PowerPoint Presentation

1Using specialist bibliographies, abstracting and indexing databases

ESRC Research Methods FestivalSt. Catherines College, Oxford, July 9 2014Rob Newman (Product Manager)Rebecca Ursell (Alliance Manager) or, why A&I services are important to your research, and how you can make the most of themRNIntroduce Rob and Rebecca2AgendaWhy use A&I?What is an A&I database?Comparison with other resourcesWhen and how to use them in the research processUse casesBasic searching and refiningConstructing advanced searches and using the thesaurusSaving and repeating searchesHow the content is indexedESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalRNWhat do I mean by A&I make sure were talking about the same thing

Why you should use them, what uniquely useful features they have, in comparison to other online tools?

Specifically how and when to use them in the research process

3ESRC 2014 Research Methods Festival

fromWhy use A&I?Challenge for researchers used to be simply to find out what has been published4ESRC 2014 Research Methods Festival

toWhy use A&I?now its navigating the morass of information5ESRC 2014 Research Methods Festival

Why use A&I?6Abstracting + IndexingAn indexing service is a service that assigns descriptors and other kinds of access points to documentsBibliographic databases, Citation Indexes organized digital collections of references to published literatureUsed by academic (or other) researchers, for literature searching

What are A&I databases?ESRC 2014 Research Methods Festival

RN

This presentation will focus on specialist subject-specific indexes, although more broadly the term could encompass services like Web of Knowledge/SSCI and SCOPUS.

Access points features to help you FIND the info you are looking for

Digital most started in print7ProQuest social sciences databases

Proprietary databasesSociological AbstractsSocial Services AbstractsIBSS: International Bibliography of the Social SciencesASSIA: Applied Social Sciences Index and AbstractsWorldwide Political Science AbstractsPAIS InternationalLibrary and Information Science AbstractsLLBA (Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts)

plus licensedEconLitPsycINFOERIC, Australian Education IndexESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalRN

Examples of ProQuests Social sciences A&I files

(wider/narrower)

8Addresses key problems and obstacles as identified in end user surveysSaves you timeOnly includes quality, credible information sourcesWhy use A&I?ESRC 2014 Research Methods Festival

RN9

Social Science Faculty Resource Use10ProQuest survey May 2014. n=235ESRC 2014 Research Methods Festival34% use at least once a week, 69% at least once a month10Relevance & comprehensiveness11Relevance of resultsComprehensiveness of resultsSpecialized subject indexes are rated well, but below scholarly journal databases, with only a minority ranking as excellent.ESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalQuality & ease of use12Quality of information (trustworthy / authoritative):Convenience / time savingSpecialized subject indexes score very well on quality of information, but less well on convenience.ESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalExperience of online researchHow strongly do these statements correspond to your experience of online research?13Most respondents dont want to construct complex searches, but also dont want to miss any relevant records. They find it fairly easy to identify the relevant material, but tend to return a lot of irrelevant results.ESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalComparison controlled for frequent use% of respondents using resource once a week or more ranking as excellent14There is no statistically significant difference in the way subject indexes, multipurpose databases and scholarly journal databases were ranked when controlled for frequency of use. Google Scholar has a different profile, favoured for time saving rather than relevance or quality.ESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalUsing A&I in your researchESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalBroad scan of research in a fieldNew research topic whats out there?Quantity of materialResearch trends - changes over time

Literature reviewConstruct detailed searches to find highly relevant materialIdentify subject terms, key authors & journals

Current awarenessSave searches to re-run at set intervals

RNBroad scan:e.g. how does search on womens role compare with search on masculinity?When do we start seeing research on Islamic fundamentalism?

Systematic literature review:Most common/obvious use of A&I. Can construct highly elaborate searches (will show you how)

Current awareness possible because of regular updates.15ESRC 2014 Research Methods Festival

Myth: A&I databases are only for expert searchers constructing queries like this!RN16ESRC 2014 Research Methods Festival

RNWhat about the kind of simple searching that is the attraction of just using Google?17ESRC 2014 Research Methods Festival

RNUsing an A&I database to do exactly the same very basic search we ran in GS gets more relevant results which are easier to narrow (or expand using related searches), saving you time.18

RNExample use case: looking for relevant empirical research on the formation of political coalitions. Simple search in WPSA gets you to very good relevant results straight away.19

RNSummon is great for when you want to search across the librarys entire holdings, particularly if you know exactly what you are looking for and want to get to the full text item wherever it is. But for this kind of search you would have to wade through a lot of irrelevant results.20Comparison search coalition formation WPSA returns 1281 results. All are relevant and scholarly Top 35 results include 30 scholarly journal articles and 5 dissertations. These all have coalition formation as subject and both coalition and formation in article title. 31 (89%) are empirically-focused research on political coalition formation; 4 are game-theoretic , and may be of secondary relevance. Easy to refine search using filter, suggested subjects etc

Summon (Dartmouth version) returns over 327,000 results of varying content types. Top 35 results include 20 journals, 2 dissertations, 9 books/book chapters, 2 working papers and 2 conference proceedings (news filtered out) 2 items are duplicated within the top 35 Only 4 (11%) are empirically-focused research on political coalition formation. 15 (43%) are game-theoretic and may be of secondary relevance. 16 (46%) are from other disciplines (computer science, psychology) and are irrelevant to a political science researcher.ESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalRN21

A general Google search will return some scholarly articles, alongside Wikipedia, Amazon links etc. None of this first page are empirical political science studies.RN

22

Google Scholar returns scholarly papers, but the initial results page is mostly the older articles which have been extensively cited over many years. There are no recent political science articles on the first results page.RN

23Why use A&I for literature review?

SelectionDiscipline-specific content: across a range of content types: scholarly journal articles, books, reviews, dissertations, grey literature, newspapers & magazines

editorial selection gives reassurance of quality materialallows researchers to search a subject-specific relevant data setaims to include all important material within a discipline

ESRC 2014 Research Methods Festival

RU

I am going to highlight for you some features of A&I databases that make them particularly well suited to literature review.

First thing: this is a dataset that has been put together editorially. Discipline- narrower (Sociological Abstracts) or broader (IBSS International Bibliography of the Social Sciences)

Aims:Only relevant material is included (Eliminates noise)All material important to discipline is included

Selection at journal title level and, for databases of a very specific focus, at article level. E.g. socAbst will scan broad social sciences journals for their sociology content.

24Why use A&I for literature review?

Historical perspectiveMany A&I databases have a long history (started in print)Indexes an entire discipline over time

Access to non-digital materialThere is still a significant amount of research not available in electronic format which will not be picked up by internet search engines

Transparency of contentTitle lists available

ESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalRU

Many indexes have a long history began in print, in an era with challenges already highlighted by Rob. IBSS < 1951 (aims of overcoming scholarly divide emerging due to political divide of cold war);PAIS International < 1914 : for the purpose of chronicling the world's public affairs, public and social policies, international relations, and world politics. PAIS was formed to prepare and disseminate information, primarily bibliographic in nature, for the use of scholars, researchers, librarians, legislators, government officials, the business and financial community, policy researchers, students, and others seeking to locate published information in the realm of public policy.

Most open web searching will throw up only material that has a digital presence. A&I databases are a really valuable source of information for those journals, articles, papers from before the digital era, that have not been and may never be digitized.

Transparency. it is generally possible to see fairly precisely how these indexes are put together. List of journals, whether they are actively indexed or were indexed in the past, and whether inclusion is cover-to-cover, or selective.25Why use A&I for literature review?ESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalIndexing & metadata

Editorial input to aid users in search, navigation, and retrievalindexingabstractingclassificationtranslation

Metadata in the language of the discipline

Only key terms are included (improves precision & relevance)

Indexing key for filtering through large data aggregates

RU

Second thing to point out, is the editorial input that goes into value added functionality for these databases.

These are features that are added to the basic metadata (title, author, etc) to aid users in browsing, searching, and navigation.

May include any of the features listed here:e.g. IBSS classifies all records into the broad discipline of Economics, Sociology, Anthropology or Political Science, which can be helpful for e.g. anthropologists to narrow down their field so they are not overwhelmed with economics material if theyre looking at e.g. globalizationSociological Abstracts has a fairly detailed classification scheme in addition to its indexing, that allows users to identify records by their main, broad topic.

Many databases, when they include non-English language material, will add an English title, English indexing, and sometimes an English abstract, which maximizes the extent to which theses records can be seamlessly cross-searched in an English language search medium.

But I want to concentrate on the indexing, which is a common value-add to all A&I databases.Gives relevance, precision, specialised searching in language of the discipline.

26List of accepted terms, usually in hierarchical thesaurus structureSubject specificMay have other authority lists e.g. for company names, personal names, works of art or literature

Subject searchingThesaurus & controlled vocabularyESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalAdvantages of controlled vocabularyControls synonyms and near synonymsStandardizes different vocabulary used by different authors Allows cross searching of multilingual materialTransparency of terms & useRUA&I databases use a controlled vocabulary

Some also have the option for uncontrolled termsMost also have controlled geographic indexing

Mainly we use thesaurus-type structure (broader/narrower term hierarchy)

Each PQ A&I database has its own vocabulary, specific to the field e.g. SocAbst vocab deeper level of sociology terms than IBSS broader range of social science terms

27Controlled vocabularyESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalBrowseable

Use for terms shown

RU

Sociological Abstracts thesaurusStatisticsPreferred terms: 3315Non-Preferred (USE) terms: 2658Scope Notes: 918

Once identify area of research, a BROWSABLE thesaurus helps you to narrow down. So you can start with women and then get a good sense of all associated terms. Related will suggest other terms to look at.

28Subject searching: Thesaurus searchESRC 2014 Research Methods Festival

Hierarchy: broader, narrower, related terms

Explode function

Combine using AND, OR, NOT

RU

IBSS thesaurus (social sciences)8,000 termsHierarchical, lateral and use-for relationshipsEssentially a Keyword list

What does this mean for a researcher?

EXPLODE function allows you easily to drill down

Combine using AND OR NOT allows you to include or exclude terms / research areas to make your search highly specific. - AND narrows a search (v. specific)OR widens a search

29Thesaurus searchESRC 2014 Research Methods Festival

Explode International lawANDExplode FamilyRU

This screen shows you a search constructed using the thesaurus option.You dont need to type in a complex Boolean string (though you can).

In this, we are including as many international law terms as we can, but then excluding economic law

AND narrows a search (v. specific)OR widens a search30Thesaurus searchESRC 2014 Research Methods Festival

RU

This screen shows you a search constructed using the thesaurus option.You dont need to type in a complex Boolean string (though you can).

In this, we are including as many international law terms as we can, but then excluding economic law

AND narrows a search (v. specific)OR widens a search31Saved searches & alertsESRC 2014 Research Methods Festival

RU

This screen shows you a search constructed using the thesaurus option.You dont need to type in a complex Boolean string (though you can).e.g apply wildcards, Boolean termsRun equivalent searches across multiple subject-specific databases (e.g. ASSIA, Medline, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts)Save and record results

32Save searches and repeat as neededSet up an alert to run at regular intervals with any new documents matching your searchKeep abreast of what is being published on a topicEnsure you do not miss any new and relevant articles when finalizing a paper for publicationSaved searches & alertsCurrent awarenessESRC 2014 Research Methods Festival

RU

So, you can save your searches and set them up to automatically deliver new results to you.A&I databases are updated according to a regular schedule weekly, fortnightly, monthly - so you can set an alert to run according to this schedule and to deliver you any records newly added to the database with that updated, which match your field of interest.

This will ensure that you can keep abreast of research in your field, and that you dont miss any new and relevant articles as youre finalizing your research.33Human vs machine indexingESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalAdvantages of human indexersLateral thinkingDiverse skills - abstracting, translating, classifyingUnderstand user needs

Advantages of machine indexingSpeed! ongoing improvement and consistencygreater insight into the vocabulary

RU

ProQuest uses a mixture of human and machine indexing. Each has its advantage.

Advantages of human indexersCan think laterally, and can research outside the given text if theres insufficient information given Often do other information work for us too, e.g. abstracting, translating, classifyingOften working librarians or researchers understand what users want

Advantages of machine indexingSpeed! Allows indexing of exponentially larger data sets (big data) human indexing generally not scalable to explosion of info weve seenuse of knowledge base management tool for ongoing improvement and consistencyGreater insight into the vocabulary: machines will use all terms, where human indexers might stick to a sub-set they can hold in their head34Indexing stepsESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalRUWhat is the document about?Select terms that will be useful to userTranslate to Thesaurus terms

Author given keywords looked up to our own controlled vocabulary Sometimes exact matchSometimes preferred/non-preferred matchSometimes added as uncontrolled term But basically treated as a concept

Indexers human or machine are directed to index to the most specific term possible. i.e. they will use Economics of education rather than Economics and Education

35A&I databases generally index a discipline over an extended periodterm use changes over time through culture, fashion, or knowledge developmentTerminology around mental disability Mental retardation > learning disability > intellectual disabilityManagement of controlled vocabulariesESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalSociological Abstracts Thesaurus: non-preferred terms reference previous term usages: Gender Differences (1984-1985) USE Sex Differences Hobbies (1978-1985) USE Leisure Free Time (1963-1985) USE Leisure

RUThesaurus terms need managingTerms can become out of date and need to be changed

811 terms reference previous terms36SummaryESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalA&I gives you.

A relevant datasetScholarly material onlyIndexing in the language of the disciplineKnown search parametersA view of pre-digital materialTransparent search constructionRegular updatesConsistency of search results over time

RU37One final survey finding - experience of online research% of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing, by frequency of use of specialist subject indexes38Those frequently using specialist indexes are much more likely to find it easy to identify relevant material.ESRC 2014 Research Methods FestivalLittle difference for three questions, and a predictable increase for use of citations/abstracts. The interesting result is that those frequently using specialist indexes are much more likely to find it easy to identify relevant material.

38Thank you. any questions?rebecca.ursell@proquest.comrob.newman@proquest.comwww.proquest.com

39