Annotated List of Web Sites

This list provides websites with useful information and exercises on research topics covered in Investigating the Social World, Fifth Edition. This list includes all websites in the end-of-chapter web exercises. Are you looking for additional depth on a research topic? Then try these additional websites.

Science, Society, and Social Research

http://www.fathom.com/
Archive of materials compiled for now-defunct Columbia University online consortium. Includes "seminars" on a variety of topics ranging from historical and scientific to sociological and political.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/
Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society site, with report on their national survey of Internet use.

http://www.pewinternet.org
Pew Internet Project site, with report on their ongoing surveys of Internet use.

http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/PRN-First-Release-of-Findings-From-4849.aspx
Summary of findings from UCLA World Internet Project.

http://www.digitalcenter.org/pdf/2008-Digital-Future-Report-Final-Release.pdf
Summary of 2008 Digital Future Report by the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication.

http://www.nytimes.com
The New York Times Web edition. Regular news stories and other regular newspaper sections. Some pictures and audio files. Also, special news sections for Web users; online forums, allowing you to read comments on some issue—and to send a comment yourself; and search options.

http://www.sociosite.net/topics/websoc.php
Large collection of articles on the Web, as well as annotated list of research centers and Web history highlights.

http://www.beyonddiscovery.org/
Quarterly publication of the National Academy of Sciences with articles on recent scientific discoveries. Includes links to related sites.

http://quasar.as.utexas.edu/BillInfo/Quack.html
Errors in reasoning that lead to "quack theories" are discussed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Washington Post web site, with daily news and commentary. Free, but requires registration.

Theories and Philosophies for Social Research

http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/index.html
A Sociological Tour Through Cyberspace. Trinity University site with links to many resources, including government statistics, data sources, and theory groups.

http://ryoung001.homestead.com/AssessingTheory.html
Discussion of strengths and weaknesses of structural-functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism.

http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/previous.htm
Links to text of famous speeches.

http://www.eserver.org/
Diverse resources on a range of topics spanning art, communications theory, sociology, literary criticism.

http://uk.geocities.com/balihar_sanghera/ipsr.html
Entire course (printed) on philosophy of science.

http://cwis.livjm.ac.uk/bus/busrmccl/aem303/lect2.ppt
Series of slides with text and points about qualitative research, its basis in interpretive philosophy and the differences between that perspective and positivist philosophy.

http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/gpi/dicts.htm
Guide to philosophical sources on the Internet.

http://ejmas.com/jalt/jaltart_Giles1_1200.htm
An entertaining and informative essay on positivism, interpretivism, and hermeneutics.

http://www.busmgt.ulst.ac.uk/modules/mkt814j2/Wk5ddm.ppt
Clear outline of differences between interpretivism and positivism, and qualitative and quantitative research.

http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/postmodern.html
Information on contemporary social theorists and philosophers, mostly those with a "postmodern" slant.

http://www.sociologyprofessor.com
SociologyProfessor contains summaries of social theories and background information about many contemporary and classical social theorists

The Process and Problems of Social Research

Ethics in Research

http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/
Office for Human Research Protections of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/irb/irb_guidebook.htm
Guidebook to Human Subject Protections for Institutional Review Boards.

http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/45cfr46.htm
Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects.

http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/fqs-e/debate-3-e.htm
Ongoing debate on ethics in different applications of qualitative research at Qualitative Social Research Forum.

http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/obas/
The National Academy of Science report "On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research." Discusses ethical issues in scientific research.

http://ethics.sandiego.edu/Glossary.html
Glossary of terms used in discussing ethics.

Guidelines for Citing and Searching Sources

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~sources/
Dartmouth College Sources. A compendium on how to cite sources from a variety of media, with examples.

http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html
APA style. Electronic reference formats suggested by the American Psychological Association

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webeval.html
Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria and Tools. Developed by the Olin Kroch Uris Libraries at Cornell University. Guidelines for evaluating web sites and links to many sites with more detailed information.

http://www.infopeople.org/search/chart.html
Comprehensive annotated list of internet search tools.

http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/citex.html
Online! A guide to proper citation of different types of online sources, with examples conforming to MLA style, APA style, Chicago style, and more.

http://www.searchenginewatch.com
Search Engine Watch. A helpful site to visit to learn about search engines.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos2006/basic.html
Guide to correct citation when referencing electronically-accessed sources.

Literature Online

http://soc.annualreviews.org/
Annual Reviews of Sociology online. Abstracts from volumes can be searched by subject or by keywords. Offers downloads of complete text of articles for a fee.

http://www.sociology.org
Electronic Journal of Sociology. Full text of articles published only online.

http://www.socresonline.org.uk/
Sociological Research Online. Full text articles published only online.

http://www.publist.com
PubList. Quick and easy access to information on thousands of publications. Many of the publications listed can be purchased for a fee.

Professional Organizations

http://www.americancomm.org/
American Communication Association site, with overview of activities and links to other sites about communications and social science research methods.

http://www.asanet.org
American Sociological Association. Includes lists of publications, Ethics Code, Employment Bulletin, and summaries of research funding opportunities.

http://www.essnet.org/
Eastern Sociological Society site, with useful links, job opportunities.

http://www.sociolog.com
The Sociolog. Links to lists of professional associations, sociology departments, university catalogs, data archives.

http://www.naswdc.org
National Association of Social Workers. Contains a wealth of information for social work practitioners and students.

http://www.apa.org
American Psychological Association. Includes much useful information about the APA, the psychology profession, and the results of selected research studies.

http://www.tasa.org.au/index.html
The Australian Sociological Association, with links to a variety of sociological resources.

http://www.espach.salford.ac.uk/sssi/index.php
Society of the Study of Symbolic Interaction. Professional association oriented to qualitative researchers who study social interaction. Includes links to many other related web sites.

Subject Directories

http://etc.usf.edu/ss/index.htm
Links to social science resources from Educational Technology Clearinghouse.

http://lib-www.ucr.edu
INFOMINE (Scholarly Internet Resource Collections). This is one example of a site that scholars can use to link to other sites containing a wide range of scholarly materials.

http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/w3virtsoclib/
Virtual library of sociology journals and newsletters.

http://www.sosig.ac.uk
Social Science Information Gateway. An omnibus source offering a comprehensive index of links to multiple resources in sociology, including research methods sites, professional associations, and research centers. A good reference source for social science browsing on the Web.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/
Library of Congress site with resources for researchers.

http://www.socioweb.com/~markbl/socioweb/
Listing of various resources for sociologists.

http://vlib.org
The WWW Virtual Library. The original Internet subject guide that covers many disciplines including the Social Sciences.

http://libr.org/wss/WSSLinks/index.html
WSSLINKS (Women's Studies Section Links). A subject guide compiled by the Women's Studies Section Collection Development Committee of the American Association of College and Research Libraries.

http://www.socialpsychology.org/methods.htm#methodology
Extensive list of links for methodological issues and needs related to social psychology.

http://yahoo.com
Yahoo! A large and comprehensive Internet subject directory.

Conceptualization and Measurement

http://qb.soc.surrey.ac.uk/
Question Bank, a University of Surrey resource designed for the UK social science research community.

http://www.niaaa.nih.gov
National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse. Provides many of the most popular measures of substance abuse.

Sampling

http://www.ericae.net/db/edo/ED338699.htm
Discussion of generalizability of research results.

http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm#terminology
Sample size calculator, using confidence intervals.

http://home.clara.net/sisa/random.htm
Generates random numbers.

http://faculty.vassar.edu/lowry/dist.html
Generates sampling distribution statistics from population parameters.

Causation and Experimental Design

http://www.randomizer.org
Research Randomizer. A site at which you can explore the process of randomization.

http://www.socialpsychology.org/expts.htm
Online Social Psychology Studies. A site at which you can participate in a social psychology experiment on the Web.

http://psych.athabascau.ca/html/Validity/
Good examples of problems with internal invalidity.

Survey Research

http://www.s3ri.soton.ac.uk/cass/links.php
Links to courses in survey methods and other online resources useful for training in survey methods.

http://www.norc.org/GSS+Website/
General Social Survey. Search all years of the GSS for variables of interest. Check wording of questions and response choices, see frequency distributions for variables in different sets of years, obtain lists of GSS publications, and download GSS datasets.

http://www.srl.uic.edu/lansro.htm
List of academic and non-profit survey research organizations, from University of Illinois at Chicago.

http://www.carnegieendowment.org/about/library/index.cfm?fa=poll
A Carnegie Endowment site with links to many survey research organizations and resources.

http://www.publicagenda.org/
Thoughtful survey-based reports on current issues. Maintained by leading public opinion researchers.

http://www.rti.org/
Research Triangle Institute site with information and resources about different aspects of survey research.

https://www.surveykey.com/index.cfm
Site for designing online surveys that allows the first 50 surveys to be collected without charge.

http://qb.soc.surrey.ac.uk/docs/surveys.htm
Catalog of survey projects in Britain, with survey overviews and questionnaires.

http://fireandice.environics.net/surveys/fireandice/main/fireandice.asp?surveyID=1
Take an online survey at this commercial site.

Qualitative Methods

http://www.qualitativeresearch.uga.edu/QualPage/
Extensive subject directory to online resources for qualitative researchers.

http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/links.htm
Links to web sites with resources of interest to anthropologists.

http://don.ratcliffs.net/qual/
Resources for Qualitative Research, with explanations and many links.

http://cwis.livjm.ac.uk/bus/busrmccl/aem303/glossql.htm
Glossary terms used in qualitative research.

http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/index.html
Qualitative Report, an online journal with articles about methods used in qualitative research and findings from qualitative research.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0102/feature6/media2.html
National Geographic text and film about Bushmen in Kalahari desert. Rich anthropological data useful for planning ethnographic research.

Evaluation Research

http://www.seagov.org/
Governmental Accounting Standards Board site, includes information on performance measurement in government, with case studies.

http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/EHR/REC/pubs/NSF97-153/START.HTM#TOC
National Science Foundation-funded text on mixed method evaluation.

http://www.wmich.edu/evalctr/
The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University, with checklists and tools for use in evaluation of schools.

http://www.stanford.edu/~davidf/empowermentevaluation.html
Empowerment evaluation and related techniques are described and resources are provided.

http://www.dare.com/
Official site of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education project.

Historical and Comparative Research

http://www.worldbank.org/
World Bank Web site, with numerous resources useful for comparative research.

http://www.cyberschoolbus.un.org/infonation/e_i_map.htm
http://www.cyberschoolbus.un.org/infonation/info.asp or
A compilation of statistical information by the United Nations on the nations of the world that allows generation of charts for comparing nations and detailed statistics on individual nations. (The first URL is for the most recent version; the second one is for an older version).

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
Central Intelligence Agency Fact Book, with extensive statistics on all countries.

http://www.qdewill.com/
Information on the procedures used by professional document examiners to determine authenticity, age, etc.

http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/
Government Resources on the Web. A subject directory of government information compiled by the University of Michigan Documents Center.

http://thomas.loc.gov
Thomas, Legislative Information on the Internet. Federal legislation, including pending and past legislation, and committee composition.

http://www.queensu.ca/csd/
Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queen's University, Ontario. Canada. Includes links to data archives and courses.

Qualitative Data Analysis

http://caqdas.soc.surrey.ac.uk/
Background information on computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software.

http://onlineqda.hud.ac.uk/Intro_QDA/what_is_qda.php
Article providing overview of qualitative data analysis.

http://www.qualisresearch.com/
Producers of Ethnograph software.

http://www.qsrinternational.com/
Producers of N6 and NVivo software.

http://www.slais.ubc.ca/resources/research_methods/qualitat.htm
University of British Columbia directory of online articles on qualitative data analysis.

http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/EHR/REC/pubs/NSF97-153/CHAP_4.HTM
Chapter in National Science Foundation text on mixed methods evaluation.

http://www.researchware.com/
Producers of HyperRESEARCH software.

Content Analysis

http://www.car.ua.edu/
Content analysis research site, with links to sites for quantitative content analysis software as well as to sites that provide instruction in content analysis and those maintained by relevant organizations.

http://academic.csuohio.edu/kneuendorf/content/
Companion to Neuendorf's Sage text on content analysis, with links to other online resources.

Quantitative Data Analysis

http://www.electionstudies.org/
National Election Studies. Includes questions asked since 1952, datasets, link to site for online analysis.

http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stats.html
Statistical Resources on the Web. A subject directory compiled by the Documents Center at the University of Michigan.

http://www.spss.com/
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences home page, with news and exemplary findings.

http://www.statcan.ca/start.html
Statistics Canada site, with extensive information about Canada's land and population.

http://temper.stat.cmu.edu/
Resources for professional statisticians, including datasets.

http://faculty.vassar.edu/lowry/VassarStats.html
A simulator that can calculate a range of statistics. Request the normal curve simulation, enter the value of the mean and standard deviation, and it generates a normal curve with this statistics. Enter values for X and Y and this simulator will calculate bivariate regression statistics.

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/
Bill Trochim's Center for Social Research Methods, with a variety of resources for learning and using research methods, including statistics tutorials.

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/issr/
Institute of Social Science Research at UCLA, with data archives listing hundreds of quantitative datasets available for downloading and analysis.

http://www.ciser.cornell.edu/info/about.shtml
Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research. List of extensive data archives, mostly available to Cornell University users only.

http://www.ksdc.re.kr/unisql/engjap/eindex.html
Korean Social Science Data Center, with extensive tutorial on statistical analysis.

http://www.library.unt.edu/govinfo/subject/statusa.html
United States statistical agencies and the data available through them.

http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/index.asp
Report on wellbeing of children in U.S., with many statistics.

http://www.iq.harvard.edu/
Harvard University's Institute for Quantitative Social Science.

Reporting Research

http://www.nih.gov
National Institutes of Health. Information about NIH programs and grants.

http://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=SES
National Science Foundation's Social and Economic Sciences. Information regarding the Sociology Program, research funding, current and past supported projects, and so forth.

http://www.fedworld.gov
National Technical Information Service for ordering government publications.

http://www.iom.edu
Institute of Medicine site with recent research reports online. IOM reports summarize the "start of the art" in a particular area of investigation and often include policy recommendations.

http://www.nap.edu/
National Academies Press with hundreds of research reports on different topics available for order or for reading (for free) online.

http://www.umich.edu/~psid/
The Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Provides data and publications based on these data.

http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/polisci.html
Political Science Resources on the Web. A subject directory compiled by the University of Michigan Documents Center.

http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html
Instructions for U.S. Public Health Service grants, the general format for seeking research funds from the National Institutes of Health.

http://www.roma.unisa.edu.au/07118/language/reports.htm#Format
Guidelines for report writing from University of South Australia.

http://www.glam.ac.uk/hassschool/resources/Psychology/index.php
University of Glamorgan Psychology Department resources for writing research.

http://web.txwesleyan.edu/sociology/cwriting.html
Lengthy discussion about writing a scientific research paper.

Subject Information

Criminology/Criminal Justice

http://www.asc41.com
American Society of Criminology. Includes much useful information for students, academicians, and practitioners in the many disciplines related to criminal justice.

http://www.abanet.org/domviol/home.html
The American Bar Association's Commission on Domestic Violence. Includes resources for attorneys and an extensive compilation of statistical data.

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov
U.S. Bureau of Justice. Information about programs, with extensive data on legal issues.

http://www.c-s-i.org
Crime Stoppers International, an organization devoted to fighting crime and violence around the world. Offers links to interesting sites related to the subjects of crime and violence.

http://www.fbi.gov
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Much interesting information on crime.

http://www.criminaljusticestudies.com/
Institute for Criminal Justice Studies Web Links. "One of the most comprehensive web links pages for Criminal Justice Information on the Internet."

http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention web site.

http://www.policefoundation.org
The Police Foundation site. Lists current and past research projects and summarizes their impact.

Demography

http://popindex.princeton.edu
Population Index on the Web. Population index for 1986­1996.

http://stats.bls.gov
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor. A significant source of data on employment and earnings.

http://www.census.gov
U.S. Bureau of the Census home page. Contains tables and graphs reporting detailed census data. Population data and economic indicators.

Health, Homelessness, Substance Abuse

http://www.cdc.gov/
Centers for Disease Control site, with statistics, news, fact sheets, and links.

http://www.nationalhomeless.org
The National Coalition for the Homeless. Current statistics, publications, legislative developments, and links to other resources.

http://www.aecf.org/MajorInitiatives/KIDSCOUNT.aspx
KIDS COUNT web site for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, with easy-to-access interactive statistics and charts that describe children's well-being by state, city, and other geographic divisions in the U.S..

http://www.nia.nih.gov
National Institute on Aging internet links to research resources, including statistics, literature, and funding opportunities.

http://alcoholstudies.rutgers.edu/
Center of Alcohol Studies. Offers links to numerous sites related to alcohol, alcoholism, and so on. A comprehensive index of a wealth of information on the subject.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/cas/
Harvard School of Public Health. The latest findings about student substance abuse.

http://www.samhsa.gov
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Offers summaries of publications, reports, and statistical information on SAMHSA ­research.

Comparative/Historical, Politics

http://www.gallup.com
Gallup poll. This site contains election poll results dating back to 1936 and information from polls on current events.

http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu
The Roper Center. General information on the center and poll results on presidential performance.

http://www.pollingreport.com/
Current, indexed polling data on contemporary issues from a variety of sources.

http://www.fec.gov/
Federal Electoral Commission site, with rules and news.

http://www.thearda.com/arda.asp?Show=Home
American Religion Data Archive, with survey and area data concerning religion and churches.

http://www.findlaw.com/
Federal and state constitutional, statutory and case law.

http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/polisci.html
University of Michigan site with list of many, many online resources for political scientists.

http://www.portraitofamerica.com/
Extensive public opinion data from Rasmussen Research.

http://www.vote-smart.org/
Project Vote-Smart site, with information on thousands of candidates and government officials.