Resources
There are a number of services available that may be of interest to you or can help benefit your research.
Methods-related centres in the Faculty of Humanities are developing innovative methodologies, exploring inter-disciplinary boundaries between methods and providing workshops and courses for researchers at all stages of their careers:
- Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC)
- Mitchell Centre for Social Network Analysis
- Morgan Centre for Research
- Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research (CMIST)
Methods-related activities
Methods-related activities in other Faculties include groups in the School of Medicine who are developing and teaching advanced methods in statistics, epidemiology and health economics; and groups developing "e-laboratories" to support data sharing and analysis in a secure environment:
The UK Data Service
The UK Data Service is a national data service funded by ESRC to provide access and support for an extensive range of data, both quantitative and qualitative. UK Data Service Census Support provides services to allow users in UK higher and further education institutions to access data from the 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001 UK censuses.
Centre for Longitudinal Studies
The Centre for Longitudinal Studies at the Institute of Education provides information and support for Britain's internationally-renowned birth cohort studies.
- Centre for Longitudinal Studies website
- 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS)
- 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70)
- Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)
Online QDA and the CAQDAS Networking Project
Online QDA is a set of learning materials which address common issues of undertaking qualitative data analysis (QDA) and beginning to use Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQDAS) packages. They aim to complement courses run by, for example, the CAQDAS Networking project, many independent trainers and the large number of undergraduate and postgraduate social sciences research methods training courses.
The British Library
The British Library holds an enormous range of collections that are of value to researchers in the social sciences and humanities. It also offers a great deal of online materials and extensive services for researchers.
The National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM)
NCRM is a network of research groups, each conducting research and training in an area of social science research methods.
Applied Quantitative Methods Network (AQMeN)
AQMeN is led by a team of academics from eight Universities in Scotland. The main objective is to build capacity in the use of intermediate and advanced level quantitative methods amongst the social science community in Scotland and beyond.
Timescapes
Timescapes was the first major qualitative longitudinal study to be funded in the UK and explored how personal and family relationships develop and change over time. Their Secondary Analysis Project was designed to explore the scope for working within, and across, the datasets produced by the seven Timescapes projects, and to develop linked methodological - as well as substantive - insights.
Quantitative Methods Initiative
The ESRC's Quantitative Methods Initiative aims to improve capacity in quantitative social science and make best possible use of the UK's world-class data infrastructure. It covers the entire educational life course from school projects to postdoctoral research and all social science disciplines. It includes both research and teaching and learning.