Locating probability data in an article on your chosen topic

To locate an article on your topic with specific types of probability sampling methods, use a database on your subject or try a general OneSearch.

To get started, head to https://library.whatcom.edu/. Let’s select OneSearch.

This is an image from the WCC library website where users click to access OneSearch or databases.

In the search bar, type your topic (for example, anxiety) then use the boolean operator AND plus the type of data you are looking for. You might try systematic sampling, stratified sampling, or cluster sampling. Put quotation marks around words that you want to find together in the text.

Your search could look like this:

This search bar shows a search for anxiety and "cluster sampling."

Click the magnifying glass to Search. When you see all the results, your search terms will be highlighted not just in the title but also throughout the abstract. Presence of the data sampling keywords in the abstract probably indicates that the article will be about the topic you chose rather than being an article about that data type.

Another type of search for data might include primary studies, or experiments performed by the author of the article. Check out this post, Finding specific data types and experiments in research for more tips on that type of search.