This guide will assist you in finding books, journal articles and quantitative data.

Contact info

For Library research help, please contact Moninder Lalli, Librarian for Sociology / Anthropology by email moninder_lalli@sfu.ca or Ask a librarian.

Literature search  

Start Your Research Here - This page gives you an overview of the research process, or in other words how to find materials for your essay.

ICPSR

• Resources for students
• Social Sciences Research and Instructional Glossary

Selected encyclopedias

Use encyclopedias, handbooks or textbook for overviews, definitions, and to identify key authors or concepts.  

• Handbook of methodological approaches to community-based research : qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods
• Sage handbook of qualitative data analysis

Journal articles

How to find journal articles tutorial. 

What is a scholarly (or peer-reviewed) journal?

If the full-text of the article is not available within the database then use the "Get@SFU" link to find it or to initiate an inter-library loan request.

Article and news databases

Sociological Abstracts: major database for all aspects of Sociology.   The database "thesaurus" has "descriptor" (or subject) words related to "quantitative" research methods, see below: 

• Quantitative Analysis
• Quantitative Methods
• Quantitative Research
• Quantitative Studies

Social Sciences Full Text

The database "thesaurus" uses the descriptor" word, "quantitative research" for the following concepts:

• Quantitative Analysis
• Quantitative Methods
• Quantitative Research
• Quantitative Studies
• Statistical Analysis

Anthropology Plus - index for anthropological journals.

The database's "subject" index indicates that the following "quantitative" terms are used as subject terms:

• quantitative analysis -- anthropological aspects
• quantitative analysis -- methodology
• quantitative methods
• quantitative methods in anthropology
• quantitative research
• quantitative research -- mathematical models
• quantitative research -- methodology

Canada Commons (formerly, Canadian Electronic Library from desLibris) - for public policy documents from Canadian institutes, think-tanks and research groups.

CBCA Complete -  Canadian content. News and popular magazine articles as well as academic journal articles.
  Limit results to "scholarly" articles

Canadian Newsstream -- full-text of Canadian newspapers

Research methods databases

• 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.

• 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.

For a more complete list of  Sociology databases

Find books in the Library

Library Catalogue search guide

Search the SFU Library Catalogue: Advanced keyword

• "social science*" AND statistic*
• "data analysis" AND "social science*"
• "quantitative research" AND (sociolog* OR anthropol* OR ethnolog*)
• quantitative  AND (intersection* OR race OR gender OR minorit* OR racis* OR discrimin* OR oppress* OR sexis*)
• (quantitative OR algorithm* OR statistic* OR numbers)  AND (intersection* OR race OR gender OR minorit* OR racis* OR discrimin* OR oppress* OR sexis*)

Combine different concepts using AND
Combine same concepts using OR
Use quotation marks to search for a phrase
Use brackets for synonyms
Use asterisk (*) for different endings of words

Note:  For Catalogue Search, when combining concepts, use CAPITAL letters ( "OR", "AND")

Look at the titles in the "results list" and for those books that look relevant, click on their subject headings.

Selected books

• The 5 things you need to know about statistics quantification in ethnographic research 
• Algorithms of Oppression : How Search Engines Reinforce Racism 
• Analyzing quantitative data : an introduction for social researchers
• Culturally Responsive Approaches to Evaluation: Empirical Implications for Theory and Practice
• Damned lies and statistics untangling numbers from the media, politicians, and activists 
• Data collection : key debates and methods in social research
• Data Game: Controversies in Social Science Statistics
• Data in society : challenging statistics in an age of globalisation
• Data journalism handbook : towards a critical data practice
• Decolonizing data : unsettling conversations about social research methods 
• Doing statistical analysis : a student's guide to quantitative research 
• Estimation and Inferential Statistics
• Indigenous statistics : a quantitative research methodology also [print]
• Intuitive Introductory Statistics
• Metric society : on the quantification of the social
• Quantitative anthropology : a workbook 
• Reviewer’s Guide to Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences
• Sage quantitative research methods
• Secondary Data Analysis
• Statistical Methods in Social Science Research
• Statistics for Non-Statisticians
• Understanding Critical Race Research Methods and Methodologies: Lessons from the Field
• Writing up Quantitative Research in the Social and Behavioral Sciences

Browse by subject

Browse by subject (change the default "Browse by title" to ""Browse by subject" using the pull-down menu)

• Quantitative research -- Methodology
• Social sciences -- Methodology
• Statistics for Social Sciences, Humanities, Law

Find data

British Columbia

• Family & Social Support
• BC Statistics
• B.C.'s Key Indicators
• ​People, Population, Community
• Employment & Labour Market

Canada

Statistics Canada

Data and statistics provided by the Government of Canada, covering the population, resources, economy, society, and culture of Canada. : Includes: data tables, statistical analyses and reports, survey methodologies and documentation, and census information

• Subjects - check the categories under "subjects" for more topics
  • Families and households
  • Immigration and ethnocultural diversity
  • Indigenous peoples
• Data
• Census - done every 5 years
• Abacus Data Network - 
  • Statistics Canada's Public Use Microdata Files (PUMFs), GIS and geospatial data, Postal Code Conversion Files (PCCF) and more. Abacus is supported by the British Columbia Research Libraries' Data Services.
    • Aboriginal Peoples' Survey 2017 within Abacus

The 2017 APS is a national survey of First Nations people living off reserve, Métis and Inuit aged 15 years and over. The 2017 APS represents the fifth cycle of the survey and focuses on transferable skills, practical training, use of information technology, Aboriginal language attainment, and participation in the Canadian economy.

The 2017 APS collected unique and detailed data on employment, education, and health which are not available from any other source. For example, although the 2016 Census of Population collected data on certain aspects of labour market participation, the 2017 APS addresses additional topics such as job satisfaction, multiple employment, past job attachment, and willingness to move to improve career opportunities. [Statistics Canada]

United States

• USA government publications 
   
• Data and Statistics about United States
• Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)  An international consortium of more than 750 academic institutions and research organizations. Maintains a data archive of more than 250,000 files of research in the social and behavioral sciences. It hosts 21 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields.

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