In this post we highlight SAGE Research Methods (SRM), a powerful tool that can help you:

• Plan and conduct qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods research,
• Analyze your findings, and
• Write up your results.

SRM is content-rich and easy to navigate.  It covers all the methods used in behavioral sciences research and many research methods used in science, technology and medicine.

Users have multiple ways to access content.  From the main page of SRM, you can browse by topics ranging from key concepts in research to writing and disseminating research, browse by disciplines ranging from anthropology to technology, or browse by content type to find books, reference sources, journal articles, cases, video and the Project Planner.

From the main page you can also link to books, watch videos of tutorials, interviews, and case studies, get quick answers from authoritative reference sources, learn about qualitative and quantitative research methods in Little Blue Books and Little Green Books, or explore hundreds of research project case studies.  After selecting any of those options, you can filter results by discipline or publication date.

Or you can dive right in by typing a keyword or phrase in the search box and refining results to see just those that are “available to me.”  A search on “discourse analysis,” for instance, turns up 1,212 items, including books, reference sources, journal articles, cases, videos, and project planner results.  Results may then be refined further by academic discipline.

If you are just beginning your project and want to learn about all the research methods in your subject area, you can browse by discipline.  Selecting Psychology, for instance, brings up this overview:

The Project Planner walks users through the stages of the research process from defining a topic to disseminating results, explains why each step is necessary, defines key terms and methods, and provides practical advice.

Enter a term into the Methods Map to see broader, narrower, and related terms in clickable circles that link to content and show how terms are related.

SRM users have the option of creating a profile that will enable them to save searches and create and share reading lists.

The Help page includes video tutorials on how to navigate the SAGE site and use special features such as the methods map, reading lists, and cases.  Also included are short tutorials on using SRM to write grant proposals, conduct literature reviews, and publish your work.

SRM is an ideal starting point for any research project. Current students and faculty can access SAGE Research Methods from off-campus by logging in with their GC credentials. Alumni can also access to SRM: find out more on the Alumni Library Resources guide.