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2. Research Review Methods
A variety of search methods were used in order to source as comprehensive a list of relevant documentation as possible. With the help of Web of Science giving access to the Social Science Citation Index, library catalogues and search engines an electronic search was conducted to locate journal articles, dissertations, books, book chapters and grey literature available online or stocked in the university library or available on inter-library loan. Search terms used included various combinations of the following: 'rural', 'out-migration', 'migration', 'Scotland', 'youth', 'young people', 'drivers', 'social exclusion', 'youth transition to adulthood'. A search was also conducted of the bibliographic references provided in the relevant literature. The bibliographies of articles and other texts found were also explored in order to ensure as comprehensive a coverage as possible within the available timeframe. Broad, non bibliographic search engines were used (www.google.com and http://www.live.com/), as were the search engines accompanying particularly relevant websites. These included the Scottish Government and other Government or voluntary sector sites and research organisations such as Joseph Rowntree Foundation and a range of more specialised research centres and voluntary organisations like Children in Scotland and LGBT Scotland. Specialists within 15 organisations were also contacted to ensure that any unpublished consultations with young people or other forms of relevant but unpublished research was located ( see list of organisations in Annex B below). This was a useful way of locating documents that had not been discovered through other search engines. Authors were also contacted directly in order to locate copies of their work.
Limitations
The time frame available for this literature review was short (5 days). Substantial time was required to locate copies of documents from a variety of sources, as listed above. It is also important to note that the review is limited to literature pertaining to Scotland, although short summaries of other documents are included by way of illustration as to the research that has been conducted elsewhere.
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