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Grey literature refers to information resources that are produced outside of traditional academic channels; it can include government documents, white papers, reports, speeches, unpublished datasets, and policy literature. Grey literature typically does not undergo a peer-review process so it is imperative to evaluate and cross-check it against an authoritative resource. In addition, grey literature can be difficult to locate as it is not well indexed in some databases, if at all, and can require a significant time investment.
Use this library guide's navigation menu to learn more about grey literature, and please reach out to the librarians at librarian@paloaltou.edu should you have any questions on this topic or need assistance in locating resources.
The following sections illustrate the different literature types you will encounter while researching, please review these definitions to help inform your information needs.
Empirical Research
According to the American Psychological Association, empirical refers to a "study based on facts, systematic observation, or experiment, rather than theory or general philosophical principle." An empirical study may use qualitative or quantitative research methods. Qualitative research seeks to critically analyze beliefs, behaviors, or values to address a social phenomena within their natural setting, and this is typically done without numerical data. Quantitative research refers to the use of numerical data to explain the relationships between variables.
Empirical research articles typically include the following sections: Introduction, methodology, results, and discussion.
To learn more about identifying empirical research articles, take a look at the Identify Empirical Research Articles library guide.
Peer-reviewed Articles
Peer review refers to the process in which an author submits their manuscript to a journal to be considered for publication. The journal editor sends the article to experts in the author's field--scholars and researchers--to undergo careful evaluation of the article's qualities, hence "peer review". During the peer-review process, the experts check the manuscript for accuracy and assess whether its methodology and procedures are valid; the reviewers decide whether the article should be accepted, rejected, or accepted with revisions.
To learn more about how to read scholarly, peer-reviewed articles, take a look at the Reading Academic Articles tab in our Academic Writing library guide.
Review Articles
This type of scholarly literature synthesizes multiple research articles on a particular topic and analyzes those arguments. Review articles can be immensely helpful to get an overview of the existing research on a subject; these articles differ from systematic reviews as they don't seek to capture all of the research available on a particular topic.
Systematic Reviews
A systematic review is an exhaustive search to gather, assess, and synthesize all available empirical research on a research topic. Key elements of a systematic review include methodological transparency to reduce bias, reproducibility of its search strategies, having specified inclusion and exclusion criteria, and adhering to a specific reporting guideline, such as PRISMA.
Systematic reviews are often found in the health sciences and have a significant impact on developing public health policies as well as medical interventions that benefit practitioners and clients. In recent years, systematic reviews have become more popular outside the health sciences.
To learn more about systematic reviews, take a look at the Systematic Reviews library guide.
Meta-analysis
A meta-analysis is a subset of systematic reviews that utilizes statistical techniques to synthesize data across individual studies. Haidich describes meta-analysis as a "quantitative, formal, epidemiological study design used to systematically assess previous research studies to derive conclusions about that body of research" (2010).
Haidich, AB. (2010). Meta-analysis in medical research. Hippokratia, 14(Suppl 1), 29-37
Grey/Gray Literature
This refers to literature produced by organizations or individuals outside of academic publishers. The scope of grey literature is vast and can include information resources such as: