COMPUTER APPLICATIONS THAT SUPPORT
NURSING RESEARCH
LITERATURE SEARCHES
Reliable Search Engines and Databases
Based on commonly visited and utilized
databases by nurse researchers, the following
were considered as major research databases:
CINAHL Plus
CINAHL Plus with Full Text
with Full Text
The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied
Health (CINAHL) database provides
authoritative coverage of the literature related
to nursing and allied health.
Cochrane Library
A collection of databases that contain
independent evidence on which base clinical
treatment decisions.
Cochrane Reviews, aka Cochrane Database of
Systematic Reviews (CDSR)
Other Reviews, aka Database of Abstracts of
Reviews of Effects (DARE) Clinical Trials, aka
Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials
(CENTRAL)
Methods Studies, aka Cochrane Methodology
Register (CMR)
Technology Assessments, aka Health
Technology Assessment Database (HTA)
Economic Evaluations, aka National Health
Service (NHS) Economic Evaluation Database
(NHSEED)
Cochrane Groups, aka About the Cochrane
Collaboration
EMBASE:
Excerpta Medica Database
An abstract and indexing database in
biomedicine which also excels in its coverage of
pharmaceutical research. It
currently contains more than 15 million records
from Excerpta Medica Database (1974 to
present) and selected medicine records (1966 -
present). Currently the Library does not own
the archives of Embase from 1972 to 1973.
EBSCOhost
An intuitive online research platform used by
thousands of institutions and millions of users
worldwide. With quality databases and search
features, EBSCOhost helps researchers of all
kinds find the information they need fast.
EBSCOhost offers high-quality articles licensed
from reputable publishers recognized by library
professionals, chosen to meet the specific
needs of researchers. Users can view, save,
print, email, or export citations in many formats
directly from the database (EBSCO, 2020).
HAPI:
This is a database that provides information on
measurement instruments (i.e., questionnaires,
interview, schedules, checklists, index,
measures, coding schemes / manuals, rating
scales, projective techniques, vignettes /
scenarios, tests) in the health fields,
psychosocial sciences, organizational behavior,
and library and information science. Limited 10
simultaneous users.
MEDLINE through Ovid
(1947 to present)
The National Library of Medicine's premier
bibliographic database covering the fields of
medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary
medicine, the health care system, and
preclinical sciences. MEDLINE contains
bibliographic citations and author abstracts
from more than 4,600 biomedical journals
published in the United States and 70 other
countries. The database contains over 12
million citations dating back to the mid 1950's.
Coverage is worldwide, but most records are
from English language sources or have English
abstracts.
MEDLINE via PubMed
PubMed, a service of the National Library of
Medicine, provides access to over 12 million
MEDLINE citations back to the mid-1960's and
additional life science journals. PubMed
includes links to many sites providing full text
articles and other related resources.
Nursing Reference Center Plus
Master nursing best practices with the source
specifically for nurses. Includes PERC (go to
More and select Patient Ed).
PsycINFO
SAGE Peseats Proud
Scopus
Web of Science
Google Scholar
The Deeds of ring Reference Center P
for evidence-based information designed
This resource was partially acquired with
funding from the library / IT assessment. This
database complements CINAHL; providing the
most recent clinical evidence to nurses and
other health care professionals, directly at the
point-of-care.
PsycINFO
Now called APA PsycINFO. PsycINFO contains
bibliographic citations and abstract from
materials in the field of psychology and the
psychological aspects related disciplines, such
as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology,
education, pharmacology, physiology,
linguistics, anthropology, business, and law.
Updated weekly.
SAGE research methods
Contains information on research methods
including over 120,000 pages of SAGE book,
journal, and reference content.

Scopus
Scopus contains over 20,500 titles from 5,000
publishers worldwide with 49 million records,
78% with abstracts. It includes over 5.3 million
conference papers and provides 100% Medline
coverage with interoperability with
ScienceDirect, Engineering Village and Reaxys.
Web of Science
Access to the web of science core collection
which is the largest citation database in science,
engineering, medicine, and technology; also,
the social sciences, arts and humanities are
represented. This resource was acquired with
funding from the Library/IT Assessment. The
web of Science, provided by the Institute of
Scientific Information (ISI) a division of Thomson
Reuters, is an index of current and retrospective
multidisciplinary information from 1975 on. The
bibliographic records from approximately 8,700
high impact research journals are mostly linked
to full-text articles.
Google Scholar
This is a research engine that focuses on
academic output. This link is proxied for users
off campus so you can download full text.
Health source: nursing / academic edition
This is a database that focuses on nursing and
allied health, and which provides nearly 600
scholarly full text journals including nearly 450
peer reviewed journals.
Sociological abstracts
Sociological Abstracts and indexes the
international literature in sociology and related
disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.
International Nursing Library
This free resource has the following features:
Free registration
Abstracts from dozens of nursing conferences
Investigator entered information on cutting
edge search
Contact information for investigators and
authors
Access to 6 free full-text articles a month on
nursing topics.
NOCK REFERENCE
Access to free full-text articles from the current
volume, first issues of Journal of Nursing
Scholarship and worldviews on Evidence-Based
Nursing.
DATA COLLECTION & STATISTICAL TOOLS
Qualitative Variables
Represents differences in quality, character, or
kind but not in amount. In short, they do not
yield numeric variables. The following are
examples of qualitative variables but not limited
to birthplace, geographic locations, religion, civil
status, sex, skin color, eye color, etc.
Quantitative variables
Represent the quantity, thereby is numerical in
nature. It can be ordered and ranked. The
following are examples of quantitative variables
but not limited to age, height, weight, test
scores, vital signs, etc. There are instances that
variables can express both quantitatively and
qualitatively as in the grading system in schools,
colleges, and universities. Quantitative as to the
percent scores (60%, 80%, 100%) and
qualitative as to the letter grades (A+, A, A-, B).
Quantitative variables can be further classified
to the following:
Discrete variables are counted using integral
(non-decimal) values like number of students,
number of admissions, number of testing
centers, etc.
Continuous variables are counted using
decimals or fractions that represents a
numerical difference over an interval/s such as
height, weight, temperature, blood pressure.
Classification of variables depending on how it
is used or applied in a study:
Independent variable is the stand-alone variable
that cannot be affected by other controlled
variables. It is the predictor while the
Dependent variable is the one being predicted.
For example, to predict the increase in comfort
level of geriatric patients using music therapy,
the dependent variable is the comfort level,
while the independent variable is the music
therapy. After determining the type of variable,
we now consider its scale of measurement of
data.
Scales of Measurement of Data
variable is called measurement. A scale or level
The process of assigning numerical value to a
measurement can be described as the set of
rules used to assign scores and is an indicator of
the kind of information that the scores provide
(Dayrit, 2011). The scale to which measurement
belong will be important in determining
appropriate methods for data description and
analysis.
Four Levels of Scales of Measurement:
1. Nominal Data
These are categorical in nature. It has the
purpose of identifying name or membership to
a specific group. All qualitative variables are
measured on this scale. Observations can
classify and counted without particular order or
ranking imposed on the data. Specific example
would be the flexible learning options. We
might use "1" for the identification of those
under the blended online learning, "2" for
complete asynchronous online learning, and "3"
for the complete offline analog mode of
learning. Religion, types of diagnosis, medical
specializations, species of flowers can also be
another example of nominal data.
2. Ordinal Data
Means the imposition of ranks or inequalities.
This implies that one category is higher than the
other. This type of data presents numbers to be
either greater that or less than measurements.
This can be typically seen on surveys such as
when you answer in scales of excellent down to
unsatisfactory. In this example, it is clearly
noted that excellent is higher than very Methods of Data Collection
satisfactory, and so on. Other examples of data
include the following but not limited to social
class or income bracket, letter grades, body Now that we have been refreshed with the
frames, birth order, contest winners, etc. basic information about the types of data and
the scales of measurement of data, we now
take into consideration the methods of data
3. Interval Data collection. The following discussions focus on
survey as a popular method of quantitative data
Indicate an actual amount and there is an equal
collection among researchers.
unit of measurement separating each value at
equal intervals. For example, the difference
between 60 and 70 is the same as the
Methods of of Data Collection
difference between 80 and 90. The distance
between two numbers or scores reflects the
distance between the values of the
characteristic being measured (Dayrit, 2011). Online Questionnaires (Google Forms, Microsoft
Furthermore, interval data do not include the Forms)
greater than or less than relationship, but also
has a limit of measurement that permits us to
describe how much more or less one object Survey is one way of gathering data from a
possesses than another (Dayrit, 2011). Other specific population. It is one of the most
examples of interval data are temperatures, commonly used tools by researchers to
score on formative assessments and many facilitate their study. It is usually done on face-
more. to-face basis and would take up around 15-20
minutes to finish the questionnaire. Along with
the Covid-19 pandemic, the performance of
4. Ratio surveys has shifted from face-to-face to online
forms. Here we introduce to you two of the
most popular online survey form creators,
which are Google Forms and Microsoft Forms.
Data are similar to interval data, but the
difference is that ratio data has an absolute
zero and multiples have meanings. For example,
you have 0 balance in your mobile number or E- Google Forms & Microsoft Forms
wallet, then this means you have no e-money to
use for your mobile services. Ratio data include
all usual measurements of length, height, Primary Functions (Gogoi, 2019)
weight, area, volume, density, velocity, money,
and duration (Dayrit, 2011). This is the highest
level of measurement. Other examples include QUESTION AND ANSWER TYPES
the following but not limited to horsepower or
an air conditioner, compensation of faculty
members, ages of students enrolled in a Muay Diverse options and features are what
Thai class, etc. separates good service from a great one.
Google form takes the lead since it provides a
range of question types. From multiple choice
answers and checkboxes to linear scale and
text-based answers, it offers a lot. These diverse
elements make it convenient to craft a variety
of quizzes and forms. Just click on those
elements to add them. Also, you can easily
separate a single form into multiple sections or
add conditional logic. In short, there is a bevy of
options to meet every need.
Sad to say that the answer types in Microsoft
Forms are quite limited. You get only six options
which include multiple choices, text, ratings,
and others. Though Microsoft forms do not
have the support for separate sections, it does
let you add conditional logic, commonly
referred to as branching. Branching is not visible
easily and you will have to add it from the
three-dot menu.
SHARING AND COLLABORATION
When it comes to creating quizzes and surveys
on Microsoft form, you will need an active
Microsoft ID. Thankfully, anyone with a link can
respond to them and as far as sharing is
concerned, you can either share the link directly
with the users or email it to them. You can also
embed the form on any web page. Moreover,
the standard version limits some of the
features. For one, you cannot restrict the
audience to the people of your organization
unless you have an Office 365 Education or
Office 365 commercial subscription. Likewise,
you cannot add collaborators if you are on the
standard version.
Google Forms also supports similar sharing
features you can email or share link directly, but
the free feature which steals the spotlight is add
collaborators. You can add anybody with a
working email address as a collaborator. You
can also edit their access or prevent them from
adding more people of collaborators.
Primary Functions (Gogoi, 2019)
TEMPLATES
One primary reason for using Google Forms is
its distinctive range of templates. From creating
a plain text-based survey to making an elegant
invitation card, almost everything is
manageable with this simple tool. All it takes is
a click on the template gallery and the available
template will be displayed neatly. Staying
through the concept of templates, they have
preset questions. You will have to add or modify
the answer type or add a few more questions
and that is it.
As opposed to it, Microsoft forms struggles to
stand when it comes to templates, at the time
of writing there are only three types - Form,
Quiz, and Party Invitation. Users can modify
these templates to tailor them according to
their needs. So, if you have visualized your form
to look a certain way, you will have to invest
your time and energy. There are no presets to
help you with them.
Primary Functions (Gogoi, 2019)

THEMES Uncommon Features

What Microsoft forms loses out in the form of Features

templates tries to make it up with themes. Long
story short, it carries enough graphic themes in
a variety of attractive shades and the best part
is that Microsoft Forms applies the theme to
the whole form to uplift the overall look and
feel of the form.
As opposed to it, Google's approach to themes
seems a bit dated. You get the same old pastel-
colored themes and only the primary color gets
applied to the upper portion.
Thankfully, both services let you upload custom
images. While Microsoft paints the whole
background, Google only applies them to
headers.
QR CODE
Whether it is the clutter-free interface or the
cool graphic-based theme, Microsoft Forms has
a slightly modern feel to it. A part of this chic
look is the inclusion of a QR-based sharing
option. With it, you can share a QR code with
your respondents thus making it incredibly easy
for tablets users and mobile users to respond.
On top of that, surveyors can download the QR
code or add it on emails to make it easily
accessible.

Uncommon Features
Primary Functions (Gogoi, 2019) FILE UPLOAD

If you are regular user of Google Forms, you

might recollect that the file upload feature was
EMBEDDING VIDEO AND OTHER MEDIA
not common until 2016. This essential feature
Do you often include videos and photos in your makes it simple to keep track of college/school
surveys and polls? If yes, you might want to side assignments as it is with most google services
with Google Forms. Though Microsoft Forms the steps are easy to figure out. As you might
allow adding videos and images, they can be have figured it out, Microsoft Forms lack that
done only as a part of questions. You cannot ability making it sort of unusable for submitting
include them in between questions or as a assignments or any survey that needs document
separate section. verification. At the time of writing, a lot of users
shared a feedback regarding the same in
While it may serve the purpose for many, but
UserVoice. As per the team, Microsoft is
when it comes to crafting birthday or party
working on the update.
invitations, it proves to be a serious limitation.
Interestingly, Google Forms will let you insert
images as part of questions. Also, you can add
videos in a separate section. So, if you want
your form to begin with a beautiful video before
you get down to the actual business it is
possible. Both the services allow adding
YouTube URLS and pictures from your
computer.
Uncommon Features
BUILT-IN SPREADSHEET SUPPORT
Both the services have support for
spreadsheets. Google Forms supports sheets
and MS Forms supports MS Excel. The
difference is how they accomplish the task of
linking spreadsheets. The good news is that
Google Forms stores everything in the cloud.
Just tap on the view responses on sheets button
and the respective sheet will open right away.
Though you can easily import the form data to
Microsoft Excel, you would need to download
the spreadsheet to your system. Again, your
system must have an active Office Suite to open
it. In a worst-case scenario, if your system does
not have one, you will have to settle with the
data on the responses tab.
Uncommon Features
RESPONSE VALIDATION
In 2018, Google released an update for
response validation which will check the
answers before submission. So, if makers only
want an email address or a URL, they can
specify the same when they craft the quiz, and
it will be taken care of. In addition to it, there is
also the option to validate text-based answers
and numbers. For now, Microsoft Forms only
lets you validate numbers. It will provide you
the general option of greater than, less than,
etc.
Uncommon Features
COLLECTING EMAIL ADDRESSES
Google Forms has a nifty little feature which lets
you collect email addresses from respondents.
That is not mandatory option and makers can
opt to use it when the need arises.
Digital Polls
Digital Polls or online polls allow people to see
responses or votes of other people toward a
topic or an issue in real-time. Polls are
distributed and/or embedded in social media
pages such as the Facebook messenger,
wherein anyone from the group can start a poll
and can instantly reach an agreement within
the group in an organized manner. Google
Forms and Microsoft Forms can also perform a
poll function with the option to allow the
participants to view responses as a whole or
not. Data from these polls can be easily utilized
and save time in the tallying and collation of
data.
Survey Monkey
A leading global survey platform trusted by
millions of organizations and individuals to help
them uncover insights about their customers,
employees, and prospects. Their platform is
powerful enough for professional researchers,
yet easy enough that a survey novice can also
get started with it right away. With 20 years of
survey expertise and insights from billions of
questions answered, we fuel the curiosity of
over 17.5 million active users worldwide. The
company provides free basic feature of online
service with ready-made templates and easy to
use interface. Advanced features and
collaborations are made available through an
upgrade of plan from basic to standard plan and
up to the different plans they offer.
After you have chosen and designed your
instrument, may it be a survey questionnaire or
It is easy to use. Flexibility and scalability make
a more structured instrument for data
SPSS accessible to users of all skill levels. What
collection, the words RELIABILITY and VALIDITY
is more is that it is suitable for projects of all
must come in your mind. They refer specifically
sizes and levels of complexity and can help you
to the measurement of data to answer the
and your organization find new opportunities,
research question, therefore, the intent should
improve efficiency, and minimize risk.
be to achieve accuracy. In addition, the validity
should also be checked. This means that the
instrument must be tested if the possible
answers in the instrument reflect the Within the SPSS software family of products,
individual's moral values. (Brink and Wood, SPSS Statistics supports a top-down, hypothesis
2011). testing approach to your data while SPSS
Modeler exposes patterns and models hidden in
data through a bottom-up hypothesis
generation approach. The SPSS might be a go to
Data Processing and Database Applications
application by researchers but with budget
constraints. Some researchers find innovative
ways on how to analyze their data with a
SPREADSHEETS
freeware alternative for SPSS which is the PSPP.

Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheets like

Data Processing and Database Applications
Google Sheets and Open office spreadsheet has
a function of data processing. Certain statistical
functions are available for use of the
A program for statistical analysis of sampled
researchers particularly on quantitative studies.
data developed by the GNU Operating System.
Features vary from version and software
It is a free replacement for the proprietary
utilized. Raw data is usually recorded using the
program, SPSS. PSPP provides many
above-mentioned applications for easy
transformations and utilities. Procedures
computing and maintain accuracy in summing
provide the ability to perform t-tests, anova,
up responses.
linear regression, logistic regression, cluster
analysis, reliability analysis, factor analysis, non
-parametric tests, and other analyses.
Data Processing and Database Applications

Data Processing and Database Applications

The IBM SPSS® or the Statistical Package for
Social Sciences software platform is the leading
statistical software for advanced statistical
SAS
analysis, a vast library machine learning
algorithm, text analysis, open-source
extensibility, integration with big data, and
seamless deployment into applications. Stands for Statistical Analysis Software. One of
the modern statistical software's in the market.
Organizations of all types and sizes depend on
statistical analysis to guide critical decisions.
Modern statistical methods provide trustworthy
evidence for creating effective treatments for
disease, improving manufacturing processes,
predicting customer behavior, and making
policy decisions. SAS/STAT provides a
comprehensive set up-to-date tools that can
meet the data analysis needs of your entire
organization. From analysis of variance and
linear regression to Bayesian inference and
high-performance modeling tools for massive
data, SAS/STAT software provides tools for both
specialized and enterprise-wide statistical
needs. It is designed for use by business
analysts, statisticians, data scientists,
researchers, and engineers (SAS, 2020).
Data Processing and Database Applications
N Vivo
This is a qualitative data analysis software that
allows you organize and manage qualitative
data. This software allows the researcher to
save time in doing manual organizations of
qualitative data. Researchers can import text,
audio, video, emails, images, spreadsheets,
online surveys, web content, and social media
from various sources into a simple intuitive
interface. Centralize data from multiple sources
to conduct the most in-depth analysis possible.
This also allows the researcher to have an
efficient coding of data to quickly identify
themes and trends. Organize the people, places,
and core metrics of your analysis as cases. Link
cases to attribute values such as age and gender
to compare different groups in your data.
Researchers can quickly visualize your data with
word frequency charts, word clouds,
comparison diagrams and many more. Look for
emerging topics and sentiment using specific
queries to identify themes and draw
conclusions (QSR, 2020).
Data Presentation
Presentation of data needs planning and
appropriate means of presentation. Readers
need to be interested and understand the
presented data. The mere gathering of data is
not a simple task, more so the task of making
these data comprehensible and meaningful. The
gathered data are summarized and presented in
different forms as to textual form, tabular form,
and graphical form
Textual form is a paragraph explanation of the
data. Tabular form presents data in rows and
columns for summary and comparison
purposes. Graphical form is used for a more
visual presentation which makes it easier for
the readers to understand. This is useful for
larger sets of data which can be presented in
graphs or diagrams. Each form has its own
purpose and rules to follow when choosing the
appropriate graph or diagram.
The IMRAD Report
The following was taken from The Writing
Center of George Mason University (2020):
"IMRAD" format refers to a paper that is
structured by four main sections: Introduction,
Methods, Results, and Discussion. This format is
often used for lab reports as well as for
reporting any planned, systematic research in
the social sciences, natural sciences, or
engineering and computer sciences.
The IMRAD Report DISCUSSION

INTRODUCTION WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

MAKE A CASE FOR YOUR RESEARCH In this section, you summarize your main
findings, comment on those findings, and
The introduction explains why this research is
connect them to another research. You also
important or necessary. Begin by establishing
discuss limitations of your study and use these
the problem or situation that motivates the
limitations as reasons to suggest additional
research. Move to discussing the current state
future research.
of research in the field then reveal a "gap" or
problem in the field. Finally, explain how the
present research is a solution to that the
ABSTRACT
problem or gap. If the study has hypothesis,
they are presented at the end of the SUMMARIZE THE ENTIRE STUDY
introduction.
The abstract of the report comes at the
beginning of the paper, but you should write it
after you have drafted the full report. The
METHODS
abstract provides a very short overview of the
WHAT DID YOU DO? entire paper including a sentence or two about
the report's purpose and importance, a
The methods section tells readers how you
sentence or two about your methods, a few
conducted your study. It includes information
sentences that present the main findings, and a
about your population, sample, methods, and
sentence or two about the implications of your
equipment. The "gold standard" of the methods
findings.
section is that it should enable readers to
duplicate your study. Methods sections typically
use subheadings; they are written in past tense,
Common Problems in IMRAD Drafts
and they use a lot of passive voice. This is
typically the least read section of an IMRAD • The Abstract does not provide a clear
report. statement of the main findings.

• The Introduction does not communicate

clearly why the research is important.
RESULTS
• The Methods section is not detailed enough
WHAT DID YOU FIND?
or is disorganized.
In this section, you present your findings.
• The Results section provides comments and
Typically, the results section contains only the
explanations instead simply reporting results.
findings not any explanation of or commentary
of the findings. Results sections are usually The material for this handout was drawn from
written in the past tense. Make sure all tables Carnegie Mellon's "Cheatsheet" on IMRAD
and figures are labeled and numbered reports.
separately. Captions go above tables and
beneath figures.