WCU FAQs: Research Help

Many original research articles are not labeled as original research articles.  Original research articles include a research question or hypothesis.  They usually contain most of the following sections: methods, results, discussion, conclusion and references.  An original research article is written by the person or people that conducted the experiment or observations.  Original research articles are considered empirical or primary sources and present an original study.  Articles that look at multiple studies are not considered original research articles.  Search library databases using keywords like “study or “case study” to increase your chances of locating original research articles.

Once you find an original research article, read it and look for signs of meta-analysis, meta-synthesis, or mixed method.  Meta-analysis is a quantitative method that uses and synthesizes data from multiple individual studies to arrive at one or more conclusions.  Meta-synthesis is another method that analyzes and combines data from multiple qualitative studies.  Mixed method reviews include data from various qualitative and quantitative research studies. 

If there is no evidence of meta-analysis, meta-synthesis or mixed methods used in the article, then the article should be acceptable.