A comparative evaluation of online databases in relation to welfare and corrective services, and community development

Ten online databases were evaluated for their scope, extent of literature coverage within that scope, timelines, and degree of relevance and overlap in retrieval for welfare, corrections and community development. The databases evaluated were: Eric, NTIS, Social Scisearch, Psychological Abstracts, National Criminal Justice Reference Service, Sociological Abstracts, PAIS International, Child Abuse and Neglect, Family Resources, and National Rehabilitation Information Centre. These were evaluated by choosing three test cases and by conducting searches on fifty well known concepts. All databases yielded relevant documents. The specialized databases did not prove to be more comprehensive in their respective fields than larger databases. The databases were also ranked for their useful‐ness and cost‐effectiveness.