If you’ve spent any time in the world of qualitative research, you know it is gloriously, wonderfully messy. You’re usually swimming in a sea of interview transcripts, half-annotated PDFs, and those "aha!" moments scribbled on sticky notes that inevitably fall behind your desk. For a long time, it felt like our quantitative colleagues had all the flashy tools while we were left with highlighters and hope. That’s exactly why I’m so excited about the 4th edition of Qualitative Data Analysis with NVivo.

Research methods and skills can make all the difference to student success, yet they are not always taught explicitly in the classroom. Sage Campus helps close that gap with scaffolded learning that builds confidence step by step, equipping learners with the practical skills they need to thrive in their studies and beyond.

In this engaging guest post, Gary Thomas, author of the How to do Your Research Project (5th edition) provides students with accessible guidance on key points to consider when starting a dissertation.

Following up from the launch of Inclusive Research Methodologies, this week Sage Research Methods expands its resources with another timely launch - Sage Research Methods Video: Doing Survey Research, a new video collection supporting learners through every stage of one of the most widely used research methods.

As research methods continue to evolve, one thing is clear: researchers and students need practical support they can trust to conduct research responsibly. This month, Sage Research Methods expands its collection with two closely timed launches, each addressing a different but equally important aspect of the research process

As the world of academic publishing continues to expand, authors must be savvy about where they submit their work. With bad actors attempting to leverage systemic vulnerabilities, special care must be taken to identify high-quality publishing outlets.

Beatriz Figueroa, author of Avoiding Plagiarism, explores how plagiarism has evolved - from copy-and-paste to misrepresentation across text and GenAI. The new edition reflects this shift, with a modern rethink focused on ownership, attribution and trust.

A persistent challenge in qualitative research is synthesis. When you are working with large volumes of text (interviews, field reports, narrative accounts) across multiple countries and time periods, how do you move systematically from individual accounts to broader patterns? And how do you do so without flattening the complexity that makes qualitative data valuable in the first place?

This piece describes how causal mapping, combined with an AI-assisted coding workflow, helped address that challenge in a large, multi-country research and evaluation project and what researchers working with similarly complex qualitative datasets might take from the experience.

Two defining directions shaping emerging trends in research methods are the rapid incorporation of digital research methods and the growing emphasis on inclusive research methodologies. The first accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the second reflects a longstanding effort to diversify perspectives, challenge dominant paradigms, and enable participation from marginalised communities.

The Sage Research Methods editorial team is pleased to announce that we are now accepting proposals for our next collection, Using AI for Research.

This collection will provide social and behavioural science researchers and students with urgently needed clear, critical, practical guidance for using AI across the research lifecycle.

In the next few weeks and months, students will be completing final year research projects as part of their degree programme. For many, this is a highly weighted assessment and the longest piece of academic writing they have undertaken to date. These projects are not only substantial in length; they are also deeply personal. As a result, the final stages of the research process are often accompanied by a mix of anticipation, relief and anxiety about “letting go” of something they have worked on for so long. What does this mean for supervisors, and how can you best support students in overcoming this final hurdle?

We are proud to announce that the Research Integrity Collection is now complete! In our recent webinar, we explored the value, purpose practical implementation of the collection to serve your entire research community.

Sage Research Methods continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of researchers, educators, and students worldwide. We’re pleased to share that our latest updates are now live, bringing fresh resources, new perspectives, and expanded methodological coverage across the resource. These updates are designed to help users stay current, work more inclusively and ethically, and confidently navigate research at every stage — from foundational learning to advanced, real‑world application.

You are teaching a methods course in Politics and International Relations. Perhaps it is a course that has ‘research methods’ in the title. Perhaps the final assignment for your course is a research project. Perhaps you are convening a dissertation module. What challenges do you expect?

Looking for fresh ways to enrich your methods curriculum? Dive into Sage’s new Research Methods Resources Hub for free resources that harness insights from our leading authors, and introduce strategies to improve research teaching, learning and practice.

Professor Matthew Campbell explores how research integrity is shaped through everyday leadership decisions and highlights three key leadership levers that strengthen and influence research culture.

To mark International Mentorship Month, Audrey J. Murrell, Ph.D. — lead advisor of the Epigeum’s upcoming ‘Mastering Mentoring’ program — explores the impact of mentoring and how intentional, well‑supported approaches can be beneficial for learning.

In this guest post, Kyra van Weenen, Commissioning Editor for Sage Research Methods explores the unique concept behind Sage’s flagship Research Methods Case Studies, and how they support researchers and students in conducting their own research.

You’ve probably heard it before: “Never cite Wikipedia in your research paper.” And it’s good advice. But maybe you haven’t heard about how using Wikipedia (especially its citations) actually strengthens your work and even helps others discover it later. And this post is all about that!

With 2025 ending, you may be thinking about reviewing your research progress and preparing for the upcoming year. If you don’t know where to start, here are some suggestions on organizing your work and planning for 2026.