General Online Resources
Science, Society, and Social Research
Research Ethics
- Office for Human Research Protections of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Guidebook to Human Subject Protections for Institutional Review Boards
- Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects
- Ongoing debate on ethics in different applications of qualitative research at Qualitative Social Research Forum
- The National Academy of Science report "On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research"
- Ethics Glossary
- Details HIPAA privacy rules in regard to researchers
- Ongoing debate on ethics in different applications of qualitative research at Qualitative Social Research Forum
- Ethical dilemmas in social science
Philosophies of Research
- The philosophy of science [the link isn’t the same as the one on the resource page when it opens, but it takes you to “Online Health Search 2006” if that’s the right thing]
- Guide to philosophical sources on the Internet
- An entertaining and informative essay on positivism, interpretivism, and hermeneutics
Theories for Research
- A Sociological Tour Through Cyberspace
- Links to text of famous speeches
- Diverse resources on a range of topics spanning art, communications theory, sociology, literary criticism
- Information on contemporary social theorists and philosophers, mostly those with a "postmodern" slant
- SociologyProfessor contains summaries of social theories and background information about many contemporary and classical social theorists
Guidelines for Citing and Searching Sources
- Dartmouth College Sources. A compendium on how to cite sources from a variety of media, with examples
- APA style help
- Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria and Tools
- Search Engine Watch
- California Polytechnic State University site about research, including how to evaluate web sites.
Literature Online
- Sociological Research Online
- Copyright Clearance Center
- Links to many online sociological journals and magazines
- SocioSite
- The New York Times Web edition
Professional Organization
- American Communication Association site
- American Sociological Association
- Eastern Sociological Society site
- The Sociolog
- National Association of Social Workers
- American Psychological Association
- The Australian Sociological Association
- Society of the Study of Symbolic Interaction
- Julian Dierkes' set of links to references as well as journal and professional societies in sociology
- American Society of Criminology
- Stanford Institute for Research in the Social Sciences homepage
- The Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University
Subject Directories
- Links to social science resources from Educational Technology Clearinghouse
- Social sciences web resources selected by subject experts for Intute
- Library of Congress site with resources for researchers
- The WWW Virtual Library
- WSSLINKS (Women's Studies Section Links)
- Extensive list of links for methodological issues and needs related to social psychology
- Yahoo!
- Large collection of articles on the Web, as well as annotated list of research centers and Web history highlights
- Comprehensive annotated list of internet search tools
Conceptualization and Measurement
- Question Bank, a University of Surrey resource designed for the UK social science research community
Sampling
- Discussion of generalizability of research results
- Sample size calculator, using confidence intervals
- Random number generator
- Generates sampling distribution statistics from population parameters
Causation and Experimental Design
Survey Research
- General Social Survey
- Offers access to GSS data modules through 2006
- A Carnegie Endowment site with links to many survey research organizations and resources
- Thoughtful survey-based reports on current issues
- Research Triangle Institute site
- Site for designing online surveys that allows the first 50 surveys to be collected without charge
- Catalog of survey projects in Britain, with survey overviews and questionnaires
- Take an online survey at this commercial site
- The American Community Survey administered by the U.S. Census Bureau
- Indiana center for survey research
- Offers lists of survey resources as well as the ability to analyze data sets from this particular survey
- Offers access to data sets from various longitudinal studies
- Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research (CISER) Web site
Qualitative Methods
- Extensive subject directory to online resources for qualitative researchers
- National Anthropological Archives
- Glossary terms used in qualitative research
- Qualitative Report, an online journal with articles about methods used in qualitative research and findings from qualitative research
- National Geographic text and film about Bushmen in Kalahari desert
- Example of field and code notes
Evaluation Research
- Governmental Accounting Standards Board site
- The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University
- Official site of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education project
- Numerous publications and data sets on policy development
- Basic guide to evaluation research
Historical and Comparative Research
- World Bank Web site
- Central Intelligence Agency Fact Book
- Information on the procedures used by professional document examiners to determine authenticity, age, etc
- Government Resources on the Web
- Legislative Information on the Internet
- Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queen's University [currently down for maintenance]
Qualitative Data Analysis
- Background information on computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software
- Article providing overview of qualitative data analysis
- Producers of Ethnograph software
- Producers of N6 and NVivo software
- Producers of HyperRESEARCH software
- Free downloads for HyperRESEARCH
Quantitative Data Analysis
- National Election Studies
- Statistical Resources on the Web
- Statistical Package for the Social Sciences home page
- Statistics Canada site, with extensive information about Canada's land and population.
- A simulator that can calculate a range of statistics. Request the normal curve simulation, enter the value of the mean and standard deviation, and it generates a normal curve with this statistics. Enter values for X and Y and this simulator will calculate bivariate regression statistics.
- Bill Trochim's Center for Social Research Methods, with a variety of resources for learning and using research methods, including statistics tutorials.
- Institute of Social Science Research at UCLA, with data archives listing hundreds of quantitative datasets available for downloading and analysis.
- Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research. List of extensive data archives, mostly available to Cornell University users only.
- Korean Social Science Data Center, with extensive tutorial on statistical analysis.
- Report on wellbeing of children in U.S., with many statistics.
- Harvard University's Institute for Quantitative Social Science.
- Detailed maps and figures regarding 2004 presidential election.
- Teaching tools that allow students to run statistical analyses and gain greater understanding of such concepts.
- Includes definitions and examples of common descriptive and inferential statistics techniques.
- Panel study of income dynamics & child development.
- Primer for statistics includes concepts and exercises to practice working with numbers.
- Offers a number of large studies and data files that can be used for analysis and information.
- University of Utah site allowing practice with various statistical techniques.
Reporting Research
- National Institutes of Health. Information about NIH programs and grants.
- National Science Foundation's Social and Economic Sciences. Information regarding the Sociology Program, research funding, current and past supported projects, and so forth.
- Institute of Medicine site with recent research reports online. IOM reports summarize the "start of the art" in a particular area of investigation and often include policy recommendations.
- National Academies Press with hundreds of research reports on different topics available for order or for reading (for free) online.
- The Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Provides data and publications based on these data.
- Political Science Resources on the Web. A subject directory compiled by the University of Michigan Documents Center.
- Instructions for U.S. Public Health Service grants, the general format for seeking research funds from the National Institutes of Health.
Criminology/Criminal Justice
- American Society of Criminology. Includes much useful information for students, academicians, and practitioners in the many disciplines related to criminal justice.
- The American Bar Association's Commission on Domestic Violence. Includes a definition of domestic violence, procedures for identifying a person as a victim of domestic violence, and a list of "basic warning signs."
- U.S. Bureau of Justice. Information about programs, with extensive data on legal issues.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation. Much interesting information on crime.
- The Police Foundation site. Lists current and past research projects and summarizes their impact.
- Offers statistics as well as information on development of survey, and ability to analyze data.
- Bureau of Justice Statistics. Crime statistics giving information about victims, offenders, courts, and special topics.
- Offers information and online analysis tools for information regarding criminal justice. Registration required.
Demography
- Population Index on the Web. Population index for 1986--1996.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor. A significant source of data on employment and earnings.
- U.S. Bureau of the Census home page. Contains tables and graphs reporting detailed census data. Population data and economic indicators.
- Access to various databases detailing domestic
Health, Homelessness, Substance Abuse
- Centers for Disease Control site, with statistics, news, fact sheets, and links.
- The National Coalition for the Homeless. Current statistics, publications, legislative developments, and links to other resources.
- KIDS COUNT web site for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, with easy-to-access interactive statistics and charts that describe children's well-being by state, city, and other geographic divisions in the U.S.
- National Institute on Aging internet links to research resources, including statistics, literature, and funding opportunities.
- Center of Alcohol Studies. Offers links to numerous sites related to alcohol and alcoholism.
- Harvard School of Public Health. The latest findings about student substance abuse.
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Offers summaries of publications, reports, and statistical information on SAMHSA -research.
- Documents peoples' internet searches regarding their health.
- CDC's study on aging and nursing home care.
- National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse. Provides many resources.
- National Institutes of Health. Information about NIH programs and grants.
Comparative/Historical Politics
- Gallup poll. This site contains election poll results dating back to 1936 and information from polls on current events.
- The Roper Center. General information on the center and poll results on presidential performance.
- Current, indexed polling data on contemporary issues from a variety of sources.
- Federal Electoral Commission site, with rules and news.
- American Religion Data Archive, with survey and area data concerning religion and churches.
- Federal and state constitutional, statutory and case law.
- University of Michigan site with list of many, many online resources for political scientists.
- Extensive public opinion data from Rasmussen Research.
- Project Vote-Smart site, with information on thousands of candidates and government officials.
- Human relations area files. Information and user guides regarding the contents of extensive collection of ethnographic data from around the world. You must be at a member institution to gain access to materials.
- National archives databases. Government documents regarding wars, labor unions, business and more.
- Library of congress database. Search for information on laws, bills, and records of individual.