Below are some important things to keep in mind when searching for a topic of interest using a term or phrase.
Search Fields
Unless fields are specified in your search itself, searches are only executed in the Search Fields selected. Before conducting a search make the appropriate selections using the Search Fields button below the search bar.
AND/OR
By default, the implied search operator in all iSearch Analytics applications is AND. That means any time multiple search terms or phrases are searched without making any changes to the search operators or explicitly including a different search operator between the terms and phrases in the query, the results will include records where all of the search terms or phrases appear in each record.
To switch the search operator applied in a search, click the appropriate radio button to the left of the search bar or type the preferred operator (OR or AND) between the search terms or phrases. If a boolean operator is part of the query, the operator in the query overrides the operator selected to the left of the search bar.
Term
A term search refers to entering one or more independent terms in the search bar. For example, search for a single term, like:
COPD
Or search for multiple, independent terms, like:
COPD cancer
In the second example, COPD and cancer are treated as two independent terms and, without an explicit search operator between the two terms, iSearch Analytics returns results where both COPD and cancer appear in each record. To switch the operator applied in your query select the appropriate operator to the left of the search bar:
Alternatively, you can explicitly enter the preferred search operator, which needs to be in uppercase:
COPD AND cancer
Or:
COPD OR cancer
When searching for single words, there is no need to wrap them in quotation marks or separate them with commas.
Phrases
A search can also be conducted with search phrases, where each search phrase is wrapped in quotation marks. For example:
“lung disease”
In the above example, records will be returned where lung and disease appear in order and adjacent to each other. Multiple search phrases can be searched together, as well, for example:
“lung disease” “lung cancer”
Again, it should be noted that the implied search operator between search phrases is AND unless explicitly switched to OR.
Changing Search Fields and Search Operator Selections
You can change the Search Fields and search operators applied to the search at any point. Click the Select Search Fields button and make field changes, then click the Search button to rerun the search with the updated search field(s). Likewise, if you choose to switch the search operator applied to your search, be sure to click the Search button to rerun the search with the updated search operator.