Library Guides: Sociology: Research methods

Research methods

Many disciplines rely on research methods to guide the process of conducting primary research.

To find methods for your discipline, do a keyword search in the Library Catalogue and add your discipline, e.g. Sociology AND "research method*".

Sociology is sometimes viewed as a subset of other established social sciences or field of research rather than a scientific discipline in its own right (sociology of anthropology, or sociology of psychology, for example). With this in mind you may need to narrow your focus when looking for specific aspects of sociology by adding more specific keywords to your search,

To get started, try some of the resources below

SAGE Research Methods
A great resource to help you understand specific research methods, conduct research, and write up findings. SAGE Research Methods Cases are original, specially commissioned, and designed to help you understand often abstract methodological concepts by introducing case studies of real research projects.

SAGE internet research methods
Good starting point for conducting internet-based research.
Ethnography : principles in practice
Offers a systematic introduction to ethnographic principles and practice, and includes a new chapter on 'Ethnography in the digital world'.
Feminist narrative research : opportunities and challenges
Bringing together feminist scholarship and narrative approaches, it draws on empirical material, social theory and methodological insights to provide examples of feminist narrative studies that make explicit the links between theory and practice.
Other, please specify: queer methods in sociology
This provocative collection showcases the work of emerging and established sociologists in the fields of sexuality and gender studies as they reflect on what it means to develop, practice, and teach queer methods.