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This page is a resource for information and research for students in Social Work & Social Welfare Services.
The content you find is a work in progress, and will have new links and material added as they are discovered. Please let me know if you find this information helpful. If you know of information that would be helpful to other students please let me know, so I can add links to this guide. Remember, we are in this together.
Qualitative Research in Peer Reviewed Articles
What is Qualitative research? (Cynthia A. Hunt, University of North Dakota)
There is no universal definition of qualitative research. In the literature of social science and applied professional fields, such terms as interpretive, naturalistic, constructivist, ethnographic, and fieldwork are variously employed to designate the broad collection of approaches that we call simply qualitative research (Locke et al., 2000). Qualitative research methods were developed in the social sciences to enable researchers to study social and cultural phenomena ( Myers, 1997). It is data that is usually not in the form of numbers. Qualitative research is an inductive approach, and its goal is to gain a deeper understanding of a person's or group's experience. According to Ross (1999), qualitative approaches to research are based on a "world view" which is holistic and has the following beliefs: 1) there is not a single reality. 2) reality based upon perceptions that are different for each person and change over time. 3) what we know has meaning only within a given situation of context.
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Brief Description of WESTSEARCH; http://library.ct.edu/wcsu
This is the new way to discover Books(including eBooks), Media, and Journal Articles, and more, all with one search engine.
Because the WCSU Libraries are now part of a 17 member consortium, our access to a wider range of resources has expanded to; the CCSU, ECSU, SCSU libraries, all the Ct State Community Colleges Libraries, and the CT State Library.
Please note; If you are familiar with our Database & Articles links, they are all still available, and you can access them directly. Click the link below.
http://libguides.wcsu.edu/c.php?g=119554&p=779672
*Consider the scope of your topic...widening or narrowing your subject may be useful.
*Vocabulary used start your search; "What do they call what you want to know?" An example "permafrost" might be "frozen ground".
*Use Boolean operators (and, or, not). Natural language searches are problematic.
What resources should you to look for in support your topic;
Try seek articles that closely relate to the central idea of your topic. It is likely that many articles will have some relevance to your topic. Avoid wondering around in the forest of information, seek the trees that directly address your topic, or a major element.
Seek a material from a variety resources. For example, look for articles in several unique journals, or books from a variety of publishers. If the topic calls for statistical references, or data, look for corroboration in more than one place. You may find that the authors offer their own point of view which may help you understand the complexities of the subject. When you find peer reviewed articles, or scholarly research on your topic, these may contain treatments of conflicting or contradictory theories which can be thought provoking.
Seek Peer Reviewed resources – quality scholarly communication
Seek the references/work cited in the most relevant resources you've discovered, these are a rich source of seminal and additional high quality material.
Select indices/databases most relevant to your topic.
Connecticut centric searches are difficult, other small (not main stream topics) may lack research.
Timeliness; is newness critical to your research interest? Some topic are in vogue, others passe'.
Chronicle your search process, ie; which search words did you choose, which did you reject?
Did your search process morph into a too subtle or larger topic?
Have you detected a change in focus of your topic?
Bonus... Double dip – you may want to use some of these resources to write the paper for another class.
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