Research Guides: Open Educational Resources: Social Sciences

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Research Guides for Social Sciences:

Social Sciences Research Navigator
by Benedict Yeo Last Updated Oct 17, 2025 246 views this year
Sociology
by Benedict Yeo Last Updated Oct 17, 2025 283 views this year
Psychology
by Benedict Yeo Last Updated Oct 17, 2025 941 views this year
Political Science
by Benedict Yeo Last Updated Oct 17, 2025 242 views this year

Introduction to Psychology
by NOBA

This textbook represents the entire catalog of Noba topics. It contains 101 learning modules covering every area of psychology commonly taught in introductory courses. This book can be modified: feel free to rearrange or remove modules to better suit your specific needs.
Research Methods in Psychology by Paul Price, California State University
Publication Date: 2017

Open Textbook Library

While Research Methods in Psychology is fairly traditional— making it easy for you to use with your existing courses — it also emphasizes a fundamental idea that is often lost on undergraduates: research methods are not a peripheral concern in our discipline; they are central.

The overarching goal of this textbook is to present the basics of psychological research methods — focusing on the concepts and skills that are most widely shared within the discipline — emphasizing both their centrality to our field and their contribution to our understanding of human behavior. The book will include several features that will help accomplish this overarching goal. (CC-BY-NC-SA)
Psychology by Rose M. Spielman
ISBN: 9781938168352

Publication Date: 2014-12-08

OpenStax

Psychology is designed to meet scope and sequence requirements for the single-semester introduction to psychology course. The book offers a comprehensive treatment of core concepts, grounded in both classic studies and current and emerging research. The text also includes coverage of the DSM-5 in examinations of psychological disorders. Psychology incorporates discussions that reflect the diversity within the discipline, as well as the diversity of cultures and communities across the globe. (CC-BY)
Introduction to Psychology by University of Minnesota Libraries (Adapted by)
ISBN: 9781946135131

Publication Date: Oct 2015

Open Textbook Library

Introduction to Psychology utilizes the dual theme of behavior and empiricism to make psychology relevant to intro students. The author wrote this book to help students organize their thinking about psychology at a conceptual level. Five or ten years from now, he does not expect his students to remember the details of most of what he teaches them. However, he does hope that they will remember that psychology matters because it helps us understand behavior and that our knowledge of psychology is based on empirical study. (CC-BY-NC-SA)

Introduction to Sociology 2e
ISBN: 9781938168413

Publication Date: Apr 2015

OpenStax

Introduction to Sociology 2e adheres to the scope and sequence of a typical, one-semester introductory sociology course. It offers comprehensive coverage of core concepts, foundational scholars, and emerging theories. The textbook presents section reviews with rich questions, discussions that help students apply their knowledge, and features that draw learners into the discipline in meaningful ways. The second edition has been updated significantly to reflect the latest research and current, relevant examples. (CC-BY)
Principles of Sociological Inquiry - Qualitative and Quantitative Methods by Amy Blackstone, University of Maine
ISBN: 9781453328897

Open Textbook Library

Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods emphasizes the relevance of research methods for the everyday lives of its readers, undergraduate students. Each chapter describes how research methodology is useful for students in the multiple roles they fill:
1. As consumers of popular and public information 2. As citizens 3. As current and future employees.
Connections to these roles are made throughout and directly within the main text of the book.
Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods also provides balanced coverage of qualitative and quantitative approaches by integrating a variety of examples from recent and classic sociological research. The text challenges students to debate and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches. (CC-BY-NC-SA)
Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World by Steve Barkan, University of Maine
BCcampus OpenEd
The book includes the most recent data in the following categories, so your students have access to the latest sociological trends: crime and victimization, income and poverty, life expectancy and aging, employment, marriage and divorce, education, medical care and health disparities, and fertility and population change. (CC-BY-NC-SA)

Nationalism, Self-Determination and Secession by Geoff Andrews, Michael Saward
BCcampus OpenEd

What makes a ‘nation’ and what makes peoples strive for nationhood? This unit will provide you with an introduction to studying political ideas by looking at how people who see themselves as nations challenge the existing order to assert their right to a state of their own. After studying this unit you should be able to: grasp the concepts of nation, nationalism and self-determination; have a better understanding of the role they play in current political disputes; think about the problem of how to take democratic decisions about secession; relate political theory to political practice more rigorously; take a more informed and active part in debates about national and international politics. (CC-BY-NC-SA)