Conducting Research

Searching the Medical Education Literature

• ERIC
  (Education Resources Information Center, U.S. Dept. of Education)
• EDUCATION-LINE
  (University of Leeds) A freely accessible database of the full text of conference papers, working papers and electronic literature which supports educational research, policy and practice
• iCDL
  International Centre for Distance Learning (UK Open University) Promoting distance learning worldwide"
• MEDLINE via PubMed
• BioMed Search
  BioMedSearch is a biomedical search engine that contains NIH, PubMed documents, plus a large collection of theses and dissertations

Tools for the Researcher

• Instructions to Authors
  Instructions to Authors in the Health Sciences
  Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals
  JCEHP Instruction to Authors
• Citation Practices
  The Citation Machine
  Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals
  APAStyle.org  Electronic References [American Psychological Association]
  AMA Style Guide [University of Washington]
• Personal Bibliographic Software
  EndNote
  ProCite
  RefWorks
  Reference Manager
• New: Annotated Bibliography of Journals for Educational Scholarship

Selected Readings

An Introduction to Reading and Appraising Qualitative Research (BMJ series, 2008)

• Kuper A, Reeves S, Levinson W. An introduction to reading and appraising qualitative research. BMJ 2008; 337:a288.
  This article explores the difference between qualitative and quantitative research and the need for doctors to be able to interpret and appraise qualitative research.
• Reeves S, Albert M, Kuper A, Hodges BD. Why use theories in qualitative research? BMJ 2008; 337:a949.
  Theories such as interactionism, phenomenology, and critical theory can be used to help design a research question, guide the selection of relevant data, interpret the data, and propose explanations of causes or influences.
• Hodges BD, Kuper A, Reeves S. Discourse analysis. BMJ 2008; 337:a879.
  This articles explores how discourse analysis is useful for a wide range of research questions in health care and the health professions.
• Kuper A, Lingard L, Levinson W. Critically appraising qualitative research. BMJ 2008; 337:a1035.
  Summary points:
  • Appraising qualitative research is different from appraising quantitative research
  • Qualitative research papers should show appropriate sampling, data collection, and data analysis
  • Transferability of qualitative research depends on context and may be enhanced by using theory
  • Ethics in qualitative research goes beyond review boards' requirements to involve complex issues of confidentiality, reflexivity, and power
• Reeves S, Kuper A, Hodges BD. Qualitative research methodologies: ethnography. BMJ 2008; 337:a1020.
  Key features of ethnographic research:
  • A strong emphasis on exploring the nature of a particular social phenomenon, rather than setting out to test hypotheses about it
  • A tendency to work primarily with "unstructured data" -that is, data that have not been coded at the point of data collection as a closed set of analytical categories
  • Investigation of a small number of cases (perhaps even just one case) in detail
  • Analysis of data that involves explicit interpretation of the meanings and functions of human actions; the product of this analysis primarily takes the form of verbal descriptions and explanations
• Lingard L, Albert M, Levinson W. Grounded theory, mixed methods, and action research. BMJ 2008; 337:a567.
  These commonly used methods are appropriate for particular research questions and contexts.

The ABC of Learning and Teaching in Medicine (BMJ series, 2003)

• Cantillon P. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Teaching large groups. BMJ 2003;326:437-439.
• Farrow R. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Creating teaching materials. BMJ 2003;326:921-923.
• Gordon J. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: One to one teaching and feedback. BMJ 2003;326:543-545.
• Hutchinson L. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Educational environment. BMJ 2003;326:810-812.
• Jaques D. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Teaching small groups. BMJ 2003;326:492-494.
• Kaufman DM. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Applying educational theory in practice. BMJ 2003; 326: 213-216.
• McKimm J, Jollie C, Cantillon P. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Web based learning. BMJ 2003;326:870-873.
• Morrison J. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Evaluation. BMJ 2003; 326: 385-387.
• Norcini JJ. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Work based assessment. BMJ 2003; 326: 753-755.
• Prideaux D. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Curriculum design. BMJ 2003; 326: 268-270.
• Schuwirth LWT, van der Vleuten CPM. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Written assessment. BMJ 2003;326:643-645.
• Smee S. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Skill based assessment. BMJ 2003;326:703-706.
• Spencer J. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Learning and teaching in the clinical environment. BMJ 2003; 326: 591-594.
• Wood DF. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Problem based learning. BMJ 2003; 326: 328-330.