Appendix A

A Guide to Reference and Searching

In this appendix we will develop in some detail ideas we discussed briefly in Chapter 10 of Business Research Methods, and will make recommendations on reference, database, and non-database materials for business research.

To have arrived at this point, you are using an Internet connection to explore resources on the World Wide Web. The resource documents that you are seeking explain important points that would be difficult to keep up to date in a textbook or would fill many pages. It is characteristic of the Internet that even high quality documents are rapidly replaced by better ones, that documents are relocated or disappear, and that there is an overall atmosphere of transience. Therefore, to keep us up to date, this appendix will be maintained on our Web site, at
http://www.c-r-g.com/busresearch/. At that location we will insert the best documents with accurate URLs (accurate addresses) so that you may proceed with confidence.

We will deal with two types of reference sources, the commercial database and the Internet document. The author or reseller/marketer, using a standard search language/syntax almost always indexes the commercial database, so that these databases may be searched more or less systematically and quickly. The reseller/marketer is also responsible for making the database accessible by Internet, modem, or CD/DVD-ROM, and for handling billing, and other marketing services.

On the Internet, however, documents and their indexes are separately published. Internet documents maybe be the work of professionals who take a good deal of care and pride in the work, or they may be the hastily thrown together work of amateurs. Searching the Internet is an adventure with very unpredictable rates of success and satisfaction or productivity.

Commercial Databases

Commercial databases are authored and maintained by various profit-making and not-for-profit organizations and are generally marketed/ resold by large vendors, notably Dialog (http://www.dialog.com/), a subsidiary of Knight-Ridder Information (http://www.krinfo.com).

Here are World Wide Web links to two Knight-Ridder databases, one containing mostly-numeric data, one a collection of abstracts and a collection of full-text. Using these links you will be able to learn about the databases but not gain access to them. Access is for subscribers to various K-R services.

X

Two databases.

Econbase: Time Series and Forecasts
(http://library.dialog.com/
bluesheets/html/bl0565.html)

A data file index, principally. Time series used in short-term and long-term economic forecasting

Assembled from various sources, such as Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Census, Federal Reserve Bank. Authored by the WEFA Group of Eddystone, PA. Marketed by Dialog.

Business and Industry
(http://library.dialog.com/
bluesheets/html/bl0009.html)

 

An abstracting index principally. Abstracts (some full text) of leading trade magazines, newsletters, general business press, regional newspapers, and international business dailies.

Originated by Responsive Database Services of Beachwood, Ohio. Marketed by Dialog.

So that you will better understand commercial database searching, let’s explore the Internet site of one of the largest database resellers/ marketers, Knight-Ridder Information (http://www.krinfo.com).

A first step top understanding the Dialog collection is to examine a list of the databases that are available by Internet. (The number that is available on CD/DVD-ROM is a smaller set. More about this below.)

For each of its databases, Dialog publishes a Bluesheet, a detailed description of the database's contents and internal organization, plus special advice on how to use the generic Dialog search language for most effective use with the particular database. We suggest you examine the Bluesheet list and then examine one or more individual Bluesheets.

For a list of Bluesheets organized by subject area--Business Statistics, Chemistry, etc.

(http://library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bls.html)

For an alphabetical list of Bluesheets

(http://library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/blf.html)

Having achieved an appreciation of the variety of databases available through one reseller/marketer, Knight-Ridder Information, you must now examine the search language/syntax employed by Knight-Ridder Information. Making searches more accessible is a high priority of the profession of library and information science. We can expect rapid advances to occur in natural language searching and in meta-syntaxes that will accommodate not only Knight-Ridder Information but also other resellers/marketers, plus individual library systems indexes of holdings. For the time being, we suggest you visit the tutorials on the Knight-Ridder Information/Knight-Ridder pages and study the information there.

Item

Where we found the guides

Here is where you will find interactive on-line training (much of it free!) for the DIALOG databases.

(http://training.dialog.com/o_courses/about_oc.html)

Here are extensively worked-out examples of business research using DIALOG databases.

(http://training.dialog.com/quick/solutions/)

Though all of the Knight-Ridder Information databases are available by wide-area online, a subset has been made available on CD/DVD-ROM for use in personal computers and local-area online. The Dialog/Knight-Ridder main page contains a listing of these.

Item

Where we found the guides

Listing of KR Ondisc Products

On the Knight-Ridder main page, we followed a link to "Products and Services," where there was a link to KR Ondisc Products (http://products.dialog.com/products/ondisc/)

If you intend to search the database by Internet, you have several choices.

X

X

Choice #1

Choice #2

Ask the reference department of your cardholder library to give you a quotation on the library's doing the search, and make arrangement for payment.

Buy an annual membership in Knight-Ridder Information, to allow access to all databases or a subset of databases, and make arrangements to pay on a per-use basis. Reach the sales department (which for Knight-Ridder Information is http://products.dialog.com/products/
dialog/price_list/back698.html.)

The latter choice involves a substantial annual fee, but gives you greater control over the time and money you spend online.

Having studied the materials above, you should have a good idea of how online databases may be searched. In practice, what must you do? When you know you need to do a search in a particular topic, go to the listing of Knight-Ridder Information Bluesheets, as arranged by topic (http://library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bls.html), and browse through the Bluesheets to determine which is most suitable. Or consult with a reference librarian about databases that are not in the Knight-Ridder Information collection.

When you are ready to settle on one or more databases, look for a convenient, relatively inexpensive way to access the database. Probably the least expensive way is to see if the library of which you are a cardholder has the database on CD/DVD-ROM. Here you have two ways to proceed.

Method #1

Method #2

Call the reference department of your cardholder library and ask if the database is available on CD/DVD-ROM, or . . . . . .

. . . find your library's Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) on the Internet by searching in the Yahoo virtual library. (http://www.yahoo.com/Reference/Libraries). Explore your OPAC's main page for links to local online engines (CD/DVD).

The former method is faster, but the latter builds intellectual muscle.


About Using Library Indexes for Library Materials

The terminals of your local library are themselves database search engines. Unfortunately, different libraries, even libraries in the same geographic area that happen to belong to different systems (a university library and a public library in the same city that do not share a common computer system), may use search languages/syntax that differ in details. This means that for each library you use, you will have to learn a different search language/syntax.

Visit your cardholder library's OPAC on the Internet, and examine its online search engine. It will very likely contain instructions for the search language/syntax of the library's terminals.

Here is an example of a large research library in a technical university, with its own search language/syntax

Here is the OPAC at Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute (http://www.search.yahoo.com/
search?o=1&preference+librari
es&d=y&za=default&h=c&g=
0&n=20)

Here is the RPI search index (http://opac.lib.rpi.edu)

Here are the instructions for the search engine at RPI (http://opac.lib.rpi.edu/search/w).

Now find your cardholder library, locate its search engine, and identify its search language/syntax screens.

Here is your link to Yahoo's search of reference libraries. (http://search.yahoo.com/search?o=1&p=reference+libraries&d=y&za=default&h=c&)

If the database is not available on local-area online by CD/DVD, you will have to access it by wide-area online, by Internet or modem connection, or you will have to license the CD/DVD for use on your personal computer. Since annual license fees run in hundreds of dollars, you had better want the database badly.

Searching the Internet

As you explained earlier, the Internet is shapeless and disorganized, since there are essentially no obstructions to anyone posting practically anything. Although there are carefully organized databases on the World Wide Web, the Web is full of amateurish attempts at electronic publishing. Therefore, we suggest the following strategy:

  • Use a virtual library if you are looking for more or less authoritative, carefully organized documents. Such a search site is organized hierarchically by topic, and each of the links has been visited an evaluated by a human being.
  • Use a robot search engine or Web crawler to search for rare items that may have escaped the attention of the humans who organize the virtual libraries. A robot engine is one that visits and indexes as many sites as possible, and does so without discriminate human evaluation of worth.

Here are some of the effective virtual libraries that index the World Wide Web.

Infomine is organized by the University of California library system (http://lib-www.ucr.edu).

 

Suitable for scholars and researchers. There is no top-level in the hierarchy devoted to business and economics.

Excite is a commercially sponsored site (http://www.excite.com).

For business and investing, start here (http://my.excite.com/channel/business/?a-chb-t).

Yahoo is the old dependable, the first of the successful virtual libraries. Unfortunately, it contains too many links to advertising sites (http://www.yahoo.com).

For business, start here (http://www.yahoo.com/Business).

Argus Clearinghouse is very selective (http://www.clearinghouse.net)

For business, start here
(http://www.clearinghouse.net/cgi-bin/chadmin/
viewcat/Business___Employment?kywd++)

Disinformation is an index of selected muckraking articles (http://www.disinfo.com).

The Web robots are not topically organized and are indiscriminate in indexing every site visited. Each robot/crawler has its own search language/syntax, which you have to learn for best results. Each site responds differently to the same keywords, because of differences in syntax. For an interesting tutorial on robot syntax, visit Internet Sleuth
(http://www.isleuth.com/search-techniques.html).

Alta Vista advanced search
(http://altavista.digital.com/cgi-
bin/query?pg=aq&what=web).

Allows considerable precision in searching, if you are willing to use its complicated syntax

Here is the search language/syntax for the advanced searching features of Alta Vista (http://altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/query?pg=ah).

Lycos is one of the oldest robot searchers (http://lycos.com).

Here is the syntax for Lycos (http://www.lycos.com/help/search-help.html).

Many searchers respect Hotbot. (http://www.hotbot.com)

Here is the syntax for Hotbot (http://www.hotbot.com/Help).

Meta-search engines accept search terms and feed them into several search engines at once, then collate the results. Here are several meta-search engines, which we highly recommend if you have not already bonded with a favorite robot searcher.

Cyber 411 (http://www.cyber411.com/).

Syntax for Cyber 411 (http://www.cyber411.com/help.htm).

Dogpile (http://www.dogpile.com/).

Syntax for Dogpile (http://www.dogpile.com/notes.html).

Internet Sleuth (http://www.isleuth.com/).

Syntax for Internet Sleuth (http://www.isleuth.com/search-techniques.html).

 

On its Infomine site, the University of California Library System maintains a site that explains how World Wide Web search engines work (http://lib-www.ucr.edu/infomine/exp/finding.html). The site also contains links to recommended search engines.

Links to materials cited in Chapter 10

This section contains quotes from Chapter 10 of Business Research Methods, 6th edition, that were referenced to specific links. When this appendix is used online, the links are active and you may navigate by clicking on the highlighted URL.

  • "The Electric Library, for an additional $9.95 a month, gives access to an encyclopedia (Colliers), a library of reference books, hundred of magazines, hundreds of radio-TV transcripts, and a huge collection of local and nationally known newspapers, all very neatly indexed for rapid search and retrieval." Here is the Electric Library (http://www.elibrary.com/), a full-text collection of newspaper, journal and magazine articles; radio-TV transcripts; maps; photos; and reference books, including an encyclopedia. Apply for a trial period (http://www.elibrary.com/s-default/info/trial.html), then decide if you want to subscribe.
  • "In its online public access catalog, the University of Florida library (http://www.nerdc.ufl.edu/) suggests a six-step process for secondary data collection and analysis."
  • "For the very latest books as they reach the bookstores, visit one of the mega-bookstores on the Internet's World Wide Web, such as amazon.com or Barnes and Noble." Here is a link to the amazon.com online bookstore (http://www.amazon.com/). And here is Barnes and Noble online (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/).
  • "Many newspapers are now available on the Internet a few days after they appear. These include New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com) and Wall Street Journal (http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Financial_Services/Investment
    _Services/Market_Information_and_Research/Dow_Jones___Company__Inc_/Products_
    and_Services/Wall_Street_Journal/    ). Also on the Internet are the Reuters News Service and UP News Service. Generally, the fastest way to locate the news services is by accessing Lycos, Yahoo, or one of the other super-search engines. To check the availability of your local newspaper on the Internet, visit one of the World Wide Web sites listed in Appendix A."
  • Also on the Internet are Lycos News (http://www.lycos.com/news/), Associated Press (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/searches/mainsrch.htm) and Yahoo News (http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/).
  • For a topnotch collection of newspapers (http://www.isleuth.com/news.html). To check the availability of your local newspaper on the Internet, visit (http://www.newspapers.com/). If you are looking for an Internet version of a favorite magazine, try here (http://www.yahoo.com/News/Magazines/).
  • "It would be wrong to think that the local-area online and Internet services are 'merely' replacing hardcopy services. Many of the search engines have virtual reference rooms that go far beyond their hardcopy versions in traditional libraries and include services that are impossible to render in hardcopy. In the traditional vein, there are conventional online dictionaries (http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/bartlett/), etc." Here is the reference room of Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com/Reference/).
  • "A Web site called FedWorld (http://www.yahoo.com/Government/U_S__Government/FedWorld/) is organization by Washington as a gateway into the federal departments. State government is not nearly so accessible, perhaps because no state has nearly so large a user bases as the federal government. Several World Wide Web documents attempt to organize state and local government sites (county and city, for instance) are quite difficult to find. Some state sites attempt to provide links down to the local sites." See if this helps you to find what you need for state government (http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=state+government).
  • "Wally decided (in the Chapter 10 example) to use the Excite Web engine, using a single keyword, 'homeless.' He was presented with a number of possibilities, and, on a hunch, chose the Web page of the National Coalition for the Homeless. This document proved to be well suited to his task, since it contained a number of what appeared to be authoritative essays on the extent and causes of homelessness, as well as prospects for relieving it and possible sources of grants money. A phone call to his county's local coalition for the homeless verified his belief that the National Coalition was a reliable source." Here is what you get when you ask the Excite search engine to locate "Homeless" (http://www.excite.com/search.gw?trace=a&search=Homeless). And here is the page of the National Coalition (http://nch.ari.net/).
  • "Also, she (Martina G. in the chapter) used the Business Newswire (http://www.businesswire.com/) to search for news releases on 'reinventing.'"
  • "Jeff G. wanted a bibliography for his work. He used the Alta Vista search engine with the search terms ["real estate investment AND (bibliographies and bibliography)], and found a bibliography on "real estate investment at the pages of the Evanston, Illinois Public Library (http://www.evanston.lib.il.us/library/bibliographies/) and a "Futures and Options Bibliography" by a professor of finance at Florida International University (http://www.fiu.edu/~daiglerr/bib.htm)."