Electronic Resources for Research Methods

General information sources

Organizations

This list is not intended to be comprehensive. The selection is based, generally, upon whether the site has useful resources for researchers.

• The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR)

  AAPOR was founded in 1947 and concerns itself with matters of professional standards and advancing research theory and methodology. AAPOR publishes the journal Public Opinion Quarterly and the site has author, subject and book review indexes for the journal.

• The American Educational Research Association

  "The American Educational Research Association is concerned with improving the educational process by encouraging scholarly inquiry related to education and by promoting the dissemination and practical application of research results." aera.net is an extensive site with links to ER Online and other educational research resources.

  American Evaluation Association  

  "The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness."

• American Statistical Association Survey Research Methods Section

  "The mission of the Section on Survey Research Methods is to promote the improvement of survey practice and the understanding of survey methods by encouraging both theoretical and applied research on survey-related topics and by disseminating information on survey methods."

• Association for Consumer Research

  "The mission of the Association for Consumer Research is to advance consumer research and facilitate the exchange of scholarly information among members of academia, industry, and government worldwide."  The site links to ACR News and ACR Publications On-line

• Association for Qualitative Research

  Run for qualitative researchers by qualitative researchers to promote the professional interests, to raise standards, to encourage debate and to provide a medium for interaction. Includes a useful 'library' and a directory.

• Australasian Evaluation Society

  "[The]... Society's overall activities... include conferences, workshops, seminars, lectures and publications, all of which are designed to improve the quality and usefulness of evaluation practice." 

• Census Microdata Unit

  "The Unit was set up as a result of an ESRC award to administer, document, disseminate and conduct research on the Samples of Anonymised Records from the 1991 Census."

• Economic and Social Research Council

  "The UK's leading funding agency for research and training into social and economic issues. We fund high quality research and training by awarding over £63 million of grants to researchers and postgraduate students throughout the UK." Site includes Social Sciences Newsletter, news releases, and useful links.

• ESOMAR - the World Association of Opinion and Marketing Research Professionals.

  "European by origin, global by nature, ESOMAR, founded in 1948 as the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research, unites over 4000 members in 100 countries, both users and providers of research.
  ESOMAR’s mission is to promote the use of Opinion and Marketing Research, for improving decision making in business and society, worldwide." Has a useful Directory of Research Organisations

• European Union Social Science Information Research Facility

  "...combines the complementary specialist strengths of two major European social science libraries. Together, the collections of the British Library of Political and Economic Science (BLPES) in London and the Library of the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence offer wide access to global social science literature, and are particularly well equipped for research into a broad range of European socio-economic issues."

• Grounded Theory Institute

  "...the internet home of The Grounded Theory Institute dedicated to the evolving methodology of Dr.Barney G. Glaser." Rather too commercial and sycophanic to my view - to get any benefit from the site you need to join the Institute, subscribe to the journal and then subscribe to on-line discussions that may interest you.

• Market Research Society

  "The Market Research Society... exists to set and enforce the ethical standards to be observed by research practitioners, and to provide a framework of qualifications and membership grades reflecting the education, knowledge and competence required for the effective conduct of market research."

• Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction

  "SSSI is a social science professional organization of scholars interested in qualitative, especially interactionist, research."

• Statistical Society of Canada / Société statistique du Canada

  "The mission of the Statistical Society of Canada is to encourage the development and use of statistics and probability.". Has a collection of archived case studies.

• UK Evaluation Society

  "The UKES exists to promote and improve the theory, practice understanding and utilisation of evaluation and its contribution to public knowledge. It was founded in 1994 and already has over 200 full members with a further 700 individuals registering an interest in the Society's activities."

• University of Michigan. Survey Research Centre.

  Lots of links to useful sources

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