Macroconceptual analysis of psychological literature: Online computer search systems.

Abstract

parts of a literature to be located, indicates changes over time in frequency and content of citations, and is able to characterize and organize an entire body of literature. This article describes and illustrates the PsycINFO database and other databases, provides a bibliography of major references, indicates the utility of cross-database searching, and suggests the feasibility of online document retrieval. Some assets and liabilities of macroconceptual analysis of psychological literature are included.Immediate access to detailed information on psychological literature has been available by online computer searching since the mid-1970s, although only a few fragmentary descriptions are accessible to psychologist consumers (e.g., Black, 1983;Burrows & Kyle, 1979;Sandy, 1982; Turner, 1983). The databases are machine-readable electronic files that are computerized versions of already existing printed indexes and bibliographies, such as the Psychological Abstracts (PsycINFO). Online searching provides an interactive telecommunication link between researcher and computer system. The computer system stores computer readable data that are accessible by a structured protocol or retrieval system that use subject descriptors, keywords, and basic Boolean logic of AND, OR, NOT patterns of operators.A search can be continuously modified and refined in response to information as it is received. By keying into the computer a particular concept, the amount of research and specific titles and/or abstracts that have been generated on this concept can be immediately ascertained, and specific documents may be ordered online. Similarly, by keying in two or more concepts and requesting only the literature that deals with the intersection of the two concepts, the researcher can discover the extent of the literature. With the existence of PsycINFO, and similar databases, the process of information retrieval has been revolutionized.Macroconceptual analysis describes a bibliographical topography, aided by an online search, that permits a viewing of the literature in terms of parts, wholes, and the web of interrelationships. The computer has the capability, in the context of database searching, of being able to discern patterns or themes in the literature. For any given area of research it is feasible to generate reviews of extant literature, current status, future directions, reliability/validity domains, assessment devices, lists of experts, frequencies of author citations, research grants, and information concerning grantawarding agencies, including financial assets and interests. Computer searching allows researchers to begin constructing the key elements of a meaningful literature review.

THE e-psyche ONLINE DATABASE: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FIELD OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

“…While PsycINFO is usually an adequate and premier bibliographic source in psychology (Perry & Dana, 1985), our results provide sound evidence that when a comprehensive literature review is desired, researchers would be advised to use PsycINFO and e-psyche in tandem, to effect superior identification of the scholarly literature. Several research studies that utilized comparisons of select scholarly databases in the social and behavioral sciences have suggested the use of a multidatabase strategy for obtaining a broad-based bibliographic review (see Brand, 1979;Moore & Finn, 1986;Perdue & Piotrowski, 1990;Piotrowski & Perdue, 1986, 1988.…”

Bibliometrics and citation analysis for the psychologist-manager: A review and select readings.

“…While most practicing psychologists have a rudimentary awareness of the functionality of PsycINFO as the leading bibliographic database file in the social and behavioral sciences (Perdue & Piotrowski, 1991; Reed & Baxter, 2003), survey findings have indicated that practitioners in the field have perennially remained rather unfamiliar with adjunctive online resources, particularly scholarly databases outside the social sciences (see Brand, 1979; Perry & Dana, 1985; Piotrowski, 2007). There has been a clarion call in the field of psychology, at the highest level, regarding the information age and its enormous impact on the field (Adair & Vohra, 2003; Vodanovich & Piotrowski, 2001).…”

Sources of scholarly and professional literature in psychology and management.

“…Although the psychologist-manager can expect some coverage of business and management topics in PsycINFO or PsycARTICLES, there are a host of excellent databases that cover every aspect of the field, from financial statistics to chief executive officer personality. Research studies in the information sciences have concluded that reliance on discipline-specific databases (such as PsycINFO) limits comprehensive coverage of the literature in the business and management fields (see Brand, 1979; Perdue & Piotrowski, 1991a; Perry & Dana, 1985). In fact, recent research has shown that the business file, ABI/INFORM, is an excellent supplemental database for searches of topics in the behavioral and social sciences (Piotrowski & Armstrong, 2005; Piotrowski & Guyette, in press).…”