NURS 509: Needs Assessment Assignment Finding Statistics & Effective

Database Searching

Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences, VCU Libraries

1. Understand the Issues when trying to Find Statistics on the Web and in Databases

2. Gain Some Tips on How to Find Statistics on the Web, as well as in the literature databases

3. Be aware of good sites for finding statistics and the national, state and local levels

4. Become reacquainted with searching with keyword and controlled vocabulary/subject

headings.

Goals and Objectives

Key Points to Consider

When searching for statistics ask yourself:o Are statistics likely to be available on this topic?o Which organization(s) might collect relevant statistics?o Where might relevant statistics be published or

mentioned? • websites, reports, yearbooks, bulletins, newspapers, magazines,

journalso What keywords might be used to describe these

statistics? • statistics on the heart can be listed under cardiovascular disease

Be prepared for the possibility that: o Statistics may not exist for the level of detail

or all the variables wanted • State of Virginia but not Richmond, VA

o The most recent statistics may be several years old

• census datao Some statistics are not published/freely

available

Many organizations and agencies include health statistics that they collect or have access to

Search the Internet for organizations using at least two search engines [Google/Bing/Yahoo]

Search for a known organization using quotes, as "American Heart Association"

Consider searching by topic, remembering search results are usually ranked by popularity /are often not ranked by relevance.

Use synonyms for statistics connected by OR in the search phrase (as...statistics OR rate OR incidence OR data)

Use synonyms for the disease or condition in search phrases (as lung OR pulmonary, heart OR cardiac)

When Searching the Web for Statistics

• Find the CINAHL Heading That is Closest to the Topic You Are Searching For

• Select one subheading that is related to statistics (as epidemiology, trends)(Selecting two or more subheadings will greatly limit the results)OR

• Do a second search (using the Suggest Subject Terms option) with one or more of these CINAHL subject headings: Descriptive Statistics, Incidence, or Data Analysis, StatisticalOR

•  Do a second search using one or more of these keywords: statistics, incidence, or data

• MeSH subheading : statistics and

numerical data can be searched separately as

"statistics and numerical data"[subheading]

• MeSH subheading: epidemiology• MeSH heading: incidence• Potentially Useful Keywords:

statistics, epidemiology, incidence

Searching the Literature for Statistics

Consider the following when evaluating the usefulness of found statistics or data

• Who collected and published the statistics? • What are their credentials?• What data or statistics is being reported? • What populations are included? • Is the information current enough? (Often a time lag between data collection & data reporting because analysis takes time)

• Why was the information collected? • Who are the intended users? • What it collected as part of the organization's mission?

for advocacy? for business purposes (as to sell a product?)

• How were the statistics collected? Were any samplings or surveys done scientifically?

• US Census Bureau: collects vital health and other statistics.• CDC National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) : principal US

health statistics agency that compiles statistical information.

• National Info. Center on Health Services Research & Health Care Tech. (NICHSR)/ Data, Tools & Statistics: contains selective links representing a sample of available information. Items are selected for their quality, authority of authorship, uniqueness, and appropriateness

• NIH Institutes and Offices : starting point for disease specific statistical information.

• FedStats: Makes statistics available from 100+ agencies/programs available.

Resources for Statistics: National Resources

State Resources

• Virginia Department of Health Division of Health Statistics Disease Statistics Data and Reports

• Virginia Quick Facts: US Census Bureau • State and County QuickFacts: U.S. Census Bureau:

access to facts about people, business, and geography.• State Health Facts: Kaiser Family Foundation• America's Health Rankings: Annual assessment of the

nation`s health on a state-by-state basis.• StateMaster: statistical database which allows you to

research and compare a multitude of different data on US states

Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce: includes links for individual states statistics

Resources for Statistics: State, County, City

City/Country Resources • Richmond City Health Depart

ment • County Health Rankings :

Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute

Example: Infant Mortality

Infant Mortality Statistics

National Sources:

•CDC National Center for Health Statisti

cs (NCHS)

• Fast Stats – Infant Health

• CDC Wonder: Linked

Birth / Infant Death Records, 2007-2008

Request

•

Infant mortality by cause: US/State 2000

-2008 (Source: NVSS) 

State and Local Sources:

• VDH: Division of Health Statistics

• Richmond City Health Departmen

t

• State Health Facts

• County Health Rankings 

Database Searching Reminders

Subject Headings / Keywords

Keywords vs. Subject Headings

 

Advantage Disadvantage   

Controlled Vocabulary

(Subject Heading)

 

 · A list of subject terms may help you find

an appropriate search term for your topic.

· It can provide you with suggested terms for narrower, broader or suggested topics.

· Using appropriate subject headings for a topic, will retrieve all items in the database indexed under the topic.

· Recently coined terms, including new topics and

jargon may not yet be included in the list of subject terms.

· When a database does not provide a thesaurus or list of subject terms, the controlled vocabulary might not be obvious.

  

Keyword 

· Will retrieve items containing new terms, distinctive words, jargon.

· If you do not know the appropriate subject heading, descriptor or identifier for your topic, you can conduct a key word search first and look at a relevant item for the appropriate subject term.

 

· You may retrieve items that are not relevant to your topic (false hits).

· In order to retrieve more relevant items, you need to use a variety of terms. For example, to retrieve items about movies, a keyword search must include terms like films, cinema, and motion pictures.

Grouping: “using

quotes”

Not Finding Enough?Ways to Expand Your Results

Finding Too Many Articles?

Ways to Focus Your Results (Ways to Get More Articles)

Try To :• Explode Your Terms• Keyword Searching• Look At Related or Citing

Articles

(Ways to Get Fewer Articles)

Try Using:• Major Concept/Subject• Subheadings• Limits

Other Things to Think About…..

Get in touch with Me…..

Roy Brown, MLIS

Education and Research Librarian

Tompkins-McCaw Library, VCU Libraries

rebrown2@vcu.edu / Ph. 804-828-1592

If You Need Help……..