Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings. The Literature of Health Education Chapter 9

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings. Information & Health Education n Explosion of information; exponential growth n Increasing demand for health information n Information need related to Responsibilities 6 & 8 n Need to be able to locate, evaluate, disseminate, and explain the meaning of information

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings. Types of Information Sources n Primary sources – written by the person who actually conducted the experiments or observed the events, e.g., refereed journal articles, legislative records, minutes of meeting n Secondary sources – written by someone who was not an present or did not participate as part of the study team, e.g., journal review articles, editorials, non-eyewitness accounts

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings. Types of Information Sources (con’t.) n Tertiary sources – information that has been distilled & collected from primary & secondary sources; includes facts, e.g., handbooks, pamphlets, fact books, dictionaries n Popular press publications – written for the general public’s consumption; may include primary or secondary sources; hard to check credibility, e.g., weekly summary-type magazines, monthly magazines, tabloids

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings. Identifying the Components of a Research Article n Abstract – brief description of the study; communicates essential information n Introduction – i ncludes research questions/ hypotheses, literature review, & need n Methodology – i ncludes research design, subjects of study, instrumentation, & administrative procedures n Results – research findings n Discussion – i nterpretation of conclusions & meanings, & comments on implications

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings. Critically Reading a Research Article n Aims of study clearly defined? n Research questions/hypotheses clearly stated? n Description & number of subjects clear? n Design & location of study clear?

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings. Critically Reading a Research Article (con’t). n Data collection instruments described? n Did the results directly address the research questions/hypotheses? n Were the results logical? n Implications meaningful to population?

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings. √ Evaluating the Accuracy of a Nonresearch-Based Sources 1. Author’s qualifications? Degree? 2. Scientific style of presentation? 3. References included? 4. Purpose of publication? 5. Reputation of the publication? Referred? 6. Information new?

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings. Writing an Abstract or Summary n Abstracts & summaries are both short forms; difference in extent of content n Abstract – Short ( words); includes purpose, study questions, methods, & main findings n Summary – Longer (2-3 pages) review; includes all that is found in an abstract & more

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings. Locating Health-Related Information n Journals – publish primary research articles & position papers; many health related journals n Indexes – provide links to articles from many refereed journals, books, and research reports, i.e., Index Medicus & Education Index n Abstracts – book volumes that include short summaries of studies that have appeared elsewhere, e.g., Psychological Abstracts

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings. Locating Health-Related Information (con’t.) n Government Documents – materials printed by the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO); organized using Superintendent of Documents (SuDOC) numbers; variety of topics n Computerized (or electronic) Databases – most indexes & abstracts now computerized; allows for faster searches & ability to combine concepts to focus the search, e.g., ERIC, Medline, CINAHL, & PsychInfo

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings. The Internet & the World Wide Web n World Wide Web (WWW) – i nteractive information delivery service n Hypertext – text that can searched, edited, stored, and connected to other documents n Internet – integrated network of computers n Browser – software that allows one to access information, e.g., Internet Explorer

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings. The Internet & the World Wide Web (con’t.) n Uniform Resource Locators (URL) – Web addresses; includes Internet access protocol ( location ( & file name (mmwr) n Homepage – analogous to a combination of a cover & table of contents of a book n Search engine – identifies Web sites that include the key words used, e.g., Google, Yahoo, PubMed

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings. √ Evaluating Information on the Internet n Content – material verified? Look for “.edu,” “.gov,” “.org” n Authority – credentials of authors n Publisher source – who is sponsoring the page? n References – other pages used as link? n Documentation – citations used? n Facts – information consistent with that obtained at other sources?

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings. The Literature of Health Education Chapter 9 – The End