Hi Tanya,
You pose an interesting question...
I don't think I would feel comfortable pre-screening studies just based upon
whether or not they have structured abstracts. However, I think an article
with a structured abstract would make the critical appraisal process a tad
easier, so for a student doing the exercise, it may be worthwhile.
Here are a few articles that may prove useful:
BAYLEY, L. and ELDREDGE, J. The structured abstract: an essential tool for
researchers. Hypothesis, 17 (1), 2003, 1,11-13.
79.
BOOTH, A. and O'ROURKE, A.J. The value of structured abstracts in
information retrieval from MEDLINE. Health Libraries Review, 14(3), 1997,
157-166.
HARTLEY, J. Are structured abstracts more or less accurate than traditional
ones? A study in the psychological literature Journal of Information
Science, 26(4), 2000, 273-77.
As an aside, since we are on the EBL list, two of my colleages (Ellen
Crumley and Linda Slater) and I recently did a content analysis of
librarianship research, which will be published next month in Journal of
Information Science. One of the small things we looked at was the
inclusion of abstracts in research articles. We found that 91.4% of
research articles included abstracts, but of those that did, only 2.8% of
the abstracts were structured. So, very low use of this format within our
own profession.
Denise
--------------------------------------------
Denise Koufogiannakis, MA, MLIS
Collections Manager
2K3.17 John W. Scott Health Sciences Library
Walter C. Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB T6G 2R7
Ph: (780) 492-2191
Fax: (780) 492-6960
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
http://www.library.ualberta.ca/staff/denise_k/
-----Original Message-----
From: Feddern, Tanya [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 12:26 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Do structured abs. indicate a better research article?
***apologies for cross-posting***
Hello! Do you feel that a structured abstract indicates a) an
easier-to-read article b) a better designed study or c) both? I find it
easier to read a structured abstract, and it seems that they are more likely
to include confidence intervals and p-values in the abstract than a
traditional abstract. Structured abstracts seem more apt to include epi/EBM
figures, such as the Positive Predictive Value and Number Needed to Treat.
There are studies that say the quality of abstract is superior if it's a
structured abstract. However, does a structured abstract correlate with
better-designed studies and/or easier-to-read studies? If anyone has cites
handy supporting or disproving this, please let me know. I will summarize
to the lists. If structured abstracts are linked with better studies, I was
thinking perhaps it could be a handy pre-screener for us librarians wanting
to choose articles for our EBM students to critically appraise.
Thank you,
Tanya
Tanya Feddern, MLIS, AHIP, MOT, OTR/L
http://www.geocities.com/nqiya/EBMbib.html
http://www.geocities.com/nqiya/index.html
Evidence-Based Medicine Assistant Professor; Reference & Education Services
Librarian University of Miami School of Medicine, Louis Calder Memorial
Library
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