Finding ethnographic studies
Searching major databases that index scholarly journal articles, articles in books, and conference proceedings is a great way to find published ethnographic studies. Here are a few suggestions:
- Academic Search PremierThis multi-disciplinary database provides full text for more than 8,500 journals, including full text for more than 4,600 peer-reviewed titles. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles.
- ProQuest Research LibraryProQuest Research Library, formerly known as Periodical Abstracts, is a comprehensive database available through the ProQuest online system. It indexes and abstracts general interest magazines and scholarly journals in the social sciences, humanities and sciences. It comprises two components: a core list of periodicals covering about 800 publications, and 15 subject-specific modules that supplement the core list. Modules cover arts, business, children, education, general interest, health, humanities, international studies, law, military, multicultural studies, psychology, sciences, social sciences, and women's interests. Full text of many articles is provided.
- Web of ScienceChoosing "All Databases" allows you to search an index of journal articles, conference proceedings, data sets, and other resources in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities.
Cornell Resources
Research you propose that involves extended interactions with human subjects will probably require you to follow government regulations. Those legal requirements protect the people you interview as well as the integrity of your study results. Cornell's Institutional Review Board is managed through the Office of Research Integrity and Assurance, which makes sure that such research observes the law.
University policy requires that all research that involves human participants, regardless of the source of financial support, must be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) before it can be initiated. Guiding this review process by the IRB is the application of federal and state laws and various ethical principles, particularly those articulated in the Belmont Report: (1) Respect for Persons, (2) Beneficence, and (3) Justice.