STCM 28800: Research & Statistics for Strategic Communication
Table of Contents: Research Methods
Issues Topic: Use Library Subject Guides
Library Guides will point out they key resources in a particular field of study.
General Research -- Any Topic
- EBSCO Research Library
Search across all of our EBSCO subscriptions for full-text articles and abstracts in almost every discipline.
- Library Search: Advanced SearchChange the "Any Field" drop-down to Title to search by title. Under "Tweak my results" in the right menu, limit to "Library Catalog" to find books and videos available in the library.
Issues Topics: Higher Education
- University Wire (UWIRE)Aggregates news from college newspapers.
- The Chronicle of Higher EducationThe Chronicle of Higher Education is a source of news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty members and administrators.
- Inside Higher EducationFree online news covering higher education (not indexed in library databases, search directly)
- ERIC (EBSCO interface)Education Resources Information Center. The top index of publications in the field of education. This government database can also be searched on the EBSCO platform or directly at https://www.eric.ed.gov/
- National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)Is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.
- StatistaYou can find some social science statistics via Statista (ex. voter engagement)
Nonprofits
Mine their websites for information.
Also try the local Chamber of Commerce such as the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce
Search local and regional news sources (see, below)
Nonprofits: Try and find their 990s (instead of 10Ks). Check websites that evaluate them such as:
- CitizenAudit Investigates nonprofits
- Guidestar Search for nonprofits by name, etc. Form 990's available. Some are free.
- Charity Navigator Search for nonprofits by name
National Charity Reports Better Business Bureau Reports on major charitable organizations.
Set up a Google Alert on your person, business or nonprofit to monitor the media.
Newspaper Coverage
- Nexis Uni (LexisNexis)
Contents: Full-text local, national, and international newspaper articles and legal resources.
Need search tips? See our guides for tips on Legal Searching and News Searching.
- U.S. Newsstream (ProQuest)
Newspapers covered includes The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Newsday, and Chicago Tribune.
Contents: Full-text newspaper articles, broadcast transcripts, blogs, and news sites from the United States.
- Ithaca JournalNewspaper covering the Ithaca, NY region from 1999+
- Ithaca VoiceLocal online newspaper for Ithaca, NY. Launched: June, 2014
- Tompkins WeeklyFree weekly news about Tompkins County, New York. Issues are available as pdf files.
Issue Topic: Health
- CINAHL (EBSCO)
Provides indexing of nursing and allied health literature, including nursing journals and publications from the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses Association, covering topics including medicine, alternative therapies, consumer health, nursing standards, and research instruments.
Contents: Citations for journal articles, books, nursing dissertations, conference proceedings, standards of practice, audiovisual material, and book chapters. Some full-text articles. 1981-present.
Need search tips? Take a look at our YouTube video on how to use CINAHL.
- CDC -Data & Statistics by TopicCenter for Disease Control & Prevention.
- PsycInfo (APA) (EBSCO)
Subjects covered include psychology, behavioral and social science, neuroscience, business, nursing, law, and education.
Contents: Abstracts and full-text journal articles and dissertations.
Issue: News Bias
- Pew Research Center: Media & NewsIncludes the annual State of the News Media & data sets.
- CQ Researcher: Trust in MediaMcCutcheon, C. (2017, June 9).
- Library Search: Media TrustSample search on IC Library's website.
- News Literacy ProjectThe News Literacy Project (PDF) is a national education nonprofit offering nonpartisan, independent programs that teach students how to know what to believe in the digital age.
Issue Topic: Sustainability
- GreenFILE (EBSCO)
Contains abstracts of journal articles on the environment including related topics such as agriculture, health, law, education, and technology.
Contents: Abstracts of journal articles.
- Sustainability at Ithaca CollegeDefines sustainability, lists the campus commitments, resources, and research.
Issue Topic: Dating Apps
Also try searching: online dating (more broad)
- ACM Digital Library
Contains citations for articles published in ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) publications. Subjects covered include computer and data science.
Contents: Citations for articles, conference proceedings, technical magazines, newsletters and books published by the ACM.
- LGBTQ+ Source (EBSCO)
Formerly known as LGBT life with Full Text, this database provides scholarly and popular LGBTQ+ publications.
Contents: Full-text articles, primary sources, monographs, magazines, and newspapers and a specialized thesaurus.
- PsycInfo (APA) (EBSCO)
Subjects covered include psychology, behavioral and social science, neuroscience, business, nursing, law, and education.
Contents: Abstracts and full-text journal articles and dissertations.
- SocINDEX with Full Text (EBSCO)
Covers a broad range of studies, including gender studies, criminal justice, social psychology, religion, racial studies, and social work.
Contents: Abstracts and full-text of scholarly journals, books, and conference papers.
Issue Topic: Sexual Harassment
- Sexual Harassment ResourcesLibrary Guide to IC & other resources.
- Library Search: inclusion riderLegal clause in entertainment contracts designed to increase diversity in the film industry.
- Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the MediaFounded in 2004 by Academy Award Winning Actor Geena Davis, they work collaboratively within the entertainment industry to engage, educate and influence the creation of gender balanced onscreen portrayals, reducing harmful stereotypes and creating an abundance of unique and intersectional female characters in entertainment targeting children 11 and under.
Issue Topic: College Students & Volunteering
Variety of keywords: Volunteering, Student Engagement, Service Learning, Civic Engagement, Community Engagement
- National Survey of Student Engagment (NSSE)NSSE annually information at hundreds of four-year colleges and universities about first-year and senior students' participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for their learning and personal development. The results provide an estimate of how undergraduates spend their time and what they gain from attending college.
- Ithaca College: Student EngagmentFrom Analytics and Institutional Research (AIR).
- International Association for Research on Service-Learning & Community EngagementThe resources are password protected (not publicly available).
- Campus CompactCoalition of colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher ed. Includes global service learning resources.
Celebrities - Influencers
Journals: search the following journals for: celebrity
- Campaign Finance Data (Federal Election Commission)
- Opensecrets.org (Center for Responsive Politics)
- PolitiFact
- FactCheck.org
- FiveThirtyEight (Nate Silver) Includes election forecasting
Film & TV Celebrities (ex. Jennifer Lopez)
Sports Celebrities (search by name, ex. Tom Brady)
- SMA Sports Market Analysis
- SportsDiscus ; broaden the search by searching EBSCO Research Library
Music Celebrities (search by name, ex. Kanye)
- Music Index ; broaden the search by searching EBSCO Research Library
Polls: especially useful for political candidates, political consultants
- Polling the Nations A compilation of public opinion surveys, containing the full text of questions and responses from 14,000 surveys from 1986 to the present in the United States and more than 80 other countries. Each record includes the polling organization responsible for the poll, the sample size and the date the poll was released.
- Gallup.com Presents daily briefings on a single current topic, as well as recent Gallup Poll findings for public opinion on politics, government, eocnomics, and management.
- Harris Interactive
- Roper Center
Market data: not available via the library but used in the industry
- Q Scores This company measures the consumer appeal of personalities, products, characters, licensed properties, programs and brands. The Q Score is a "measure of likeability" that predicts consumer involvement. Data is sold to advertisement and PR firms amongst others.
- E-Score Celebrity Data compiled and sold by E-Poll Market research
- Spotted Celebrity intelligence and research platform
Web tools: some websites rank trends
- Forbes Celebrity 100 (compiled on Wikipedia) free
- Davies, G., Chun, R., da Silva, R. V., & Roper, S. (2004). A Corporate Character Scale to Assess Employee and Customer Views of Organization Reputation. Corporate Reputation Review, 7(2), 125–146. See Table 2 on page 12 of the pdf (136 of the article). See also: Corporate Reputation. (2012). Abingdon, GB: Gower, p. 57: 2.1 Corporate Character Scale.
- Han, E., & Ki, E.-J. (2010). Developing a measure of celebrity reputation. Public Relations Review, 36(2), 199–201. "The concepts representing six dimensions of celebrity reputation—personalities, relationships, appearance, expert abilities, management of their private lives, and reputation—were measured using a seven-point Likert scale."
