Kinds of information on Web sites

Many kinds of information are available on Web sites. We describe five kinds of information sources that are particularly useful to researchers. These are:

• Social science databases
• Sites of international organizations
• Other social science Web sites
• Guides to specialized Web sites
• Full text sites

Social science databases

A database is a computer-based index to journal articles, books, and research reports in some field of knowledge. Some leading databases covering the social sciences are described in Box 4.6. Each provides quick online access to information about thousands of articles and other research reports. Each also:

• Can be (has to be) searched by computer;
• Provides the full reference of the cited publication; and
• Supplies a short summary or abstract of the publication.

Because of the number of references they contain, databases have to be searched by computer. This lets you quickly find material matching your specific interest from the thousands of other reports in the database. Many databases are accessible through Web sites. Some are also available on CD ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory). You might want to check to see if your library subscribes to any database in your area of interest on CD ROM.

Searching a database through a Web site, requires a connection from your location to the Internet, and, for most databases, a subscription is required as well. You may wish to see if your library subscribes to any of the databases we list or others in your field of interest. Two widely used databases, POPLIN and ERIC, however, can be searched at no charge.  

Illustrative database search

We will illustrate database searching using POPLINE, because it is free and covers topics of interest to persons in developing countries. If you want to search the ERIC database, detailed help is available at ERIC Slide Show.

Information from most databases can be downloaded to the disk on your computer or a floppy disk or be printed out. Each also provides a short abstract of each document in the respective database. Abstracts describe the problem that was investigated, methods used, findings, and conclusions.   Often, an abstract will provide all the information you will need. In addition, POPLINE and ERIC can provide copies of the full text of most publications in case users want more details than provided in abstracts. POPLINE Digital Service provides free copies of documents for users in developing countries. For more information, go to POPLINE and click on "Document Delivery Policy" in the list of topics on the left side of the page. A number of the documents cited in ERIC can also be downloaded free.