Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2015 Apr;68(4):412-7.
doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2014.10.008. Epub 2014 Dec 29.

Citation searches are more sensitive than keyword searches to identify studies using specific measurement instruments

Suzanne K Linder  1 , Geetanjali R Kamath  2 , Gregory F Pratt  3 , Smita S Saraykar  2 , Robert J Volk  4
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Citation searches are more sensitive than keyword searches to identify studies using specific measurement instruments

Suzanne K Linder et al. J Clin Epidemiol. 2015 Apr.

Abstract

Objectives: To compare the effectiveness of two search methods in identifying studies that used the Control Preferences Scale (CPS), a health care decision-making instrument commonly used in clinical settings.

Study design and setting: We searched the literature using two methods: (1) keyword searching using variations of "Control Preferences Scale" and (2) cited reference searching using two seminal CPS publications. We searched three bibliographic databases [PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science (WOS)] and one full-text database (Google Scholar). We report precision and sensitivity as measures of effectiveness.

Results: Keyword searches in bibliographic databases yielded high average precision (90%) but low average sensitivity (16%). PubMed was the most precise, followed closely by Scopus and WOS. The Google Scholar keyword search had low precision (54%) but provided the highest sensitivity (70%). Cited reference searches in all databases yielded moderate sensitivity (45-54%), but precision ranged from 35% to 75% with Scopus being the most precise.

Conclusion: Cited reference searches were more sensitive than keyword searches, making it a more comprehensive strategy to identify all studies that use a particular instrument. Keyword searches provide a quick way of finding some but not all relevant articles. Goals, time, and resources should dictate the combination of which methods and databases are used.

Keywords: Information sources; Instruments; Meta-analyses; Methodology; Search methods; Systematic reviews.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: All authors declare: no support from any organization for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Precision and sensitivity for keyword and cited reference search methods by database
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Sackett DL, Rosenberg WM, Gray JA, Haynes RB, Richardson WS. Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn’t. 1996. Clinical orthopaedics and related research. 2007;455:3–5. - PubMed
    1. Gray JAM. Evidence-based healthcare: how to make health policy and management decisions. London: Churchill Livingstone; 1997.
    1. Lefebvre C, Glanville J, Wieland LS, Coles B, Weightman AL. Methodological developments in searching for studies for systematic reviews: past, present and future? Systematic reviews. 2013;2:78. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Egan M, Maclean A, Sweeting H, Hunt K. Comparing the effectiveness of using generic and specific search terms in electronic databases to identify health outcomes for a systematic review: a prospective comparative study of literature search methods. BMJ open. 2012:2. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Papaioannou D, Sutton A, Carroll C, Booth A, Wong R. Literature searching for social science systematic reviews: consideration of a range of search techniques. Health information and libraries journal. 2010;27:114–22. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources