Research methods for Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies

Contact Info

For Library research help, please contact Moninder Lalli, Librarian for Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies by email (moninder_lalli@sfu.ca) or Ask a librarian.

Find books on research methods

Search the SFU Library Catalogue to find books.

Keyword searching

"topic" AND research method* 
"name of method"

From the "search results" select books that are relevant, and take a look at their assigned "subject headings" to find more books on that topics. Use the limiters in the left-hand column to narrow down the results.

Selected subject headings to find books on research methods

These selected Library of Congress Subject Headings will  assist you with finding books on research methods.  
Use the Browse Search option in the SFU Library Catalogue, then select "Subject" browse from the drop-down menu.

Selected books on research methods

These books will help you to get started. 

​​Databases

Search databases that publish scholarly articles in your research area. Research methodologies are included in the text of articles and in the abstracts of article index records so a keyword search, using terms describing your methodology and the focus of your research, should produce relevant results.

For example:

participant observation
and
cell phone* or mobile phone* or cellular telephones or mobile communication

To find discussions of methodological issues, use terms describing your methodology combined with terms like "critique", "review", "assessment", "problem*", "ethic*", "issues", etc.

  • Sage Research Methods Online
    Search or browse a wide variety of sources on research methods, including ebooks, articles, reference sources, and videos. Also includes research tools and instructional content.
    •  Within the database, the Sage "Little Green Books" are "quantitative", while "Sage Little Blue Books" are qualitative.
      • SAGE Research Methods. Datasets

        Collection of teaching datasets and instructional guides covering a range of research methods. By picking a dataset and working through the accompanying guides, students can learn data analysis by practicing themselves.
         
  • Women's Studies International - Key database for articles on feminism. 
    • For articles related to "research methods", search for terms describing those methods. 
      • SU "method*"
      • DE "RESEARCH methodology" 
      • DE "QUALITATIVE research"
  • ProQuest Sociology Collection - for issues related to class, gender, racism, sexuality and sexism and theoretical and applied sociology, social science, and policy science.
  • Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)  A central repository and dissemination service for machine-readable social science data. ICPSR supplies social science data files for use with statistical software, such as SAS or SPSS.  There are many longitudinal studies with data going back several decades. 
  • CARMA Video Library  Advanced training in research methods and data analysis from the Consortium for the Advancement of Research Methods and Analysis. Create and individual account to receive notifications, view webinars and videos. Examples include:
     
    • Big Data Concepts
    • Big Data Analytics
    • Issues with Internet Data Collection
    • Methodological issues in Cross-Cultural Research
       
  • LinkedIn Learning (LIL)  (formerly, Lynda.com Online Training Library)  - A training library featuring video tutorials on many business and creative skills. 

For more, try databases for Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies, Databases for Anthropology, Databases and for Sociology.

GIS / Mapping

Guide: Using mapping/GIS for community-based research, participatory projects, and equity/diversity/social justice

If you don't identify yourself as a "GIS researcher", but interested in using GIS/mapping for community-based research, participatory projects, and equity/diversity topics, this guide is a good resource to get you started. 

The guide brings together three (interrelated) streams of applications of GIS: community-based research, participatory projects, and equity/diversity related issues. At the core, these usage examples all try to expand the reach of GIS, many created by "non GIS experts", for a larger audience, and tapping into new open-source, web-based technologies. 

Feminist theory website

Other websites