The information resources on this page serve as supplementary materials for NURS 7910:
For assistance accessing and using resources, please contact your Nursing Librarian Jodi Jameson.
The first step in EBP involves formulating a well-built and searchable clinical question. The PICOT framework is the most commonly utilized template for creating a clear, focused, and searchable question. Below are key resources to help you develop a strong question.
For guidance on formulating a PICOT question, please refer to the following pages:
The next step in EBP involves searching for evidence, or research literature, related to your clinical (i.e. PICOT) question. The main concepts of your question will be used to develop search terms and search strategies for searching library databases.
For guidance on conducting a literature search, please refer to the following pages:
There are 3 broad categories of research study design (click the links below to read definitions/descriptions of each):
Recommended Readings
| Type of Research Design | Articles |
| Quantitative |
Bloomfield, J., & Fisher, M. J. (2019). Quantitative research design. Journal of the Australasian Rehabilitation Nurses’ Association, 22(2), 27–30. https://doi.org/10.33235/jarna.22.2.27-30 Slater, P., & Hasson, F. (2025). Quantitative research designs, hierarchy of evidence and validity. Journal of Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing, 32(3), 656–660. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.13135 |
| Qualitative |
Danford, C. A. (2023). Understanding the evidence: Qualitative research designs. Urologic Nursing, 43(1), 41–45. https://doi.org/10.7257/2168-4626.2023.43.1.41 Doyle, L., McCabe, C., Keogh, B., Brady, A., & McCann, M. (2020). An overview of the qualitative descriptive design within nursing research. Journal of Research in Nursing, 25(5), 443–455. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744987119880234 Luciani, M., Jack, S. M., Campbell, K., Orr, E., Durepos, P., Li, L., Strachan, P., & Di Mauro, S. (2019). An introduction to qualitative health research. Professioni infermieristiche, 72(1), 60–68. |
| Mixed-Methods | van Griensven, H., Moore, A. P., & Hall, V. (2014). Mixed methods research – The best of both worlds? Manual Therapy, 19(5), 367–371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.math.2014.05.005 |
Finding Guidelines in Journals
Guidelines are often published as articles in peer-reviewed journals.
To locate guideline articles published in professional, health sciences journals, the best place to start is a research database.
ClinicalKey and PubMed provide efficient search features to narrow results to clinical practice guidelines.
Instructions are provided below.
After you find research studies and guidelines related to your clinical question, it is necessary to critically appraise them to assess their methodological quality, overall applicability to your question (including your population and intervention), and to weigh the strengths and weaknesses of those studies in supporting your question. Critical appraisal is an essential step before you can extrapolate data in published research studies to your specific clinical question.
Critical Appraisal LibGuide
For more information on critical appraisal, including important critical appraisal tools, please visit the Critical Appraisal LibGuide.
Recommended E-Book
