Research instruments are used to collect, measure and analyze data. They are often used for research in the health sciences. You may be searching for an instrument to use for an upcoming research project but are unsure which one to use.
One way to learn more about research instruments is to use the CINAHL database. It contains short fact sheets for many research instruments.
They usually contain a table with columns for purpose, population, methodology and instrument type. The fact sheet will also list some studies that use the instrument allowing you to see the tool in action.
Search without using instrument name
You don’t need to have the title of a specific research instrument to find examples. You can start with a general search term. It might be for a medical condition. Below we do a basic search of the term “Pain”.
Locate the Source Types in the left hand column. These are filters for the current search result. Select the “Show more” link to see the extended menu.
Select the term “Research instrument” in the popup menu. Click on the update button. This will reduce the search results to the number to the right of the term (in the example below there will be 27 results).
All search results will now be “Research instruments”.
Searching for a specific instrument
You can also search instruments by title. Use the “instrumentation” field when searching by title to narrow your searches. Entering the name of the instrument will find studies that used the research instrument.
Enter the name of the instrument into the search box. Select the pull down menu to the right of the search box and select the “IN Instrumentation” option from the pull down menu. The will focus your search to show only those articles that use the named instrument.
In the example below we search for the keywords international physical activity questionnaire. The will limit the search to records with these terms in the instrumentation field, but this does not mean all of them will be using the exact instrument you need.
Verify each article has the instrument you need by selecting the title of the article from the results list. Scroll down to the section listing the instrumentation and look for your instrument.
This is just one way for finding specific instrumentation in the CINAHL database, but it is not the only method. Contact the library with any questions or for research assistance.
