This guide was adapted with permission from SAGE.
SAGE Research Methods contains information suited to all levels of researchers, from undergrads starting their first projects to the most senior faculty. Content includes dictionary and encyclopedia entries, book chapters, full books, articles, videos, and the complete Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences (Little Green Books) and Qualitative Research Methods series (Little Blue Books). You also have access to a project planner and modules on foundational concepts and data visualization.
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When you see the word "research" in academic work, at the undergraduate level this often means "find published research and cite it to support your arguments and analysis." With this use of the word "research," you're asked to research existing information and data on the topic. At higher levels, it's more common that "research" refers to actually conducting your own original research proposal, or at least considering how to do it and what kind of planning and skills it takes to do so successfully and meaningfully add to the existing body of academic literature.
Anyone planning on conducting original research at a university - whether they are doing a student research project or dissertation, or planning a large-scale study - needs to use the right tools to plan their study, gather their data, and make sense of their findings. These tools are the 'research methods' of the social sciences. SAGE Research Methods will help you in your exploration of research methods in the social sciences.
