THOMPSON'S WEEK 4 RESEARCH BLOG POST

This week we were instructed to find one peer reviewed article that was relevant to our topic, and I found finding these peer reviewed articles a little less frustrating than earlier assignments.  Due to the fact that I have had some previous exposure to the Library Databases I was not so confused while conducting my research this week.  While conducting my research I thoroughly analyzed the interface as instructed, and found that it helped me navigate the site a bit easier.  A strategy that I found to simplify my research was to engage in a subject search for my topic.  At first I tried doing keyword searches but I was getting way to many results. I tried to narrow my search by changing my keywords, but I still was getting too many hits and it became somewhat frustrating.  I also tried going into different databases but this was too confusing.  The strategy that worked best for me was the subject search that gave me relevant results that were manageable.  When all was said and done I ended up with about 116 results and about 15 were of interest and relevant to my topic.  As I skimmed through some of my results I bookmarked some that were of interest, and when I was done I went back to take a more thorough look.  I found several that were right up my ally, but several of them did not have reference lists or I could not get the full text.  This was the most frustrating part of the research process for me.  For those who have been reading my blogs my research has been focused on finding out about the methods and therapies that work the best for those struggling with drug addiction.  I found several articles that claimed that spirituality and individual counseling worked well for those struggling with addiction, but ended up finding a really great article that had studied current research methods and proposed that family-based therapies worked the best for those battling substance abuse.  The article produced evidence that proper parenting, family conflict, social pressures, and community interaction are all directly interactive in drug use and abuse.  This all makes perfect sense to me because I am a firm believer that the function of the family is an important part of raising good citizens.  But the information given in the article pertaining to what it costs the United States court system for drug abuse was what was staggering to me.  And what was more interesting was that there is very little money funneled into treatment for those struggling with substance abuse.  I suppose I would like to research the reasons why so little money is used for drug treatment and counseling when it comes to the court system.  It seems like if more people were reformed less money would be spent on incarceration.