Sage Research Methods...

...is another new addition to the library's expanding range of databases. However, this one is a little different. Rather than specialising in a particular subject area - such as how PsycINFO focuses on psychological literature - Sage Research Methods is, as the name suggests, dedicated to literature on research methodologies across the disciplines. The range of literature it contains includes a significant number of complete books (in full-text).

There are two main ways of using Sage Research Methods. If you know the methodology you are using - let's say Q Methodology - simply type that into the search box and, in this example, it returns 676 results. The results include complete books on the topic, book chapters, encyclopedia and dictionary entries, journal articles and even the occasional video. Select a result from the list and it immediately loads the full-text.

The other main way of using Sage Research Methods is for identifying appropriate methodologies for your research. To do this, choose the 'Methods Map' and it guides you through the various options.

With over 100,000 pages of content, including the text of 640 specialist books, this database provides a significant boost for researchers across UEL. Why not take a look, and let us know what you think?

Finding research which has applied certain tests and measures or methodologies…

…is relatively easy to achieve on PsycINFO. Near the top of the screen in PsycINFO is a link to the database’s indexes. Click on this and then choose an index to browse. For example, you might want to choose ‘methodology’. Enter the name of the methodology you want to browse for (e.g. literature review, systematic review, longitudinal study…), select it from the results list, then add it to your search. In your search box you should now see something that looks like: (ZC "longitudinal study"). Combine this with your search e.g. (ZC "longitudinal study") and social cognition. All search results will then be for research which has applied that particular methodology.

To find research which has applied a particular test or measure, follow the same steps as above, but choose ‘Tests & Measures’ from the list of indexes. It is important to note that this will only find research which has applied the test or measure – it won’t find a copy of the test or measure itself.