Social science sites of the week

Here are our recommended sites of the week

Research Ethics Guidebook
Developed by a team at the Institute of Education with support from the Researcher Development Initiative. Guides researchers through the main issues and offers advice on writing research proposals, getting ethics committee approval and dealing with issues arising during fieldwork

UNICEF state of the world’s children 2011 Data
UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children is a flagship annual report. This year it has launched an additional database to supplement the printed text. This is in the DevInfom format. It enables direct downloading of statistical indicators relating to all aspects of child health, welfare, education and development worldwide.

MERLOT – Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online

Free access to an extensive collection of peer reviewed online learning materials designed for use by faculty members worldwide. All subject areas covered. Site also includes news and events relating to digital learning. Users may also be interested in a number of UK initiatives.
JorumResources created for and by the UK HE and further education community. Covers all subject areas.
And HumBox– Supports teachers in the humanities. Free access to HE materials covering the humanities. Includes strong coverage of Literature, Languages, Religious Studies and Philosophy.

EINIRAS Database Network (EDN)
Free access to this virtual Pan-European system of databases for international relations and area studies which is being created by EINIRAS (the European Information Network on International Relations and Area Studies) and supported technically and financially by the Council of Europe. Cross-search a number of leading bibliographies and journal indexes including: CIDOB Centre of International Relations and International Cooperation; Journal articles of the CERES database of the Council of Europe; The Finnish Institute of International Affairs; Sciences Po; The Royal Institute of International Affairs; SIPRI Stockholm International Peace Research Institute; Journal articles of the database World Affairs Online of the Fachinformationsverbund Internationale Beziehungen und Länderkunde
(German Information Network on International Relations and Area Studies) to find references to journal articles and reports covering all areas of international politics and international relations theory and research. Extensive coverage of European language materials.

Lincs to the past
Interesting site being created by libraries and archives in Lincolnshire. It provides free access to a wealth of historic images of cultural collections plus associated online exhibitions, and learning materials. Cultural materials are defined broadly to include a range of digitised primary source materials including: photographs, prints, manuscripts and maps. These cover the economic, political and social history of the area from earliest times. Themes include historic sites, daily life in Lincolnshire, and a history of healthcare. Special treasures are images of the Magna Carta/ Charter of the Forest and the life and career of the poet Tennyson and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It is also possible to cross search catalogues of local library holdings to trace related books for further reading. Copyright information is displayed on the website.

Complex Emergency Database (CE-DAT)
Managed by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED)based at the School of Public Health of the Université catholique de Louvain in Brussels
which surveys populations in emergency areas (mainly conflict zones) monitoring their health and social welfare. Key topics are mortality and nutrition. Select a country and view the maps and reports available. For instance this example from Afghanistan. The complete list of tables and data is displayed on the website. Useful background information on the human impact of war.

Office of the University of Wisconsin System Women’s Studies Librarian
Great site for researchers of women’s studies. Though intended for local Wisconsin students, it has many excellent services. These include
Women’s’ Audiovisuals In English (WAVE) – a database that lists documentary, experimental, and feature film productions by and about women.
Feminist Periodicals – a Current Listing of Contents– annotated listings of tables of contents from major journals Also available are gender topic research guides, bibliographies of readings.

IPSA 23 Elections, Citizens and Parties
New specialist research committee of the International Political Science Association. Locate the latest news, events and research. Website has an excellent directory of links on election related research.
Did you know that you can also get free acess to many conference papers presented at IPSA annual events (since 2006) via the IPSA paper room These cover all areas of politics.

Sage Open
Sage have just launched the first issue of its oopen access journal which will provide free full text peer reviewed articles covering the social sciences, humanities and behavioural sciences. Intitial articles include Marie-Antoinette Sossou We Do Not Enjoy Equal Political Rights: Ghanaian Women’s Perceptions on Political Participation in Ghana and Gary T. Reker and Louis C. Woo
Personal Meaning Orientations and Psychosocial Adaptation in Older Adults. It is possible to sign up to get email alerts when new research is published.

Africamap
Part of the Harvard University World Map project. It aims to draw together publicly available maps to enable users to access multi-disciplinary, multi-source and multi-format data maps. The View tab displays a base layer map (called Google Physical) when you first open WorldMap. You can choose from several other base layers by clicking the “+” symbol at the upper right to select and add other base layers. These layers include: historic maps, place names, environmental and democratic data.

ESDS launch themed webpages on housing
The UK Economic and Social Data Service have launched a handy guide for students/ researchers which will assist them in locating key data relating to housing in its collections. It highlights key datasets, provides tutorials and case studies of how to access, analyse and use the data (including qualitative and quantitative data). It also alerts users to other external sources of data by provisding a useful directory of links to related websites.