---
title: Research Methods
description: This subject covers the qualitative and quantitative techniques used to conduct social science research. Learners will understand how to design studies, collect data, perform statistical analyses, and interpret empirical evidence to answer research questions.
category: social-sciences
subcategory: political-science
difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced
url: /subject/research-methods
---

# Research Methods

This subject covers the qualitative and quantitative techniques used to conduct social science research. Learners will understand how to design studies, collect data, perform statistical analyses, and interpret empirical evidence to answer research questions.

## Available Resources

3 Books • 1 Courses • 2 Websites

## Podcasts

### 1. The Qual Report

**Author:** Adam Rosenthal

Podcast from The Qualitative Report, Nova Southeastern University's long-running multidisciplinary journal, in which its editors interview researchers about qualitative approaches such as autoethnography, participatory action research, appreciative inquiry and data analysis. Listeners gain a working sense of how qualitative studies are designed and published.

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://tqr.nova.edu/

**Tags:** qualitative-research, research-methods, academic-publishing, autoethnography, qualitative-inquiry

## Books

### 1. Research Methods in Political Science

**Author:** Michael K. Le Roy; Michael Corbett

Undergraduate textbook pairing chapters on political science methodology with MicroCase software worksheets. Readers practice framing hypotheses, selecting variables, running cross-tabulations and regressions on real survey and aggregate data, and reporting results as political scientists do.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0534573614?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, political-science

### 2. Research Methods in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

**Author:** David E. McNabb

Graduate textbook on research design for public administration and nonprofit management, covering quantitative methods such as surveys, sampling and statistical analysis alongside qualitative approaches including case studies and content analysis. Prepares readers to plan, conduct and report applied policy research.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0765617676?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** public-administration, research-methods, nonprofit-management, policy-research, qualitative-methods

### 3. Experiment

Experiment - A book resource

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999033204?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, political-science

## Courses

### 1. Ethics of Psychological Research

**Author:** Mike Stadler

American Psychological Association course covering the history of research ethics codes, the Belmont Report, IRB review, informed consent, privacy, deception and debriefing, animal research standards and research misconduct, so learners can plan and report studies that meet the APA Ethics Code.

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/ethics-of-psychological-research

**Tags:** research-ethics, informed-consent, institutional-review-boards, apa-ethics-code, psychology-research

## Websites

### 1. icpsr.umich.edu

ICPSR is a leading data archive at the University of Michigan that provides access to a vast collection of social science datasets and related teaching resources. It offers data, documentation, and tutorials for learning research methods, analysis techniques, and reproducible research.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://icpsr.umich.edu

**Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, political-science

### 2. methods.sagepub.com

SAGE Research Methods is an online platform offering comprehensive materials on research methods, including books, reference works, case studies, datasets, and instructional videos. It also features interactive tools (like the Methods Map) to help students and researchers design, conduct, and analyze studies.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://methods.sagepub.com

**Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, political-science

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