sources in different forms and so on are socially, publically or digitally accessible either openly or on request.
Document research is not a standalone method; it is usually used in conjunction with other design methods. Document research is employed when the researcher has questions to which they seek answers. It is not as helpful in an open inquiry to determine patterns as the number of documents that would need to be investigated can be huge, turning the researcher’s task into a never-ending exercise. Therefore, This research method is often used only as a supplement to the other research methods.
Along with surveys and ethnography, document research is one of the three major types of social research and arguably has been the most widely used of the three, to study needs, behavior and expectations of user groups. The analysis of the documents in document research is either quantitative or qualitative analysis (or both). The key issues surrounding types of documents and our ability to use them as reliable sources of evidence on the user groups must be considered by all who use documents in their research.
1. availability.
Document research method uses documents that are public or can be accessed on request if private.
As the phenomenon being investigated is clearly defined before the method is exercised, the research is focused and closed. This saves a lot of time for the researcher and also costs that would have been incurred if an expert was consulted for the study.
As the collection process doesn’t involve direct interaction of the researcher with the user groups or author of the documents, the chances of introducing bias stays low. Again, if the document is of the statistical record type, then the data being collected is based on facts that can be verified and cross-checked for errors.
The researcher is not required to be present at the time of data collection.
1. limited by available data.
As the data or documents that are available on the phenomenon being investigated as the primary resources for the study, the findings will be based on only the data that is documented on the subject.
If there are errors in the documents being referred, these errors will render erroneous findings as well.
If the documents studied are out of context, they will not contribute meaning to the study or will not lead to an insightful findings.
The preparation required before document analysis is performed is a task in itself. The efforts are usually directed toward recruiting the researchers, identifying sources, shortlisting the material to be researched and analyzed, among others.
More often than not, any design project starts with some kind of Document Research or the other. It is predominantly a secondary research method; however, the researcher/ designer is using the documented material for his own understanding of the context.
Do not use document research as a stand-alone method and do not proceed with your design assuming that the documents you studied have provided you with all the answers. This method compliments other methods and is usually a good starting point.
Related methods.
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UI UX DESIGN
User & Design Research
Data Design
SERVICE DESIGN
Literature review as a research methodology: an overview and guidelines.
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Research is a study to find answers and solutions to scientific, social and literary problems through a systematic way. It is a cautious, orderly and patient investigation in any field of knowledge undertaken to form facts or principles. It is a well-thought-out inquiry that uses an acceptable specific methodology to gather, analyze and interpret information in order to resolve problems or answer questions and, in general, to create new knowledge. It can therefore simply be defined as a journey leading to the finding of new knowledge with the revision of evidence, theories and applications. Any research work undertaken must make an innovative contribution to the current information in the applicable discipline. In research, whatever the focus may be, the study must be an industrious and systematic investigation with proper methods for the discovery, analysis or updating of data for the application of research findings to refine knowledge in chosen subjects or disciplines. In research, the research methodology must be complemented by proper stylesheets for formatting in-text citations, works cited/end notes/footnotes and bibliography and a literature review must be carried out. In a serious academic research, methodology, style-sheets and review of literature have utmost importance.
Bibliometrics is the discipline where quantitative methods were employed to probe scientific communication process by measuring and analyzing various aspects of written documents. It helps to monitor growth of literature and patterns of research. This paper examines the articles published in Journal of Documentation for authorship pattern, degree of collaboration, geographical distribution of papers and citation analysis. The studies carried out for this paper found that majority of papers are multi- authored. The degree of collaboration is found to be 0.51. The geographical distribution reveals that the contribution by United Kingdom is the highest. The average citations per paper are 43.
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Aim: This paper is a report of a review conducted to assess the research methods applied in the evaluation of nursing documentation.
Data sources: The material was drawn from three databases: CINAHL, PubMed and Cochrane using the keywords nursing documentation, nursing care plan, nursing record system, evaluation and assessment. The search was confined to relevant electronically-retrievable studies published in the English language from 2000 to 2007. This yielded 41 studies, including two reviews.
Methods: Content analysis produced a classification into three themes: nursing documentation, patient-centred documentation and standardized documentation. Each study was assessed according to its research design, methodology, sample size and focus of data collection. In addition, the studies categorized under the heading of standardized documentation were assessed in terms of their outcomes.
Results: Most of the studies (n = 19) focused on patient-centred documentation. Most (n = 20) were retrospective studies and used data collected from patient records (n = 35). An audit instrument was used to assess nursing documentation in almost all the studies. Studies classified under the heading of standardized documentation showed more positive than negative effects with respect to quality, the nursing process and terminology use, knowledge level and acceptance of computer use in documentation.
Conclusion: The use of structured nursing terminology in electronic patient record systems will extend the scope of documentation research from assessing the quality of documentation to measuring patient outcomes. More data should also be collected from patients and family members when evaluating nursing documentation.
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This paper addresses the problem of improving information infrastructure and decision support systems in dynamic external and internal organizational environments. It provides an overview of the new event-driven process methodology notation for information infrastructure and the assessing information processing effectiveness. The main types of information processes, their differences and research methods are presented. The procedural models given in this paper are intended for research and comparison of information processes according to specified performance criteria. Different information processes types and their formalization techniques are given.
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The study was supported by the Government of the Perm krai, project no. C-26/692.
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Mylnikov, L.A., Saltykova, A.D. & Avramovic, Z. Event-Driven Process Methodology Notation for Information Processing Research. Autom. Doc. Math. Linguist. 58 , 243–254 (2024). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0005105524700183
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Document analysis is a systematic procedure for reviewing or evaluating documents—both. printed and electronic (computer-based and Internet-transmitted) material. Like other ana-. lytical ...
Documentary Research. Definition: Documentary research is a type of research method that involves the systematic investigation and analysis of existing documents or records. These documents can be in the form of written, visual, or audio materials, such as books, articles, photographs, videos, and audio recordings.
Documentary analysis, also referred to as document analysis, is a systematic procedure for reviewing or evaluating documents. This method involves a detailed review of the documents to extract themes or patterns relevant to the research topic. Documents used in this type of analysis can include a wide variety of materials such as text (words ...
Provide the rationality behind your chosen approach. Based on logic and reason, let your readers know why you have chosen said research methodologies. Additionally, you have to build strong arguments supporting why your chosen research method is the best way to achieve the desired outcome. 3. Explain your mechanism.
The origins of document analysis as a social science research method can be traced back to Goode and Hatt (), who recommended that scholars screen, count, and code documents content and use it as appropriate evidence.Later, Glaser and Strauss argued that documents should be considered in social investigation similar to "anthropologist's informant or a sociologist's interviewee" (p. 163).
Updated on November 04, 2019. In a report or research paper, documentation is the evidence provided for information and ideas borrowed from others. That evidence includes both primary sources and secondary sources. There are numerous documentation styles and formats, including MLA style (used for research in the humanities), APA style ...
This book guides you through the documentary research process, from choosing the best research design, through data collection and analysis, to publishing and sharing research findings. Documentary Research by Gary McCulloch. Publication Date: 2004. Documentary sources have become increasingly neglected in education and the social sciences.
Meanwhile, in the foreground, practices and fashions in research methodology have also evolved, with a growing interest in the visual and aural seeking to complement the focus on the written. Nevertheless, most of the interest in documentary research remains on the written text, whether online or in physical form. Most social researchers
Triad 3. Introduction. Document analysis is a form of qualitative research in which documents are interpreted by the researcher to give voice and meaning around an assessment topic (Bowen, 2009). Analyzing documents incorporates coding content into themes similar to how focus group or interview transcripts are analyzed (Bowen,2009).
This chapter addresses two aspects: documentation of Practice Research, and publication and archive potential. In both, the affordances of digital culture are noted as facilitators, even to the extent of non-linear, interactive models of access to research insights. Taking the example of CREW's "Hamlet Encounters" project, the first part ...
Introduction. Clinical documentation is the process of creating a text record that summarizes the interaction between patients and healthcare providers during clinical encounters [].The quality of clinical documentation is important as it impacts quality of patient care, patient safety, and the number of medical errors [2-4].Furthermore, clinical documentation is increasingly used for other ...
What Is a Research Methodology? | Steps & Tips. Published on August 25, 2022 by Shona McCombes and Tegan George. Revised on September 5, 2024. Your research methodology discusses and explains the data collection and analysis methods you used in your research. A key part of your thesis, dissertation, or research paper, the methodology chapter explains what you did and how you did it, allowing ...
Documentary research examples. Bellow, we can find a few real-life examples of documentary research applied to companies' daily events. 1. Social research studies. Although documentary research is not used extensively today, it is the go-to research method to conduct social research studies. For example, Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim used ...
Read First. Research documentation provides the context to understanding the results of a given research output. There is no standard form for this documentation, and its location and format will depend on the type of research output produced. For academic materials, this documentation often takes the form of a structured methodological appendix.
About Research Methods. This guide provides an overview of research methods, how to choose and use them, and supports and resources at UC Berkeley. As Patten and Newhart note in the book Understanding Research Methods, "Research methods are the building blocks of the scientific enterprise. They are the "how" for building systematic knowledge.
The documentary. research method is used in investigating and cat egorizing physical sources, most commonly written. documents, whether in the private or public domain (Payne and Payne 2004). This ...
Advantages of Document Research. 1. Availability. Document research method uses documents that are public or can be accessed on request if private. 2. Time & Cost effective. As the phenomenon being investigated is clearly defined before the method is exercised, the research is focused and closed. This saves a lot of time for the researcher and ...
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This article presents guidelines for developing a critical documentation practice; a generative approach to documenting design research which emphasises drawing out the interplay between design practice and literature/precedents, to build a 'credible evidence base' for scholarly reporting. The guidelines are targeted at design researchers ...
This paper discusses literature review as a methodology for conducting research and offers an overview of different types of reviews, as well as some guidelines to how to both conduct and evaluate a literature review paper. It also discusses common pitfalls and how to get literature reviews published. 1. Introduction.
Process documentation research Amita Shah • Introduction Process documentation research (PDR) is a tool to help development organisations learn from ... and participatory methodologies. What is more important, however, is an iterative process whereby researchers go 'back and forth' to validate and expand heir data base. No onet
In research, the research methodology must be complemented by proper stylesheets for formatting in-text citations, works cited/end notes/footnotes and bibliography and a literature review must be carried out. In a serious academic research, methodology, style-sheets and review of literature have utmost importance. Download Free PDF. View PDF.
Aim: This paper is a report of a review conducted to assess the research methods applied in the evaluation of nursing documentation. Data sources: The material was drawn from three databases: CINAHL, PubMed and Cochrane using the keywords nursing documentation, nursing care plan, nursing record system, evaluation and assessment. The search was confined to relevant electronically-retrievable ...
This paper addresses the problem of improving information infrastructure and decision support systems in dynamic external and internal organizational environments. It provides an overview of the new event-driven process methodology notation for information infrastructure and the assessing information processing effectiveness. The main types of information processes, their differences and ...