Social science research and S Guide - Resources and Review

Searchable database consisting of citations and abstracts of articles, editorials, and reviews from selected international social sciences journals dating back to 1951. Full texts of some journals are available. IBSS covers the core disciplines of economics, sociology, politics and anthropology. Freely available to UK higher education, but a username and password are required.
 
MIMAS provides a range of national dataset services to the UK academic community. These include online access to strategic research and teaching datasets, specialist support (e.g. training courses and documentation), access to software packages and computing resources required for data storage.
 
Database service containing in
depth information on social science research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. It is possible to search for details of research projects which have been granted awards by the ESRC, as well as publications and other research activities which are products of such awards.
 
SOSIG is an online catalogue of thousands of high
quality Internet resources relevant to social science education and research. Every resource has been selected and described by a librarian or subject specialist.
 
Describes a project facilitating access to 19th century pamphlet collections held by the Consortium of University Research Libraries, and to raise awareness among humanities and social science researchers of their breadth and scope. Includes the full text of the proposal, contact details, a project plan, and minutes of partners' meetings.
 
Quarterly journal discussing new statistical techniques and approaches to qualitative data offered by advances in IT, and the theoretical and ethical problems associated with these developments.
 
Selection of resources for students in the social sciences. Includes a textbook on applied social research methods covering sampling, measurement, design, and analysis, full texts of papers on concept mapping, advice on finding the appropriate statistical test for data, and a bulletin board for discussions.
 
A federation of 63 learned societies in the humanities and social sciences. Its purpose is 'the advancement of humanistic studies in all fields of learning in the humanities and social sciences and the maintenance and strengthening of relations among national societies devoted to such studies'.
 
National Academy for the humanities and social sciences, established in 1902 as 'The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies'. It is an independent and self
governing fellowship of scholars, elected for distinction and achievement in the humanities or social sciences. Site contains details on their publications and lectures they are hosting.
 
Quarterly publication from the National Statistics Office covering population and demographic information. It contains commentary on the latest findings, articles on topical subjects such as one parent families, cohabitation, fertility differences, international demography, population estimates and projections for different groups, and statistical tables and graphs showing trends on conceptions, births, marriages, divorces, internal and international migration, and population estimates. All material can be downloaded in pdf format.
 
A longitudinal survey which follows the lives of a group of people born in Great Britain between 3 and 9 March, 1958. The aim of the study is to improve understanding of the factors affecting human development over the whole life span. The data covers a long time period and includes a wide range of questions, plus physical measurements, such as weight and height. Used for a wide range of research, including medical and health research including studies based on subgroups of NCDS cohort members, such as asthma sufferers or handicapped school leavers.
 
The Data Archive at the University of Essex houses the largest collection of accessible computer
readable data in the social sciences and humanities in the United Kingdom. It is a national resource centre, disseminating data throughout the United Kingdom and, by arrangement with other national archives, internationally. Founded in 1967, it now houses approximately seven thousand datasets of interest to researchers in all sectors and from many different disciplines.
 
Annual, multi
purpose survey based on a sample of private households in Great Britain. Interviews are conducted with everyone aged over 16 in the household. Offers researchers from a broad spectrum of disciplines the opportunity to explore relationships between income, housing, economic activity, family composition, fertility, education, leisure activities, drinking, smoking, and health. Available in SIR-DBMS and SPSS formats and derived variable files.
 
An index of more than 900 links to psychology and social science journal sites ordered by journal name. Covers journals published in English or German.
 
Links to articles relating to the so
called crisis of modernity, covering topics such as Third World debt, globalisation, genetic manipulation, human rights, technological impact, sustainable development, and terrorism.
 
A longitudinal survey which began in 1991 and will run annually for 10 years. The main objective of the BHPS is to further understanding of social and economic change at the individual and household level in Britain into the next century.
 
Contains a number of specialised networks on various social science topics including economics, finance, law and accounting.
 
Continuation of the annual Labour Force Survey. The main purpose of the QLFS is to provide internationally comparable statistics on the levels and changes in employment, unemployment and economic inactivity. The questionnaire collects general information about the household, family composition, housing and demographic characteristics. The main topic areas include economic activity and inactivity; employment, unemployment and under
employment, educational qualifications and training, labour mobility and health and disabilities which affect work. Available in SIR-DBMS format.
 
Quarterly economics journal, with freely available full text articles in PDF format from 1996 onwards. Topics include real interest rates, imperfect markets, product strategies, public finance, and environmental policy.
 
Provides worldwide, networked, subscription access to the full text of over 40 scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.
 
Online version of the weekly social science journal, featuring research articles in economics, sociology, and political science, scholarly communication on topical developments, weekly statistical updates, and a monthly review of the money market. The full text of the journal is available from 1999 onwards, with new editions typically available within one month of print publication.
 
Aims to promote a scholarly and disciplinary
specific approach to the innovation and reform of learning and teaching in the social sciences.
 
An online resource for scholars, teachers and students in the humanities and social sciences. H
Net maintains, administers or is affiliated with over 75 discussion lists for a broad variety of scholarly networks. Book, media and software reviews are commissioned and published online by the H-Net Review Project at Michigan State University. H-Net's Teaching Project provides information, course descriptions and syllabi, and evaluations of teaching material at all levels.
 
Offers raw numerical data from sources such as news polls, census and election studies, war statistics, health data, tobacco surveys, financial summaries, and crime reporting, all of which are available in a variety of formats. Records are searchable by title, abstract, and author.
 
Group of learned societies, universities, colleges, and individuals involved in the humanities and social sciences arena in Canada. Offers information on federation activities, access to a database featuring descriptions of current research projects and their significance to Canadians, and views held on electronic journals.
 
Contains time series which can be used to examine recent economic development in the OECD member countries, and regional aggregates, such as the EEC. Provides statistics on employment, prices wages, industrial production, retail sales, construction, finance, deliveries and stocks and orders.
 
Tool for improving access to UK library holdings for researchers concerned with humanities and social sciences relating to Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. Features collection descriptions of resources held in UK libraries, including information on the history, strengths, general arrangement, access regulations, and subjects for each. Also offers details of newspaper holdings published in Asia.
 
Canadian federal funding agency for university
based research and graduate training in the social sciences and humanities. Incorporates news of council activities, guides to SSHRC grants and fellowships, Web-based and PDF application forms, and details of application-related policies.
 
Main purpose of the LFS is to produce a set of national and regional employment and unemployment statistics for use by government departments and for comparison with other European Union countries, based on internationally standardised definitions. The LFS asks a range of basic questions relating to household composition, housing tenure, ethnicity and related topics. It also collects detailed information for each adult in the household relating to education and training, employment, unemployment and job search activities, reasons for not wanting to work, income, labour mobility, travel to work, trade union membership, current working conditions, hours of work and health. Files available in SIR
DBMS and SPSS formats.
 
Directory of annotated links to bibliographic, reference, and research information, subject gateways, datasets, image collections, and software services in the field of social science research. Includes journals, abstracts, reports, books, newspaper articles, full text official publications, and details of training opportunities in business, economics, education, anthropology, geography, law, philosophy, politics, and statistics.
 
IRSS maintains one of the oldest and largest archives of machine
readable data in the US, and provides access to data from several US national surveys.
 
BIDS is a national provider of network access to commercially supplied bibliographic database services for UK higher education and research. Many services require registration.
 
Library founded in 1896 by public subscription. As well as being the working library of the London School of Economics, it serves as a national collection of material for research, with around one million bound volumes and 28,000 journals. It is one of the largest libraries in the world devoted exclusively to the social sciences, with particular strength in economics, government and politics, international, political, economic and social history, international law, international relations, social policy and public administration, sociology, and statistics (economic, political, and social).
 
An elementary guide to selecting a statistical test for social science research, based on the number and type of variables and the outcome required.
 
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