Off The Shelf » Research Methodology http://blogs.capella.edu/library The blog of the Capella University Library Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:41:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Announcing the New Tutorial: Finding Resources for Your Literature Review http://blogs.capella.edu/library/2009/11/23/announcing-the-new-tutorial-finding-resources-for-your-literature-review/ http://blogs.capella.edu/library/2009/11/23/announcing-the-new-tutorial-finding-resources-for-your-literature-review/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:23:28 +0000 rveal http://blogs.capella.edu/library/?p=1192 litreviewtutorialimage

Our new tutorial Finding Resources for Your Literature Review is a comprehensive overview of specific search techniques you can use to assure you leave “No Stone Unturned” in finding everything available on your topic for your literature review.

The tutorial includes the following new media pieces:

Defining Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Resources

Keyword Searching for your Literature Review

Bibliographic Mining and Cited Reference Searching

Using Dissertations for Research 

Searching by Methodology

It also includes a NEW tutorial on RefWorks that shows you how to sign up for an account, store, organize and print APA formatted references of your citations.

Check out these new resources and let us know what you think!

Robin

]]> http://blogs.capella.edu/library/2009/11/23/announcing-the-new-tutorial-finding-resources-for-your-literature-review/feed/ 0 Gale to the Rescue! http://blogs.capella.edu/library/2009/09/23/gale-to-the-rescue/ http://blogs.capella.edu/library/2009/09/23/gale-to-the-rescue/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:55:11 +0000 rveal http://blogs.capella.edu/library/?p=1054 Often times I get calls from learners who want an overview of a topic or perhaps a theory. They are inclined to turn to journal articles.  However journal articles tend to focus on very specific questions and often do not have the broad overview you may be looking for.  So where do you turn? gale2

The Library has a database called Gale Virtual Reference that has many subject specific encyclopedias in areas such as education, psychology, business, criminology and many other areas. The articles in these encyclopedias are often lengthy and written by experts in the field. For example if you do a search under the words “research methods” (putting the words in quotation marks to search as a phrase) one of the many articles that comes up is from the Encyclopedia of  Education.  It is 18 pages long and gives a good overview of qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research.

So if you are having trouble understanding a concept and need an overview or definition this is a great place to start. Reading the article will also give ideas for other words that describe the concept and that you may want to use in searching for further information.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

If you have other questions about this resource Ask-a-Librarian.

Robin

]]> http://blogs.capella.edu/library/2009/09/23/gale-to-the-rescue/feed/ 1 By Special Request – More About Meta-Analysis (Quantitative) http://blogs.capella.edu/library/2009/06/27/866/ http://blogs.capella.edu/library/2009/06/27/866/#comments Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:02:31 +0000 Sommer http://blogs.capella.edu/library/?p=866 Erin’s blog post What makes that analysis so meta? earlier this month sparked an interest to provide some further information and examples of this quantitative method of research.

In our library database Gale Virtual Reference Library a search of Meta-analysis finds several encyclopedia entries that explain in detail more about this technique. Click on the article title link to access these entries in Gale..

  • Huffcutt, Allen. (2007). Meta-Analysis. In Steven Rogelberg (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 2. (480-483). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Reference. Retrieved June 23, 2009, from Gale Virtual Reference Library.
  • Last, John M. (2002). Meta-Analysis. In Lester Breslow (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Public Health, Vol. 3. (764-765). New York: Macmillan Reference USA. Retrieved June 23, 2009, from Gale Virtual Reference Library.

And here are some article examples using the meta-analysis research method roughly categorized by school:

Psychology

Education

Human Services/Public Service Leadership

Business

Technology

Some easy reading for you during quarter break. I’m sure if you brought one of these articles to your 4th of July bash of choice you’d be the hit of the party!

-Sommer

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