 Finding and using information to make decisions in real life and on the job is called lifelong learning, action research, or evidence-based practice. Making decisions such as which therapy to use with my patient, which textile to source for my product line, whether the latest teaching fad works, if I should serve grass-fed beef in my restaurant, or which school to send my kids to, all of these decisions need to be backed up by trustworthy data, and there can be real consequences for bad decisions. The information I use has to be high quality, but quality depends on my need. Depending on my profession, there can be specific standards I'm required to follow. For example, nurses use peer-reviewed journal articles. Not everyone needs that level of exactitude. For some questions, good newspapers, government sites, and other sources are enough. Let's look at three levels of information use as research in real life can take many forms. Lifelong learning is a personal choice, a way of life. I seek to make well-informed decisions by taking the time to search out and read reliable information. No one is holding me to a standard here. I use my own expectations, informed by my education, experience, and need. Action research, a concept heavily used in education, but that can apply to any profession, is the next step up. It's when a professional investigates the best ways to perform their work for a higher impact. This could take the form of continuing education, job training, reading about best practices, reflective practice, or formal research. My boss probably holds me to account for the choices I make on the job. Lastly, and most intense information use, evidence-based practice is required for many professions, especially in health fields. Evidence-based practice is a professional standard with real-life consequences for clients or patients. People in these careers are expected to find, read, and implement the best decisions on how to perform their work. Evidence-based practice is made up of three pillars. One, clinical or professional expertise. Two, patient or customer values. Three, application of the best research evidence. You're in college and have hundreds of electronic resources at your fingertips. You don't pay for any of it. That's what your tuition and fees take care of. Lucky duck. So what happens when you leave the university and stop paying tuition and fees besides saving a bunch of money? Unfortunately, access to those fancy resources ends when you leave the university. But everything is online, right? Well, you can find recipes, crosswords, people's strong opinions, and more online without using any library resources. But what if you need something more substantial, like a list of professional standards for your career, or research about the benefits of eating organic food? You will find you often can't access these things without hitting a request to pay for the content. While you can pay for a subscription to a site like the New York Times, or for membership in your profession's professional organization like the American Nurses Association, what you can access will be limited to the things you can afford to buy, or what happens to be free and openly accessible, which will limit the diversity of content you'll be able to consider. Let's look at some real-life examples. Farmers' markets are known for locally grown, high-quality organic food. I go to mine every week. Different people go there with different real needs and questions. What you will be doing in the next section of this tutorial is choosing a path to explore the evidence-seeking behavior of a particular person. Click Next and choose your path.