Methods and research design web links
- General research design links
- Discipline specific links
- Qualitative methods and positivism/empiricism
- Qualitative methods and interpretivism
- Nvivo software
- Critical theory and research design
General research design links
- UniSA provides an online workshop entitled Methodology in the social sciences and humanities which includes useful links to methods and methodology web resources.
- Information R is the most comprehensive available web-resource for Research methods. Includes an online journal on information technology research (free to download), a bibliography of information management sites, a world-wide database of IT departments and centres, and much other material of use to anyone doing IT research. The site also includes Electronic Resources for Information Research Methods, a comprehensive online research methods database currently available. It is a large search engine on research methods compiled by Professor Tom Wilson, formerly of the University of Sheffield. Contains links to a wide variety of major research websites sorted by research style (including action research, qualitative research, case studies).
- Resources for methods in evaluation and social research includes information and resources about surveys, focus groups, sampling interviews and other methods.
- Yenza! Research site is the Research Methods training site of the African National Research Foundation. It has a large amount of material on research methodology, including an annotated bibliography of research methods textbooks.
- Research for a Post-Normal Science – annotated bibliography. In post-normal science, the community responsible for ensuring quality and validity is extended even further to include all stakeholders. These stakeholders are relied upon for quality assurance, but also for extending the knowledge base (in both content and kind) and for problem definition. Check the site for links and discussion of post-normal scientific research.
- Qualpage is the Qualitative Research Page run by Judy Norris at the University of Alberta. There are articles, discussion lists, links, and an online bibliography called the Qualitative Research Web Ring. If you are interested in Qualitative Research, you can use this site as an entry-portal into the other web-based resources available.
- Intute: Social Sciences provides web resources for education and research for the social sciences, including law, business, hospitality, sport and tourism. It is produced by an association of the University of Birmingham, the University of Bristol, the Joint Systems Committee, and the Institute for Learning and Research Technology.
- The Qualitative Report, is an online journal dedicated to qualitative research since 1990. It also provides references, web links and journals on qualitative research.
- This web page provides links to guides, web sites and online journals for qualitative researchers in journalism, health care, information systems and social work. Topics include: general guides, ethnography, interviewing, oral history, focus groups, qualitative data analysis, and content analysis.
- The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia has provided a list of resources on focus groups, the Delphi technique and the Nominal Group technique at Research methods resources on the WWW.
- The University of Leicester has a very useful page entitled Exploring online research methods with topics on online interviewing, surveys, online research ethics and a technical guide on online surveys.
Discipline Specific
- Sociology central has a diverse range of introductory sociological material on theory and method that is written in a concise and accessible manner.
- Graduate Nursing Research is an online course for students at Indiana State University, written by Mary Bennett, Indiana State University, May, 2000. You don’t need to take the course – just look at the materials in the writing centre and the examples of proposals, consent forms, etc.
- PsychScholar is a collection of Web Resources for ‘Psychological Scholars and Budding Psychological Scholars.’ Contains a huge list of links to online tutorials in psychological methods and a section on Psychological Research Methods.
- Social Research Update is a free online ‘journal’ of sociological research issues published quarterly by the Department of Sociology at the University of Surrey. Each issue contains only one article. There are 35 articles here on different aspects of sociological research.
- Research Methods in the Social Sciences – a selective bibliography. Prepared by C. Moore-Jansen, Social Sciences Librarian, WSU Library
- Elearnspace - a concise and accessible summary of education theory and methodologies.
- Christopher Humphrey and Bill Lee, 2004, The real guide to accounting research: a behind the scenes view of using qualitative research methods – online preview of book
Qualitative methods and positivism/empiricism
- Susan Soy, 1997, 'The Case Study as a Research Method Uses and Users of Information’
- Winston Tellis, 1997, 'Application of a case study methodology', The Qualitative Report, vol. 3, no. 3, September.
Qualitative methods and interpretivism
- Online QDA: Ann Lewins, Celia Taylor and Graham R Gibbs from the University of Huddersfield and the University of Sydney provide topics on 'noticing and coding', 'noticing, collecting and thinking', 'interpreting' and 'organising'.
- Action Research Site contains topics on action research, links to a refereed journal, and discussion lists. There is also a 14 week course you can take online, or simply browse the readings. The site includes an annotated Bibliography of Action Research Websites.
- The National Science Foundation provides a short overview in the first part of an article entitled: 'What is Qualitative Analysis'
- Ian Baptiste, 2001, 'Qualitative data analysis: Common phases, strategic differences', Forum: Qualitative Social Research, vol. 2, no. 3, September.
- Burke Johnson, 1994, Qualitative Data Analysis an Expanded Source Book, editors Miles & Huberman, SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, chapter 12. This chapter compares and contrasts phenomenology, ethnography, case study and grounded theory.
- Qualitative Research Methods by C. George Boeree, Shippensburg University. This downloadable workbook provides an extended discussion of topics on phenomenological description, structural analysis, observation and interviewing.
- Sally Thorne, 2000, 'Data analysis in qualitative research', Evidence-Based Nursing, vol. 3, pp. 68-70. This article provides an overview of the process involved in qualitative data analysis, with specific references to nursing research and constant comparative analysis, phenomenology, ethnography, narrative and discourse analysis.
- Catterall M and Maclaran P 1997, 'Focus Group Data and Qualitative Analysis Programs: Coding the Moving Picture as Well as the Snapshots', Sociological Research Online, vol. 2, Issue 1.
- Janice M. Morse and Charlotte Pooler, 2002, 'Analysis of videotaped data: Methodological considerations', International Journal of Qualitative Methods, issue 4.
- Northern Arizona University, 1999, 'Electronic Textbook - Making Sense of It All: Strategies for Compiling and Reporting Qualitative Data'.
- Marcia Salner, 'Self-deception in qualitative research: Validity issues', University of Illinois.
- Southern Alabama University have a page on data coding.
- Catherine Marshall and Grechen Rossman, 2006, Designing Qualitative Research: Fourth Edition, Sage.
Nvivo
- UniSA information about accessing Nvivo
- Lyn Richards, 2006, online Nvivo tutorials
Critical Theory
- Wilfred Carr and Stephen Kemmis, 1986, Becoming Critical: Education Knowledge and Action Research, Routledge, UK – online preview of book on Critical Theory and education theory and action research.
- Mats Alvesson and Hugh Willmott, 1992, Critical Management Studies, Sage Publication – online preview of book on Critical Theory and management studies.
Learning and Teaching Unit would like to acknowledge Carol Davy and the International Graduate School of Business for their assistance in gathering resources for this web page.