Choosing and using methodological search filters: searchers' views

Abstract

Background: Search filters or hedges are search strategies developed to assist information specialists and librarians to retrieve different types of evidence from bibliographic databases. The objectives of this project were to learn about searchers' filter use, how searchers choose search filters and what information they would like to receive to inform their choices. Methods: Interviews with information specialists working in, or for, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) were conducted. An online questionnaire survey was also conducted and advertised via a range of email lists. Results: Sixteen interviews were undertaken and 90 completed questionnaires were received. The use of search filters tends to be linked to reducing a large amount of literature, introducing focus and assisting with searches that are based on a single study type. Respondents use numerous ways to identify search filters and can find choosing between different filters problematic because of knowledge gaps and lack of time. Conclusions: Search filters are used mainly for reducing large result sets (introducing focus) and assisting with searches focused on a single study type. Features that would help with choosing filters include making information about filters less technical, offering ratings and providing more detail about filter validation strategies and filter provenance.

Meeting the review family: exploring review types and associated information retrieval requirements

“…Information Specialists report barriers to filter use. These could be overcome by filter developers shifting to less technical information about performance, providing ratings of filters and more information available about the filter validation and provenance (Beale et al., ).…”

How to prepare a systematic review of economic evaluations for clinical practice guidelines: database selection and search strategy development (part 2/3)

“…Search filters are defined as a collection of search terms based on research and validated against a so-called 'gold standard' (i.e. a known set of relevant records) [4], used to identify certain types of records, often for very broad topics [4,58]. They are regarded as a time-saving 'ready-made solution', leaving searchers 'free to concentrate on the other aspects of the search' [19].…”

Development and testing of a medline search filter for identifying patient and public involvement in health research

“…Search filters (also known as hedges) are individual validated search strategies that are designed to retrieve specific types of evidence from bibliographic databases. 15 They act as a filter by facilitating the non-retrieval of irrelevant references while preserving the capture of relevant references. Filters are designed to be either highly sensitive (measured by the proportion of all relevant records correctly retrieved) or highly precise (number of relevant references retrieved as a proportion of the total number of references returned).…”

“…Search filters (also known as hedges) are individual validated search strategies that are designed to retrieve specific types of evidence from bibliographic databases . They act as a filter by facilitating the non‐retrieval of irrelevant references while preserving the capture of relevant references.…”