Library Guide to Finding Empirical Research
Three major types of journal articles are reports of empirical studies, review articles, and theoretical articles.
- Reports of empirical studies are articles summarizing original research.
- Review articles are further examinations of research that has already been published.
- Theoretical articles are written to advance theory and they may include both empirical research and review of research in order to elaborate the theoretical position.
Components of Empirical Research
There are several different sections of reports of empirical studies relating to the different steps of the scientific method.- Abstract - A report of an empirical study includes an abstract that provides a very brief summary of the research.
- Introduction - The introduction sets the research in a context, which provides a review of related research and develops the hypotheses for the research.
- Method - The method section is a description of how the research was conducted, including who the participants were, the design of the study, what the participants did, and what measures were used.
- Results - The results section describes the outcomes of the measures of the study.
- Discussion - The discussion section contains the interpretations and implications of the study.
- General Discussion - There may be more than one study in the report; in this case, there are usually separate Method and Results sections for each study followed by a general discussion that ties all the research together.
- References - A references section contains information about the articles and books cited in the report.
Recognizing Empirical Research
Language
If an article is empirical, it will include terms such as:- measurement
- psychological aspects
- reports
- research statistics
- usage
Length of Article
Empirical research articles are usually substantial (more than 1 or 2 pages) and include a bibliography or cited references section (usually at the end of the article).Type of Publication
Empirical research articles are published in scholarly or academic journals. These publications are also sometimes referred to as “peer-reviewed,” or “refereed” publications. Examples of such publications include: American Journal of Sociology, Sociological Quarterly, and Sociological Methods and Research. For tips on how to recognize scholarly resources, see the Library Guide to Scholarly and Non-Scholarly Publications.Resources for Finding Empirical Research
Now that you understand how to recognize empirical research, you are ready to start searching for this kind of information. Some resources that may be of use to you include the following electronic databases:
NOTE: Remote (off-campus) access to databases is available only to UMKC students, faculty, and staff. All other users must access online resources within the Libraries. Begin searching by selecting a database. After selection you will be prompted to provide a UMKC Single Sign-On user name and password OR a 9-digit UMKC ID number followed by the letter k (example: 0123456789k) and last name, as needed.
- ABI/INFORM Global (ProQuest) 1971 - present.
Save to del.icio.us.
Selected full text 1985 - present.
ABI/INFORM Global indexes and abstracts over 2,770 publications in the area of business and management, with full text available for over 1,840 titles. Publications range from magazines to trade publications to scholarly journals. Full text is also available for the Wall Street Journal. - America:
History and Life (EBSCOhost) 1964 - present. Save
to del.icio.us
Indexes and abstracts articles on the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. "Each year over 1,700 journal titles published worldwide are scanned for relevant articles of special interest to students of U.S. and Canadian history and related fields. The database also includes citations and links to book and media reviews from a selection of over 100 key journals in U.S. and Canadian history." [Source: America: History and Life on the Web, accessed May 15, 2006] Link to America History and Life user's guide. -
Education Full Text (Wilson) 1983 - present. Save to del.icio.us
Selected full text 1996 - present.
"Education Full Text is a bibliographic database that indexes and abstracts articles of at least one column in length from English-language periodicals and yearbooks published in the United States and elsewhere. English-language books relating to education published in 1995 or later are also indexed. Abstracting coverage begins with January 1994." [Source: Education Full Text database description, accessed June 15, 2006] The print version of this database is Education Index. The volumes for 1929 - 1999 are located in Miller Nichols Library, Ref Index Wall Z5813 .E23. - ERIC (CSA) 1966 - present. Save to del.icio.us
Links to selected full text, 1993 - 2004.
"The ERIC ( Educational Resources Information Center) database is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education to provide extensive access to educational- related literature. The ERIC database corresponds to two printed journals: Resources in Education (RIE) and Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE). Both journals provide access to some 14,000 documents and over 20,000 journal articles per year.... Major areas of coverage include: Adult, Career, and Vocational Education; Counseling and Personnel Services; Elementary and Early Childhood Education; Education Management; Handicapped and Gifted Children; Higher Education; Information Resources; Junior Colleges; Languages and Linguistics; Reading and Communication Skills; Rural Education and Small Schools; Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education; Social Studies and Social Science Education; Teacher Education; Tests, Measurement, and Evaluation; Teacher Education; Test, Measurement, and Evaluation; Urban Education." [Source: ERIC Factsheet, accessed February 17, 2005]
Link to ERIC user's guide. - Historical Abstracts (EBSCOhost) 1954 - present. Save to del.icio.us
Selected full text 1954 - present.
Indexes and abstracts articles on the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada). Link to History Abstracts user's guide. - PAIS International (CSA) 1915 - present. Save to del.icio.us
New Now available: entries for the years 1915 - 1971 have been added through purchase of the PAIS Archive.
The PAIS International database indexes journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material, and more. Major areas of coverage include: administration of justice; agriculture; banking and finance; business; culture and religion; demographics; economic conditions and policy; education; energy; environment; government; health; human rights; industry; international relations; labor; law and ethics; media, telecommunications and information policy; military and defense policy; politics; science and technology; social conditions; trade; and transportation. - PsycINFO (Ovid) 1872 - present. Save to del.icio.us
PsycINFO (Ovid) 1967 - present. Save to del.icio.us
PsycINFO (Ovid) 1985 - present. Save
to del.icio.us
Contains citations and abstracts of journal articles and other research materials in the various areas of psychology. Link to Ovid Web user's guide. -
Sociological Abstracts (CSA) 1963 - present. Save to del.icio.us
"CSA Sociological Abstracts abstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. The database provides abstracts of journal articles and citations to book reviews drawn from over 1,809 serials publications, and also provides abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers. Records added since 1973 contain in-depth and nonevaluative abstracts of journal articles. Major areas of coverage include: culture and social structure; demography and human biology; economic development; environmental interactions; evaluation research; family and social welfare; health and medicine and law; history and theory of sociology; management and complex organizations; mass phenomena and political interactions; methodology and research technology; policy, planning, forecast and speculation; radical sociology; religion and science; rural and urban sociology; social development; social differentiation; social psychology and group interaction; sociology of the arts, business, education; studies in violence and power; substance abuse and addiction; welfare services; and women's studies." [Source: Sociological Abstracts Factsheet, accessed February 17, 2005]
- ISI Web of Science
Note: This database is no longer be available.
Permits multidisciplinary searching for articles from international academic journals in the sciences, social sciences, and the arts and humanities. This combined database for the Science Citation Index, the Social Sciences Citation Index, and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index offers cited reference searching. Link to ISI Web of Science user's guide.
HINT: When searching any of the databases list above, try a search that combines the keyword "empirical" with keywords that represent your topic. Example: social work and empirical. Also try the keywords "research," "experiment," or "study" combined with your topic to retrieve empirical research from a database.
HINT: Some databases will allow you to limit your search to a particular type of publication or content. Use this feature to limit your search to only empirical or research-based articles.
For further assistance, please contact the
Miller Nichols Library Reference Desk at (816) 235-1534.
