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Tips for Finding Quantitative Research in Nursing

Quantitative research in nursing mainly deals with causal or correlational relationship between variables through testing hypotheses. 

• Tends to be more objective.
• Observations tend to be measured in numbers.
• Samples tend to be random and large.
• Data collection can include:
  • surveys
  • clinical trials
  • laboratory experiments 
  • questionnaires 
  • structured interviews 

See more from CREDO Encyclopedia of Nursing Research (Must be on campus or have a COM account to view).

Finding quantitative articles can be difficult, but CINHAL has multiple ways that you can apply to get the articles you need. It's really all about your limit options. 

1. Type in your search term
2. Limit to Research Article and/or Peer Reviewed
3. You may also want to use the full text limit 
4. Try any of the options below to limit to quantitative articles. You may have to experiment to see which option gives you the best results. Some limits will be more effective than others depending on your main subject. 

Options for limiting to Quantitative Articles

• Try adding Quantitative Studies as a subject to your search.
• Try the Publication Type limit to limit to specific publication types that are qualitative: 
  • Clinical Trial
  • Statistics
  • Tables/Charts
  • Equations
• Try the Clinical Queries limit
  • Causation (Etiology) - High Sensitivity (broader)
  • Causation (Etiology) - High Specificity (narrower)
  • Causation (Etiology) - Best Balanced (middle)
• Try the Randomized Controlled Trials limit.  

Try it in CINAHL (must be on campus or log into your COM account). See all this plus example articles Tips for Finding Quantitative Research for Nursing.