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Webwords 10 APPENDIX Researching and the World Wide Web Sally Hewat B. App. Sci., CPSP

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The world wide web can be a wealth of opportunity and information for the experienced and novice researcher alike. This article is a collection of favourite websites provided by members of the research starter kit task group: Sandy Barry, Dr Alison Ferguson, Sally Hewat, Erin Lalor and Dr Alison Winkworth. Although the list is far from exhaustive, for the beginning researcher many of the sites will be a good starting point for further searches and related links.

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The National Health and Medical Research Council provides comprehensive information related to any aspect of research in Australia, including funding possibilities, ethical guidelines, research reports, committees etc. In addition the university websites provide a wealth of information on courses, post graduate studies, funding sources (grants and scholarships), research opportunities, ethics, and access to library databases. Many universities have well established, topic and discipline specific research centres and schools with staff willing to spend time discussing possible research projects. Spend some time exploring the various websites of our national education facilities. Universities located in New South Wales include The University of Sydney, The University of Newcastle, Macquarie University, and Charles Sturt University - Albury Campus. Other undergraduate course in Speech Pathology are located at Latrobe University in Victoria, The University of Queensland, Flinders University and Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia.

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There are many websites available that provide direct access to libraries, publishers, journal databases, abstracts and subscription. For example the  Australian Libraries Gateway is a directory service that provides access to information on more than 5,400 Australian libraries, their collections and services. It aims to be a directory of current information about every library in Australia - a "one-stop-shop" for information about Australian libraries, a tool for both library professionals and the general public. And it’s free!. You can also access libraries from all over the world. PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine, provides access to over 11 million MEDLINE citations back to the mid-1960's and additional life science journals. PubMed includes links to many sites providing full text articles and other related resources.  Sage Publications contains information on all on all of the titles published by Sage including many textbooks and journals on aspects of qualitative research. The Taylor & Francis Group has a full list of its journals. Current Therapeutics is Australia’s journal of disease management and drug treatment. A company well know to speech pathologists, the Psychological Corporation can also be found online. Psychcorp publishes and distributes an extensive range of assessment tools, intervention materials and reference books for a variety of health professionals, including speech pathologists.

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All government departments and organisations can also be found in cyberspace, example, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia's official statistical organisation. ABS assists and encourages informed decision-making, research and discussion within governments and the community, by providing a high quality, objective and responsive national statistical service.

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If you are interested in the possibility of engaging in qualitative or social research, the following sites might be useful. The International Institute for Qualitative Methodology site is very comprehensive.  It has an extensive list of links with useful websites relating to qualitative methodology.  It also provides up-to-date information on conferences, workshops, courses and journals which relate to qualitative methodology.  It links to the Cochrane Database and is associated with the journal publication "Qualitative Health Research". Another site managed by the Association of Qualitative Research (AQR) is based in Melbourne but has regional, interstate and international contacts. AQR is interdisciplinary and aims to improve the theory, practise & use of qualitative research, link people with interests in qualitative research, provide education & training forums on qualitative research and to provide a  forum for discussion of qualitative research issues. QSR International provides information about the software programs that facilitate storage and retrieval of qualitative data as part of the analysis process. The programs include NUDIST and NVIVO.  The site provides free demonstrations of the programs, training & support for the use of the programs, a very responsive help desk, information on conferences and workshops of interest to users of the software, relevant references, links to other websites of interest and a very active mailing list which enables software users to network with others to discuss problems and share information.

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The Australian Association for Social Research aims to advance the conduct, development and application of social research.  It is a multidisciplinary association. The website contains information on workshops, courses and conferences related to social research.  It also provides a forum for discussion and networking of individuals interested in social research and links to other related websites. The Australian Sociological Association aims to promote sociology in Australia. Information can be obtained on relevant conferences, publications, jobs and scholarships.

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Many other sites are available, topic specific, and are best found through your favourite search engines, for example, Yahoo! Australia and New Zealand, Web Wombat, Go Eureka Australia and New Zealand.  The Australian Stuttering Research Centre provides up to date information about its work on stuttering treatment and research. It includes links to related websites, online publications and treatment manuals, cutting edge research updates and post graduate programs. The Psych Web Homepage contains loads of information and links for students and teachers of psychology, including links to the Australian Psychological Association style guidelines and writing tips. A great site when you are ready to write your research up for publication.

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Computerized Profiling is a helpful site to find resources for linguistic analysis. The ASHA Site Index provides a comprehensive list and links to all contents on the American Speech and Hearing Association website, including academic pages, interest groups, conference, continuing education, and publications. http://speech-language-therapy.com/webwords10appendix.htm

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