Recommended Reading 
Recommended books for this course in the Short Loan Collection are in the Course Materials list.
The Library has an extensive collection of texts relating to social research methods, many of which can be found on Level 1 at the call number 300.72.
Reference Books
To begin your research, use reference books such as these specialised dictionaries and encyclopedias. You can then go on to read more in-depth journal articles and books.
- Jupp, Victor, ed. 2006. The SAGE Dictionary of Social Research Methods. London: SAGE. Library copies
- Lavrakas, Paul J., ed. 2008. Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods. Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
- Lewis-Beck, Michael, Alan Bryman and Tim Futing Liao, eds. 2004. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods. Thousand Oaks: SAGE. Library copies
- Ritzer, George, ed. 2007. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Malden: Blackwell. Library copies
- Scott, John, and Gordon Marshall, eds. 2005. Oxford Dictionary of Sociology. 3rd ed, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Library copies
- Vogt, W. Paul. 2005. Dictionary of Statistics & Methodology: A Nontechnical Guide for the Social Sciences. 3rd ed, Thousand Oaks: SAGE. Library copies
The 2nd edition is available online.
Library Catalogue
Tips for searching:
Truncation
Use a truncation symbol to replace one or more characters at the end of a word. This is useful to find single and plural versions of a word, and other variant endings.
Example: searching for interview* will find the words interview, interviewer, interviews, etc.The Catalogue and most databases use *
The truncation symbol in Voyager is ?
Phrases
When you are searching for a phrase, enclose the phrase in double quotation marks.
Example "social science"
Boolean Operators
Use the logical operators AND, OR, NOT for multiple search terms
- AND narrows your search as both terms need to be present in a record
interview AND "public transport"
- OR broadens your search, as either one word or the other word will be in a record
privacy OR confidentiality
- When you use OR you will get more hits, when you use AND you will get fewer hits
- NOT specifically excludes a search word. For example if your search results in lots of books about job interviews, modify the search to exclude those references
interview NOT employment
Examples of searches using Boolean operators:
survey AND (privacy OR confidentiality)
survey* AND (privacy OR confidentiality)
ethnic* AND research AND (online OR internet OR email)
Subject Headings
Journals
Databases & Articles
There are hundreds of other social science journals. These are collected together in library databases that index the contents of the journals. Databases also have abstracts (summaries) of the articles, and in some cases give you the full article.
- Sociological Abstracts An index with abstracts from a wide range of social science journals.
- Expanded Academic A multi-disciplinary collection, much of which has full-text articles in addition to the abstracts. Includes popular and academic journals.
- Google Scholar Use the Library website to get into Google Scholar as this will give you free access to many of the articles it finds.
There are more databases in the Sociology resource webpages.
Statistics
- New Zealand Official Yearbook
The Yearbook is a very good starting place for statistical information. Library copies
- NZSTATS
New Zealand statistics sources.
- OFFSTATS
Official statistics from governments and international organisations.
Referencing and Plagiarism
The Chicago Manual of Style Online
ReferenŠite Academic referencing resource.
The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student’s own work, reflecting his or her learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the world-wide web. A student’s assessed work may be reviewed against electronic source material using computerised detection mechanisms. Upon reasonable request, students may be required to provide an electronic version of their work for computerised review.
Honesty and integrity are valued in all academic activities at The University of Auckland. This website provides information about the key principles and practices underlying academic honesty, and advice and resources: Academic Honesty and Plagiarism.
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