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EC 329: Business Organization and Management: E-B Searching

This guide will focus on Evidence-Based Management research and practices.

Evidence Based Literature

When searching for evidence from the scientific literature, we look for empirical studies published in peer-reviewed academic (scholarly) journals.

Peer-reviewed articles are one that have been submitted to journals that have a review process whereby the research is evaluated and critiqued by independent, anonymous scientists in that same field to determine whether they merit publication in that scientific journal.

Barends, E., & Rousseau, D. M. (2018). Evidence-based management : How to use evidence to make better organizational decisions. ProQuest Ebook Central

Effective Searching

Use PICOC to help determine if the finding of a study will be applicable.

 

Search Terms - Identify alternative terms for keywords including corresponding academic terms. Then limit results to those with reviews by adding:

Further limit search results to controlled or longitudinal studies by adding:

If search results are very numerous, add additional PICOC terms.

Compare results - check how relevant articles are to PICOC by reading abstract or skimming article

Barends, E., & Rousseau, D. M. (2018). Evidence-based management : How to use evidence to make better organizational decisions. ProQuest Ebook Central

EBP Search Flowchart

ACQUIRE

  1. Determine the two most important terms in your PICOC

  2. Identify alternative and related terms using Google

  3. Identify academic terms and constructs using Google Scholar

  4. Determine whether there is a broader underlying principle

  5. Pre-test your search terms and determine which terms yield the most relevant articles

  6. Conduct a search with your (pre-tested) search terms and combine the outcome with OR

  7. Filter for meta-analyses and/or systematic reviews

  8. Filter for high-quality studies

  9. If necessary: Filter for low-quality studies or add an extra PICOC term

  10. Screen the titles and the abstracts of the articles found for relevance

APPRAISE

Barends, E., & Rousseau, D. M. (2018). Evidence-based management : How to use evidence to make better organizational decisions. ProQuest Ebook Central