Key Tips:

• Qualitative Research- used to explore and understand people’s beliefs, experiences, attitudes, behavior and interactions perhaps through focus groups or in-depth interviews. It generates non- numerical data, ex. a patient’s description of their pain rather than a measure of pain.
  • Often a case study, a survey, or interview
• Quantitative Research- generates numerical data or data that can be converted into numbers, for example clinical trials or the National Census, which counts people and households.
  • Often a randomized control trial, clinical trial, or similar experimental study
• To search, you could try adding some of the terminology BOLDED above to your topic search.
  • Example: (qualitative OR case study OR survey) AND patient education

Watch this super short video on how to search for qualitative and quantitative research for your nursing topic.