LibGuides: Education and Autism: Research

SAGE Research Methods Online

Sage Research Methods (SRM) is a fantastic collection of books, case studies and videos exploring and illustrating research methods for the social sciences.

Books include Little Green Books and Little Blue Books, short guides to quantitative and qualitative research methods
Over 1000 case studies illustrating research methods
Videos exploring all aspects of the research process
SRM Project Planner - accessible advice on every stage of the research process from defining a question to writing up and sharing your research

Key library databases for education

Here are very useful education databases.

Use them to find the latest research in education and related subjects.

British Education Index This link opens in a new window
Information on research, policy and practice in education and training in the UK. Particular strengths include aspects of educational policy and administration, evaluation and assessment, technology and special educational needs.
Content is included from over 250 English language periodicals published in the British Isles and in certain internationally published periodicals. Subject coverage includes : Cognitive development,Computer assisted learning, Curriculum, Educational policy,Educational psychology,Educational technology, Language acquisition, Training,Management in education, Multicultural education, Physical education, Science education, Special educational needs, Teacher education, Vocational education.
Education databases from ProQuest This link opens in a new window
Search five education databases together covering all aspects of education. Contains five databases: Australian Education Index; Education database; ERIC; Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts; Sports Medicine and Education Index.
Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA) This link opens in a new window
Index and abstracts for health, social services, psychology, criminology, sociology, economics, politics, race relations and education. Currently contains over 312,000 records from 650 journals in 16 different countries, including the UK and US.
Emerald Insight This link opens in a new window
Access to subscribed journals and eBooks published by Emerald. Subject coverage: business, management, marketing, retailing, economics, education, engineering and library and information science.

Are there other databases or resources that I need to be aware of?

There are:

Specialist education resources

Here you can find specialist education resources.

Databases on this page include content other than Journal articles or have a specialist focus. You can also find more education databases in the Education journals and database section of this guide.

Research into Higher Education Abstracts
UK and international coverage of Higher Education. Produced by the Society for Research into Higher Education
IDP Database of Research on International Education
This database is managed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and contains details of books, articles, conference papers and reports on various aspects of international education.

ERIC (Free version) This link opens in a new window
The ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) database is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education to provide extensive access to educational-related literature.
The ERIC database corresponds to two printed journals: Resources in Education (RIE) and Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE). Both journals provide access to some 14,000 documents and over 20,000 journal articles per year. In addition, ERIC provides coverage, often with full text) of conferences, meetings, government documents, theses, dissertations, reports, audiovisual media, bibliographies, directories, books and monographs.
ERIC This link opens in a new window
The ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) database is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education to provide extensive access to educational-related literature.
ERIC, the Education Resource Information Center, provides access to education literature and resources. The database contains more than 1.3 million records and provides access to information from journals included in the Current Index of Journals in Education and Resources in Education Index."

Education research and professional associations

Here are links to education research and professional associations.

The Baby Friendly Initiative
The UK Baby Friendly Initiative is based on a global accreditation programme of UNICEF and the World Health Organization. It is designed to support breastfeeding and parent infant relationships by working with public services to improve standards of care.
British Educational Research Association (BERA)
BERA is a member-led charity that exists to encourage educational research and its application for the improvement of practice and public benefit.
Millennium Cohort Study (MSC)
MCS is a multi-disciplinary research project following the lives of around 19,000 children born in the UK in 2000-01. It is the most recent of Britain’s world-renowned national longitudinal birth cohort studies. The study has been tracking the Millennium children through their early childhood years and plans to follow them into adulthood. It collects information on the children’s siblings and parents. MCS’s field of enquiry covers such diverse topics as parenting; childcare; school choice; child behaviour and cognitive development; child and parental health; parents’ employment and education; income and poverty; housing, neighbourhood and residential mobility; and social capital and ethnicity.
National Centre for Social Research (NATCEN)
NATCEN is Britain’s leading centre for independent social research with 40 years’ experience of listening to and reporting the views of the public.
National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER)
NFER is the UK's largest independent provider of research, assessment & information services for education, training & children's services.
National subject association for EAL (NALDIC)
NALDIC is the UK’s national subject association for EAL. NALDIC provides a professional forum for the teaching and learning of English as an additional language, supporting bilingualism, raising the achievement of ethnic minority learners, and promoting the development of research, policy and practice.
Sheffield Hallam University: Autism Centre
A research centre at Sheffield Hallam University.
Sheffield Hallam University: Centre for Research in Early Childhood Education (CREC)
CREC specialises in early childhood research which has relevant and meaningful outcomes for practice and policy.
Sheffield Institute of Education Research and Knowledge Exchange
A research centre at Sheffield Hallam University.
Study of Early Education and Development (SEED)
SEED is a longitudinal study which will follow 8,000 two-year-olds from across England through to the end of KS1. It will find out how childcare and early education can help to give children the best start in life and what is important for high quality childcare provision.
UNICEF
UNICEF works for a world in which every child has a fair chance in life.
University College London: Institute for Education (IOE)
The IOE aims to promote excellence in education and related areas of social research and professional practice through advancing knowledge and understanding. Part of their remit is to undertaking outstanding research of national and international significance and to produce and provide access to national resources for research in these fields.
University College London: Institute for Education: Effective Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education project (EPPSE)
The EPPSE project is a large-scale, longitudinal study of the progress and development of children from pre-school to post-compulsory education. It considers the aspects of pre-school provision which have a positive impact on children's attainment, progress and development.

Government websites

Here you can find links to government sources.

The UK Department for Education
The Department for Education is responsible for education and children’s services in England.
National Archive URL search
The National Archive stores copies of most Government and Govenment supported web pages. Copy and paste broken links into the search box and select URL search.
Education Scotland
Education Scotland is the Scottish Government executive agency. Its aim is to support quality and improvement in Scottish education.
Welsh Government: Education and Skills
This is the Welsh Government for Education and Skills.
Northern Ireland: Department of Education
This is the Northern Ireland Department of Education.

Archived and Historical Resources

Policy changes can mean that links to documents and websites that are no longer current do not work.

Many of these resources are now available through archive services.

National Archive URL search
The National Archive stores copies of most Government and Govenment supported web pages. Copy and paste broken links into the search box and select URL search.
Digital Education Resource Archive (DERA)
DERA is a project by the Instiute of Education to archive all online publications on education by UK Government and related bodies.
Educational Evidence Portal
A list of archived web resources for education produced by the Educational Evidence Portal.
Teacher Trainee Resource Bank
This is an archive of the Teacher Trainee Resource Bank, including Teachers TV, but it also has new material. New material is reviewed for quality and relevence.
Education in England : The History of Our Schools
Aims to provide information and original source material relating to the development of England's school system. It contains the full texts of almost 400 important documents, including Reports, Official Papers and Acts of Parliament. The full texts of important reports on education in England and Wales since 1900 are here: Hadow, Plowden, Bullock, Warnock, Cockcroft, Swann and Elton etc. 200 Acts of Parliament and various other government and HMI publications. The history of England's schools from 597 to 2010 is covered. There's also a timeline of major events, education acts and publications, a glossary and a bibliography.
Journal of Sources in Educational History
Of interest to educationalists, and for social and cultural history. Selections from books, official records, newspapers, personal recollections and contemporary texts often unavailable elsewhere. Subjects covered include women’s education, schooling and the city, children with special needs, life-long learning and early years education. Records date from the 15th Century onwards.
Available on Microfiche only - Adsetts Centre Level 1.