LibGuides: Education and Autism: Research

Researching a topic - Introduction

Researching a topic for education is an online tutorial on finding resources using SHU services. There is a mixture of activities, videos and text. You can work through the material systematically, top to bottom, left to right, or skim through, picking out what seems useful to you in the moment.

Other resources on this page look at research methodology, specialist resources and more.

Researching a topic for education

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

Specialist education resources

See Journals for more education databases. Databases on this page include content other than Journal articles or have a specialist focus.

Some resources found in databases may not be in our collections but you can use our Document Supply Service to request a copy.

Research into Higher Education Abstracts
UK and international coverage of Higher Education. Produced by the Society for Research into Higher Education

Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Google Scholar is a search engine that covers scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and technical reports from broad areas of research. You can use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, as well as scholarly articles available from across the web.
Be aware that Google scholar will find results from sources that SHU does not subscribe to so you may not automatically be able to get full text online. You can take advantage of the SHU subscriptions by going to Scholar Preferences and adding Sheffield Hallam University when prompted for a library name. This will add a SHU Links link to your Google Scholar searches which will identify what you can get via SHU subscriptions. However, we still advise that you access Google Scholar via Library Gateway as this will give you access to the full range of subscribed resources.

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."

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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.
EEP: Preserving the past
A list of archived web resources for education produced by the Educational Evidence Portal
TTRB3
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.

Government websites

The Department for Education
The Department for Education is responsible for education and children’s services in England.
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
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
Welsh Government: Education and Skills
Northern Ireland: Department of Education
Archived government and historical sites

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.
BERA: British Educational Research Association
The British Educational Research Association (BERA) is a member-led charity that exists to encourage educational research and its application for the improvement of practice and public benefit.
Centre for Education and Inclusion Research at SHU
Research done by our very own staff here at SHU. Covers areas such as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) equality, inclusion and wellbeing; Children and young people's wellbeing; Education and schools; Literacy; Maths; and Post 16, skills and higher education.
Centre for Research in Early Childhood Education
CREC specialises in early childhood research which has relevant and meaningful outcomes for practice and policy.
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.
More than 3,000 children were assessed at the start of pre-school around the age of 3 and their development was monitored until they entered school around the age of 5. They were assessed again at key points until the end of Key Stage 3 in secondary school and are currently being followed through their final year of compulsory schooling and on to their post 16 educational, training and employment choices.
Institute for Education
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.
Millenium Cohort Study
The Millennium Cohort Study (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.
NALDIC: National subject association for EAL
NALDIC (National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum) 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.
NFER - National Foundation for Educational Research
NFER is the UK's largest independent provider of research, assessment & information services for education, training & children's services. NFER's purpose is to provide independent evidence which improves education & training & hence the lives of learners.
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.
Their research helps government and charities make the right decisions about the big issues. Because NATCEN is a non profit organisation it is never compromised by commercial or political agendas.
SEED - Study of Early Education and Development
The Study of Early Education and Development (SEED) is a major new 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. The study is being carried out by NatCen Social Research, working with Frontier Economics, the University of Oxford and 4Children, on behalf of the Department for Education (DfE).
Follow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/NatCen
UNICEF
UNICEF works for a world in which every child has a fair chance in life.