LibGuides: POLS 4980 Senior Capstone: Qualitative Data

Qualitative Research

What is Qualitative Research?

Qualitative research uses its own distinct sets of research methods and sources of data in order to answer questions that would not otherwise be possible to answer.

Denzin and Lincoln provide a definition of qualitative research in the Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (2011)

Qualitative research involves the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials—case study, personal experience, introspection, life story, interview, artifacts, and cultural texts and productions, along with observational, historical, interactional, and visual texts—that describe routine and problematic moments and meanings in individuals’ lives.

Finding Qualitative Research Articles

Search in a multidisciplinary database or one that is discipline-specific using keywords that might appear in titles or abstracts to identify articles that have used qualitative methods. Below is a partial list of terms to try:

Qualitative
Focus group
Observation
Discourse analysis
Interview
Case study
Ethnography or Ethnographic
Content analysis
Phenomenology
Grounded theory
Narrative

Using an asterisk (*) after a term tells the database to search for variant endings of the word. For example, observation* will include results with the terms observation, observations, or observational. Below is an example of a database search.

Hot Tip: Always check filters! A small number of databases will allow you to search by methodologies, Including PsycInfo.

Databases & Websites for Qualitative Data

Try searching in a data repository for qualitative datasets

Qualitative Data Repository
A repository of qualitative data hosted by the Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry, a unit of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University

ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research) Data Archive
Archive of computerized, numeric social science data, including demography, economics, health care, politics, social behavior, and more.

QualiBank
A collection of qualitative data from the UK Data Archive. Data availability varies. Registration required for data access.
Sage Research Methods Datasets
Qualitative and quantitative datasets useful for learning and testing software

Statista Pro This link opens in a new window
Statistics and data platform that focuses on the economic, business, and marketing fields. The sources for the statistics come from a wide range of fields, including energy and the environment, advertising, health, hospitality, consumer goods, and many more.
Global Issues In Context This link opens in a new window
Gives overviews of some of today's most pressing issues on a global stage. Integrates news, global viewpoints, reference materials, country information, primary source documents, videos, statistics, and more in a single search—updated daily.

General Social Survey
The GSS contains a standard ‘core’ of demographic, behavioral, and attitudinal questions, plus topics of special interest (thus, not all questions are asked each year). The GSS surveys Americans about how they think and feel on a variety of issues from national spending to crime and justice. Includes research and data on the arts and culture.

CALSPEAKS This link opens in a new window
Public opinion polls of Californians on the social, economic, political, and environmental issues that distinguish our state.

Government Focused Databases & Websites

Congressional Publications This link opens in a new window
Historical and current Congressional information and publications on all aspects of legislation from 1789 to the present. Provides full-text documents and reports, hearings, legislative histories, congressional working papers and bills, the Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, and the U.S. Code. It also includes member biographical and committee assignment information, voting records, and financial data.
Provides full-text for Congressional Committee Prints, House and Senate Documents and Reports (Congressional Serial Set), Hearings, and Legislative Histories. It also covers full text of congressional working papers and bills, as well as the Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, and the U.S. Code. It provides access to a wide variety of additional information, including member biographical and committee assignment information, voting records, and financial data.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Peer-reviewed and non-scholarly articles in political science, international relations, law, and public administration/policy.

American Presidency Project
Established in 1999 at the University of California-Santa Barbara, this repository provides nearly 100,000 current and historical executive branch documents on American Presidents from 1789 to 2008. Documents include:Public Papers of the Presidents, States of the Union Addresses and Messages, Inaugural Addresses, Saturday Radio Addresses, Fireside Chats, Signing Statements, Press Briefings, Statements of Administration Policy, Party, Veto Messages, Addresses to Congress, Addresses to the Nation, Address to the U.N., Addresses to Foreign Legislatures.
National Archives
Correlates of War
An open-access database with datasets on international relations topics such as interstate disputes, membership in intergovernmental organizations, and international alliances. The Correlates of War project collects and disseminates quantitative data in international relations. Datasets include: COW Country Codes; State System Membership; COW War Data; Militarized Interstate Disputes; Militarized Interstate Dispute Locations; National Material Capabilities; World Religion Data; Formal Alliances; Territorial Change; Direct Contiguity; Colonial/Dependency Contiguity; Intergovernmental Organizations; Diplomatic Exchange; Trade.

Newspapers

New York Times (1980-present) This link opens in a new window
A newspaper archive of the print version of the New York Times to 1980. For older back issues, see the New York Times Historical (1851-2019), and for current digital coverage, see New York Times - Digital Edition.
Los Angeles Times (1985-current) This link opens in a new window
Southern California's largest daily newspaper.
GUIDES:
Global Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Up-to-date global news content with archives that stretch back into the 1980s. Sources include newspapers, newswires, news journals, television and radio transcripts, blogs, podcasts, and digital-only websites in full-text form.
Global Newsstream provides collections of news from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Australia. Global Newsstream incorporates the U.S. Newsstream, Canadian Newsstream, and International Newsstream databases. All titles are cross searchable on the ProQuest platform.

DIRECT LINKS TO MAJOR NEWSPAPERS:
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Current and historical news from the 1980s to current. News sources cover the culture and history of ethnic and minority issues, including minority and native press publications, in a variety of languages.

Search Within All Newspapers Cal State LA has access to

Grey Literature

Examples of grey literature include publications/reports/white papers from governments, academics, think tanks, organizations, business or industry, dissertations and theses, Conference abstracts, proceedings, policies & procedures, patents, pharmaceutical data, unpublished trial data.

Searching Grey Literature

Google Search: Using Google's site limit feature to find government or institution reports.

Example: searching for grey literature from government or education institution

Prenatal care AND telemedicine AND site:gov

prenatal care AND telemedicine AND site:edu

Selected Grey Literature Resources

Repositories and Reports

Grey Literature Network Service: http://www.greynet.org/greysourceindex/documenttypes.html

Grey Literature Report www.greylit.org

Open Grey www.opengrey.eu

OSF https://help.osf.io/article/330-welcome-to-registrations

PROSPERO https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/

Registry of Open Access Repositories http://roar.eprints.org/

Registry of Research Data Repositories http://service.re3data.org