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*SOCI 8010 Intermediate Sociological Statistics (Gayman): Research Question ->
Search Strategy

Sample GSS Variables

RQ:

How does a person's religious views relate to their political views?

 

IVs:

  • RELPERSN_1: To what extent do you consider yourself a religious person? Very Religious = 1 <---> Not Religious.

DV:

  • POLVIEWS_1: Where would you place yourself on this scale?  Extremely Liberal = 1 <---> Extremely Conservative = 7.

[From General Social Survey (GSS) SDA Online Analysis - GSS Panel (2006 Sample) Wave 3]

Research Question --> Search Strategy Worksheet

Here is a blank worksheet that you can use to break down your Research Question into its Core Concepts and then construct an effective Search Strategy using Boolean operators, nesting, truncation, and phrase searching. 

Search Strategy Builder

Search Strategy Builder

The Search Strategy Builder is a tool designed to teach you how to create a search string using Boolean logic. While it is not a database and is not designed to input a search, you should be able to cut and paste the results into most databases’ search boxes.

  Concept 1 AND Concept 2 AND Concept 3
Name your concepts here    
Search terms Search terms Search terms
List alternate terms for each concept.

These can be synonyms, or they can be specific examples of the concept.

Use single words or short phrases

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

Now copy and paste the above Search Strategy into a database search box.

The Search Strategy Builder was developed by the University of Arizona Libraries and is used under a Creative Commons License.

Moving from a Research Question to a Search Strategy

Moving from a Research Question to an effective Search Strategy involves breaking down a Research Question into its Core Concepts and then constructing an effective Search Strategy using Boolean operators, nesting, truncation, and phrase searching.  Here's an example:

Now, we can copy and paste this Search Strategy into the database search field:

 

(religio* OR "church attendance") AND (“political views” OR “political attitudes” OR “political beliefs” OR “political affiliation” OR "party affiliation" OR “political parties” OR liberal* OR conservativ* OR “political ideolog*)

 

Part of the research process is constantly re-evaluating your search strategy - how you might tweak it to get better results - here are some things to consider while searching:

  • When you find a relevant article, be sure to look at the subject headings and other terms used to describe the core concepts of the article - you might want to include those in your search to increase its effectiveness.
  • Your search strategy includes choosing appropriate databases - you might add and subtract databases from your search throughout the research process; your topic might require your searching in other multidisciplinary databases or subject-specific databases beyond sociology.
  • Sometimes focusing on a specific aspect/concept in your search is necessary - e.g., for topic above, you might narrow your search to include the influence of gender/sex, race, or age.