Click on the tabs for resources to assist in the steps of the research process.
The SAGE Glossary of the Social and Behavioral Sciences by 
The Researcher's Toolkit by 
Research Ethics and Integrity for Social Scientists by Responsible Conduct of Research published by the American Psychological Association - The office is charged with promoting shared knowledge, beliefs and attitudes for ethical and responsible conduct of research among investigators and students in the psychological sciences with the goal of maximizing scientific rigor and productivity within the research community.
Milgram's Experiment on Obedience to Authority UC Berkeley's synopsis of Stanley Milgram's findings on obedience to authority.
The Stanford Prison Experiment website provides a slide tour of Dr. Philip Zimbardo findings on conformity and the human capacity for evil.
An Institutional Review Board is a committee within an organization or university that independently analyzes research proposals to ensure they qualify as an ethical research project that sufficiently protects any human subjects. The IRB can decline a research proposal or suggest modifications to ensure they meet ethics regulations. To learn more about IRBs click here.
For students conducting research as part of their academic requirements, Faculty will provide a research application template that student researchers are required to complete before beginning their study and submitting their research proposal.
When to Use What Research Design by 
Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods by 
Writing up Quantitative Research in the Social and Behavioral Sciences by 
The Oxford Handbook of Multimethod and Mixed Methods Research Inquiry by 
Using Research Instruments by 
Analyzing Quantitative Data by RegressIt A powerful Excel add-in that performs multivariate descriptive data analysis and regression analysis with high-quality table and chart output in native Excel format. The linear regression version of the program runs on both Macs and PC's, and there is also a separate logistic regression version for the PC with highly interactive table and chart output.
Analysis ToolPak from Microsoft If you need to develop complex statistical or engineering analyses, you can save steps and time by using the Analysis ToolPak. You provide the data and parameters for each analysis, and the tool uses the appropriate statistical or engineering macro functions to calculate and display the results in an output table. Some tools generate charts in addition to output tables.
The R Project for Statistical Computing R is a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. It compiles and runs on a wide variety of UNIX platforms, Windows and MacOS.
Designing and Conducting Survey Research by Survey Monkey - "Our survey platform makes it easy to measure and understand feedback so you can drive growth and innovation."
Qualtrics - Create, distribute and analyze surveys with our free online tool in minutes. Choose from our 50+ online survey templates or start from scratch.
Typeform - "Who wants to get bogged down with confusing graphs and charts? Typeform’s reports are clear and concise. Gain quick insights, revise ambiguous questions, and make better-informed decisions."
SurveyPlanet - "SurveyPlanet offers a tremendous set of free tools for designing your survey, sharing your survey online, and reviewing your survey results. We've got a fantastic user experience and tons of great features."
According to the APA Dictionary of Psychology, research is the systematic effort to discover or confirm facts, to investigate a new problem or topic, or to describe events and understand relationships among variables, most often by scientific methods of observation and experimentation.
A research question is the first step in designing and conducting a research investigation. Good research questions need to be specific so that it can answered in a project.
Step 1: Choose a broad topic
Step 2: Do some preliminary reading
Step 3: Narrow down to a specific niche
Step 4: Identify a research problem
Step 5: Write your research question