LibGuides: EDU 508: Quantitative and Mixed Methods in Educational Settings: Resources for Conducting Lit Reviews, Creating Problem Statements, and Surveys

Creating Data Tasks: Materials for Constructing Surveys

Method and Meaning in Polls and Surveys by Howard Schuman
Call Number: HN29 .S334 2008
ISBN: 9780674028272
Publication Date: 2008-06-30
How to Conduct Surveys by Arlene G. Fink
Call Number: HN29 .F53 2013
ISBN: 9781452203874
Publication Date: 2012-11-12
Internet, Phone, Mail, and Mixed-Mode Surveys by Don A. Dillman; Leah Melani Christian; Jolene D. Smyth
Call Number: HM538 .D55 2014
ISBN: 9781118456149
Publication Date: 2014-08-18
Organizational Surveys by Frank J. Smith
Call Number: HF5549.5.A83 S65 2003
ISBN: 0805843841
Publication Date: 2003-02-01

Books on Literature Reviews

Conducting Research Literature Reviews by Arlene Fink
Call Number: Q180.55.M4 F56 2014
ISBN: 9781452259499
Publication Date: 2013-08-07
Crafting Scholarship in the Behavioral and Social Sciences by Robert M. Milardo
Call Number: H61.8 .M56 2015
ISBN: 9781138787834
Publication Date: 2014-09-18
The Literature Review by Diana Ridley
Call Number: LB2369 .R525 2012
ISBN: 9781446201428
Publication Date: 2012-07-31
Literature Reviews Made Easy by Paula Dawidowicz
Call Number: PN98.B7 D37 2010eb
ISBN: 9781617351914
Publication Date: 2010-10-01
Succeeding with Your Literature Review by Paul Oliver
Call Number: LB1047.3 .O45 2012eb
ISBN: 9780335243686
Publication Date: 2012-02-01
Telling a Research Story by Christine B. Feak; John M. Swales
Call Number: PE1478 .F34 2009
ISBN: 9780472033362
Publication Date: 2009-03-26

Getting Started on a Quantitative Research Project

Problem Statements

Like the other concepts discussed in this LibGuide, problem statements go by other names, such as "research questions" or "hypotheses."

Many of the books to the left on survey writing, and many of the books in the Quantitative Research section of the Books on Educational Research Methodology, provide ideas and guidelines for creating problem statements, research questions, or hypotheses. Below is a list of some external web-based resources that might also help you get the creative quantitative research ideas flowing:

The Research Question
This page is part of a larger module on Educational Research for Multiprofessional Faculty Development. The intended audience is healthcare professionals, as this site is to support postgraduate work for Health Education London, but all the information provided is appropriate for other branches of educational research as well.
How to Structure Quantitative Research Questions
This is an interactive page outlining a four step process for developing different types (descriptive, comparative, or relationship-based) of quantitative research questions. The information is part of a dissertation-writing guide by Laerd Dissertation.
Research Questions and Hypotheses
This page by the Center for Innovation in Research and Teaching at Grand Canyon University discusses the difference between creating a research question and using a hypothesis, and includes links on the right hand side to different resources for conducting quantitative research.
Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: The Research Problem/Question
This research guide by USC Libraries defines the problem statement in social science research and discusses its purpose and the different types, as well as how to build one. It also offers suggestions for finding problem statement-worthy research topics. The whole guide is chocked full of helpful information; you can explore it by clicking on the tabs at the top of the page.

Resources for Literature Reviews

As with the problem statements (see box above), many of the books listed on the Books on Educational Research Methodology page also discuss how and why to conduct a lit review, as well as how to write the literature search up for your own paper when your research project is complete. Other books the library has specifically on this topic are:

Preparing Literature Reviews: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches by M. Ling Pan.

Call number: Q180.55.E9 P36 2013

Writing Literature Reviews: A Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences by Jose L. Galvan.

Call number: H61.8 .G34 2013

You might also check out the Books and Resources for Graduate Level Research tab from the EDU 501 LibGuide for more general texts on writing literature reviews at the graduate level.

More resources on conducting searches of the literature, and how to write up your literature review based on your own project's focus, can be found at the following external websites.

The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It
Written by Dena Taylor of the Health Sciences Writing Centre, the University of Toronto, this page has good lists of questions that can guide your literature review, as well as suggestions for creating an annotated bib from the process.
Literature Reviews
This article by The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, focuses on the writing of a literature review. The suggestions and examples the article offers can help you organize the ideas you find as you conduct the lit review, and then help you create a synthesized whole when you write your own.
Doing a Literature Review
This page from the University of Leicester's Student Learning Development site discusses indirect but important elements that affect a lit review, including plagiarism, critical reading, and suggestions for what to do if you change your topic or cannot find appropriate resources.
The Literature Review
This page is part of the University of Southern California's LibGuide for "Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper." It lists and describes the different types of lit reviews, suggests ways to structure a lit review, and also includes common mistakes researchers make during the lit review process.
How to Conduct a Literature Review
This slideshow was created by Research Librarian Robin Featherstone of the University of Alberta mainly for healthcare students. However, the guide's explanations of the searching process are excellent. It shows how to fit the lit search to the research question, how to choose where to search, how to break down the research question to optimize results, and how to manipulate the internal search structures of databases. If the medical examples are too distracting, we can show you how these concepts translate into educational research paradigms.
The Literature Review: A Research Journey
This website is maintained by the Gutman Library at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education and features a video on how to synthesize the information to be included in your lit review. You will also find in this guide a video for framing a causal research question, and one for writing the lit review up. The links to these videos can be found in the menu on the left hand side of this page.