On this page
- Contact info
- Find books on research methods
- Subject headings for books
- Selected books on research methods - anthropological, ethnographic
- Selected books on research methods - Indigenous
- Selected books on research methods - interdisciplinary, sociological
- Anthropology and sociology of a particular country
- Databases
- Selected databases for literature reviews
- Selected journals for research methods
- GIS / Mapping
- Writing for anthropology and sociology
- Websites
This guide provide information on research methods for Anthropology and Sociology.
Contact info
For Library research help, please contact Moninder Lalli, Librarian for Sociology / Anthropology by email () or Ask a librarian.
Find books on research methods
Search by keyword in the Library Catalogue
- "topic word" AND "research method*"
- "qualitative research" AND method*
- indigen* AND "research method*"
Subject headings for books
These selected subject headings will help you to find books on research methods.
To search for books by subject heading, use the Browse Search option in the SFU Library Catalogue, then select Subject browse from the drop-down menu.
- Action Research -- Methodology
- Aging research -- Methodological issues
- Anthropological ethics
- Anthropology -- Research
- Anthropology -- Fieldwork
- Anthropology -- Methodology
- Communities -- Research
- Communities -- Research -- Methodology
- Culture -- Research -- Methodology
- Data mining
- Ethnography - See Ethnology
- Ethnology -- Authorship
- Ethnology -- Fieldwork
- Ethnology -- Methodology
- Ethnology -- Philosophy
- Ethnology -- Research
- Ethnomethodology
- Ethnomusicology -- Fieldwork
- Feminist anthropology
- Fieldwork
- Focus Groups
- Indigenous peoples -- Research
- Indigenous peoples -- Research -- Methodology
- Interdisciplinary Research -- Methodology
- Internet -- Social Aspects -- Research Methodology
- Interviewing
- Interviewing -- Methodology
- Interviewing in ethnology
- Interviewing in sociology
- Mathematical anthropology
- Medical anthropology -- Methodology
- Mixed methods research -- works on research methodology that combine approaches used in both quantitative and qualitative research
- Narrative inquiry (Research method)
- Oral history -- Methodology
- Participant observation
- Post-colonialism -- Research -- Methodology
- Qualitative research -- Methodology
- Quantitative research -- Methodology
- Questionnaires -- design
- Questionnaires -- Methodology
- Race -- Research -- Methodology
- Social epistemology
- Social surveys -- Methodology
- Social sciences -- Biographical methods
- Social sciences -- Field work
- Social sciences -- Methodology
- Social sciences -- Research -- Methodology
- Social sciences -- Statistical methods
- Social Surveys -- Methodology
- Sociology -- Authorship
- Sociology -- Research -- Methodology
- Statistics -- Methodology
- Statistics for Social Sciences, Humanities, Law
- Surveys -- Methodology
- Urban anthropology -- Fieldwork
- Visual anthropology -- Methodology
- Visual Sociology -- Methodology
- Visual Sociology -- Research Methodology
Selected books on research methods - anthropological, ethnographic
- Anthropology Inside Out: Fieldworkers Taking Notes
- Contemporary ethnographies : moorings, methods, and keys for the future
- Decolonizing ethnography : undocumented immigrants and new directions in social science
- Developing a critical ethnographic method : positionality, ontology and analysis
- Doing visual ethnography : images, media and representation in research [print]
- Encyclopedia of Big Data
- Ethnographic Research and Analysis: Anxiety, Identity and Self
- Ethnographic research in the social sciences
- Ethnography and virtual worlds: a handbook of method
- The 5 things you need to know about statistics quantification in ethnographic research
- How to enhance your research : 100 practical tips for academics
- How to write qualitative research
- Learning and using languages in ethnographic research
- On ethnography [print]
- Palgrave Handbook of Social Fieldwork
- Quantitative anthropology : a workbook
- Rapid ethnographic assessments : a practical approach and toolkit for collaborative community research
- Reading ethnographic research : a critical guide
- Research methods in linguistic anthropology [print]
- Routledge companion to digital ethnography
- Routledge handbook of critical discourse studies
- Routledge international handbook of ethnographic film and video
- Routledge international handbook of sensory ethnography
- Towards an anthropology of data [print]
- Urban anthropology series
- Video ethnography
- Video ethnography in practice : planning, shooting, and editing for social analysis [print]
Selected books on research methods - Indigenous
- Applying Indigenous Research Methods: Storying with Peoples and Communities
- Decolonizing data : unsettling conversations about social research methods
- Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples
- Decolonizing Research : Indigenous Storywork as Methodology [print]
- Ethical research approaches to indigenous knowledge education
- Handbook of Critical and Indigenous Methodologies [print]
- How to enhance your research : 100 practical tips for academics
- How to write qualitative research
- Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies : local solutions and global opportunities [print]
- Indigenous methodologies : characteristics, conversations and contexts [print]
- Indigenous research : theories, practices, and relationships
- Indigenous research design : transnational perspectives in practice [print]
- Indigenous statistics : a quantitative research methodology also [print]
- Indigenous studies and engaged anthropology : the collaborative moment [print]
- Indigenous Women’s Voices: 20 Years on from Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonizing Methodologies
- New directions in theorizing qualitative research : indigenous research
- Oxford Handbook of Indigenous Sociology
- Positioning Research: Shifting Paradigms, Interdisciplinarity and Indigeneity
- Reclaiming Indigenous Research in Higher Education
- Research and reconciliation : unsettling ways of knowing through indigenous relationships [print]
- Sources and Methods in Indigenous Studies
- UBC CirCle Repository: Research 101: a Manifesto for Ethical Research in the Downtown Eastside
- Working effectively with indigenous peoples [print]
- Working with Aboriginal communities in places of higher learning [print]
Selected books on research methods - interdisciplinary, sociological
- A step-by-step guide to qualitative data coding
- Beginning quantitative research
- Challenges in coding qualitative data
- Contemporary issues surrounding ethical research methods and practice [print]
- Creative qualitative researcher : writing that makes readers want to read
- Cultura y corazón : a decolonial methodology for community engaged research
- Culturally Responsive Approaches to Evaluation: Empirical Implications for Theory and Practice
- Data feminism
- Doing interviews
- Doing qualitative community research lessons for faculty, students and communities
- Ethical practice in participatory visual research with girls : transnational approaches
- Handbook of methodological approaches to community-based research : qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods
- How to enhance your research : 100 practical tips for academics
- How to plan and conduct interviews in a research project
- Imagining queer methods
- Introduction to qualitative research methods : a guidebook and resource
- Intuitive Introductory Statistics
- Invisible women : data bias in a world designed for men
- Just methods : an interdisciplinary feminist reader
- Methodological practices in social movement research
- Metric society : on the quantification of the social
- Netnography unlimited : understanding technoculture using qualitative social media research
- Palgrave Handbook of Social Fieldwork
- Palgrave Handbook of Survey Research
- Quantitative analysis of questionnaires : techniques to explore structures and relationships
- Queer data : using gender, sex and sexuality data for action
- Research handbook on intersectionality
- Researching Black Communities: A Methodological Guide
- Reviewer’s Guide to Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences
- Routledge handbook of interdisciplinary research methods
- Sage dictionary of qualitative inquiry
- Sage encyclopedia of qualitative research methods [print]
- Sage encyclopedia of social science research methods
- Sage handbook of qualitative data analysis
- Sage handbook of visual research methods
- Sage Mixed Methods Research
- Sage quantitative research methods
- Secret Lives of Anthropologists Lessons from the Field
- Theorizing Intersectionality and Sexuality
- Statistical Methods in Social Science Research
- Statistics for Non-Statisticians
- Walking methods : research on the move
- Writing up Quantitative Research in the Social and Behavioral Sciences
Anthropology and sociology of a particular country
Try browse by "subject", such as "Sociology" and the subheadings, "name of the country", and also the subheading, "periodicals" (for journals)
- Anthropology -- China
- Anthropology -- Fieldwork -- Middle East
- Anthropology -- Iran -- Methodology
- Ethnology - (geographic area)
- Ethnology -- Fiji
- Ethnology -- North America
- Sociology -- China
- Sociology -- China -- Periodicals
- Sociology -- India
- Sociology -- Japan -- Periodicals
Databases
Search databases that publish scholarly articles in your research area. Research methodologies are included in the text of articles and in the abstracts of article index records so a keyword search, using terms describing your methodology and the focus of your research, should produce relevant results. List of Databases for Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies, Databases for Anthropology, Databases and for Sociology.
For example:
To find discussions of methodological issues, use terms describing your methodology combined with terms like "critique", "review", "assessment", "problem*", "ethic*", "issues", etc.
In addition to the lists of databases above, the Sage and Carma databases (listed, below) focus on research methods.
Sage Research Methods Online
Search or browse a wide variety of sources on research methods, including ebooks, articles, reference sources, and videos. Also includes research tools and instructional content.
- Within the database, the Sage "Little Green Books" are "quantitative", while "Sage Little Blue Books" are qualitative.
SAGE Research Methods Cases
Case studies of research methods applied to real research projects. Researchers explain how they designed their research project, why they chose a particular research method, how they overcame problems and what they might have done differently in hindsight. Cases cover research methods such as focus groups, data collection, ethnography, semi-structured interviews, content analysis, grounded theory, action research and more.
SAGE Research Methods. Datasets
Collection of teaching datasets and instructional guides covering a range of research methods. By picking a dataset and working through the accompanying guides, students can learn data analysis by practicing themselves.
Sage Research Methods. Video
Videos on all aspects of the research process and methods. Also covers practical skills such as project management and writing for publication.
Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
A central repository and dissemination service for machine-readable social science data. ICPSR supplies social science data files for use with statistical software, such as SAS or SPSS.
Resources for students (webinars, guides, etc.) such as: A Guide to Interpreting SPSS Output - How to interpret frequency distributions, crosstabulations, comparison of means tests, correlations, and OLS regressions done in SPSS. Used in teaching undergraduate Introduction to Statistics course.
CARMA Video Library
Advanced training in research methods and data analysis from the Consortium for the Advancement of Research Methods and Analysis.
LinkedIn Learning (LIL) (formerly, Lynda.com Online Training Library) - A training library featuring video tutorials on many business and creative skills.
Selected databases for literature reviews
Annual review of anthropology
Provides literature reviews of anthropology topics.
Annual review of sociology
Provides literature reviews of sociology topics.
Oxford Bibliographies Online
Lists key books, articles, and other sources on a wide variety of subjects via annotated and curated bibliographies. An excellent starting point for locating important literature and scholarly sources on a topic. Focuses on the arts, humanities, and social sciences.
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Abstracts and Index
Dissertations and theses from around the world. Historic and ongoing coverage. Current theses on your topic can provide you with both research methods and useful bibliographies.
Selected journals for research methods
- Cultural studies, critical methodologies
- Journal of applied quantitative methods
- Journal of sociological research
- Qualitative sociology review : QSR
- Sociological methods and research
GIS / Mapping
If you don't identify yourself as a "GIS researcher", but interested in using GIS/mapping for community-based research, participatory projects, and equity/diversity topics, this guide is a good resource to get you started.
The guide brings together three (interrelated) streams of applications of GIS: community-based research, participatory projects, and equity/diversity related issues. At the core, these usage examples all try to expand the reach of GIS, many created by "non GIS experts", for a larger audience, and tapping into new open-source, web-based technologies.
Writing for anthropology and sociology
- A guide to writing sociology papers [print]
- From notes to narrative : writing ethnographies that everyone can read [print]
- The sociology students' guide to writing [print]
- Tales of the field : on writing ethnography [print]
- The writer's handbook for sociology [print]
- Writing ethnographic fieldnotes [print]
- Writing ethnography
- Writing in sociology [print]
- Writing up qualitative research
Subjects
Books on writing process
Web guides
- Sociology University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- Writing Sociology Papers State University of New York, Geneseo
For more, try "Citing & writing"