title: Search wide, dig deep: literature searching for qualitative research. An analysis of the publication formats and information sources used for four systematic reviews in public health.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  When literature searching for systematic reviews, it is good practice to search widely across different information sources. Little is known about the contributions of different publication formats (e.g. journal article and book chapter) and sources, especially for studies of people's views.
  
  
  METHODS
  Studies from four reviews spanning three public health areas (active transport, motherhood and obesity) were analysed in terms of publication formats and the information sources they were identified from. They comprised of 229 studies exploring people's perceptions, beliefs and experiences ('views studies') and were largely qualitative.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although most (61%) research studies were published within journals, nearly a third (29%) were published as research reports and 5% were published in books. The remainder consisted of theses, conference papers and raw datasets. Two-thirds of studies (66%) were located in a total of 19 bibliographic databases, and 15 databases provided studies that were not identified elsewhere. PubMed was a good source for all reviews. Supplementary information sources were important for identifying studies in all publication formats.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Undertaking sensitive searches across a range of information sources is essential for locating views studies in all publication formats. We discuss some benefits and challenges of utilising different information sources.
authors.affiliation: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, London, U.K.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stansfield
authors.affiliation: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, London, U.K.
authors.forename: Ginny
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brunton
authors.affiliation: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, London, U.K.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rees
mesh_terms: D057225:Data Mining / Q000379:methods*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011634:Public Health / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D058028:Research Report; D012196:Review Literature as Topic
keywords: bibliographic databases; information retrieval; information sources; public health; publication format; qualitative research