Finding Qualitative Research Articles

Although qualitative research tends to use language data (written or oral), and quantitative research numerical data, for instance, this is not always the case. Many qualitative studies use simple frequency counts, whereas language data can be used in quantitative studies. Although qualitative research tends to have smaller sample sizes, it certainly does not follow that any study with a small sample is a qualitative study... It might be more useful to characterize qualitative research not by the kind of data produced or the methods used to produce them, but by the overall aims of the study. The most basic way of characterizing qualitative studies is to describe their aims as seeking answers to questions about 'what,' 'how' or 'why' of a phenomenon, rather than questions about 'how many' or 'how much.'

-Green, J., & Thorogood, N. (2004). Qualitative Methods for Health Research. London: Sage Publications.

Strategy 1: Use Subject Headings 

Databases use controlled keywords (known as thesaurus or subject terms) to categorize each record stored. PubMed, for example, uses Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), a highly structured index of terminology. The subject headings vary for each database according to their indexing system.  The term "qualitative research" is indexed in PubMed as "Qualitative Research" or "Nursing Methodology Research", while in CINAHL the subject heading "Qualitative Studies" is complemented by more detailed terms, including "Phenomenological Research" and "Grounded Theory".

Strategy 2: Use Text Words

This strategy uses text or keywords that might specifically identify qualitative research and searches the titles, abstracts and keywords of records held in the databases. Some Text Words include: qualitative, ethnograph*, phenomenol*, ethnonurs*, grounded theor*, purposive sample, hermeneutic*, heuristic*, semiotics, lived experience*, narrative*, life experiences, cluster sample, action research, observational method, content analysis, thematic analysis, constant comparative method, field stud*, theoretical sample, discourse analysis, focus group*, ethnological research, ethnomethodolog*, interview*.

Strategy 3: Use Qualitative Research Filters

Qualitative Research Filters are pre-formulated search strategies that have been constructed by librarians to help you retrieve articles in databases that deal with qualitative research. You can use the filter and then combine the results with your subject.

Text in this guide is used from the "Measurement Tools/Research Instruments" guide from the University of Washington Libraries under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).