SE 10 - Research Design - Summer Session II - Prof. Tricic

SE 10 - Summer II 2024

This course gives you a foundation in Research Methodologies that all departments in Social Ecology follow to direct research processes and this guide introduces library resources and services and will help you to complete your assignments. You should be able to translate this research process to other assignments you complete for Social Ecology and other research-based courses. 

Access to the Library allows you to now visit all libraries and to use their digital collections.  You will be conducting your classes in an online  model as well as your research.  The following textbooks are available online and should be read at the chapter level:

• May, Tim, 2010, Social Research (4th edition).  Maidenhead, UK: McGraw-Hill.
• Williams, Malcolm. 2003. Making Sense of Social Research.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2003

The textbook, Social Research Methods (2001) by David Dooley will be available on Library Reserves at Langson Library soon.

HINTS FOR A GROUP ASSIGNMENT  - create space that you can share and edit in - use Google Drive inviting all members; consider using MS Word Tracking (off Review Tab in MS WORD) to edit and be able to see all comments; schedule Zoom discussions to share documents

USING THE UCI LIBRARIES

In order to work efficiently in the Libraries, you may want to:

• make sure that you have VPN functioning to access licensed library content
• read the assignments and all accompanying material carefully (Literature Review Tips) and follow instructions
• leave sufficient time for consultation with a librarian or TA if needed and for revision
• utilize eMail so that you can send results from conducting literature searches in different databases and file in eMail folders for future reference
• consider learning how to use a form of Bibliographic Management Software to organize your results from searching databases or collecting citations. You may want to consult a Subject Guide for additional help and access to tutorials
• Learn how to use UC Library Search- in order to access holdings so that you can find the full-text - you can restrict to online resources
• ILL is for materials that we don't have at UCI - follow directions to make requests via UC Library Search
• define your subtopic so that you can conduct your literature search - consider some synonyms that describe topic or major themes
• look specifically for empirical articles or those that follow other quantitative and qualitative data collection - if you search PsycINFO you can restrict your search to contain empirical data by scrolling down and restricting the "Methodology" to "Empirical Study" - it may be helpful to consult and use the Thesaurus and also restrict the coverage of the your search since this database goes back to 1806 and you most likely will not need to conduct such a retrospective literature search.  The Search Tips are a good orientation to how to use the database to its best utility.
• Extra Credit Option for Literature Review.  To find three (3) peer-reviewed journal articles relevant to your team's research proposal, conduct a literature review in one of the following databases on your topic and
  • Provide citation - author, year, title of article, and journal source - (a full citation will include volume #, Issue # and pagination or DOI)
  • Summarize the research question
  • Write a short paragraph explaining how some aspect of the research design influenced your own research - do not quote from the abstract of the article but enter the annotation in your own words

Please check on the website for Library hours

During the academic session, August 5- September 10 all libraries will be open Monday-Thursday from 8am-8pm

Friday from 8am-6pm

Saturday from 1-5pm

Sunday - 1-5pm

All libraries will be closed Fri, Aug 31 - Mon, Sept 2 for Labor Day Holiday weekend.

The UCI Writing Center is open remotely.  There are writing specialists available by appointment or drop-in.  Please avail yourself to these services if needed.

In addition to contacting the Subject or Liaison Librarian, use this link to get immediate assistance using eMail, CHAT or TEXT, or to set up a Research Consultation.  Choose one of the options here.