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Systems Thinking and Systems Research

Overview

Systems Research is exciting but can be intimidating to start! This video workshop, presented by systemic designer Tara Campbell, is a great starting point before beginning your research. How do you research a system with all its parts? Learn about both primary and secondary research in this video.  

Methodology

This Research Design Essentials Roadmap, developed by the University of Waterloo, will layout the basic steps and considerations to make when doing Systems Research, including providing: 

  • A Design Roadmap
  • General Research Tips and Methodologies
  • Ethical Considerations
  • Interview Tips

Finding Academic Resources

When conducting Systems Research, it is important to develop a comprehensive understanding of your topic of interest. Finding academic or "scholarly" sources related to your system is an important first step to exploring a system in more detail. 

What are academic sources? Academic, or scholarly sources will contain either primary or secondary research, and will come in many different formats (University of Toronto Libraries, 2024). Books, journal articles, reports and websites can all be scholarly. For the most part, you will find academic sources by using Library databases or academic search engines like Google Scholar. 

What are primary and secondary sources?

Much of your background research will be using primary and secondary sources, found in peer-reviewed journal articles and books.  

Primary sources present original and direct evidence. They are usually created by someone with personal experience of something. Common primary sources are historical documents (for example, a transcript of oral history, or interview data), raw data from a study or experiment, or demographic records.

Secondary sources draw on primary sources. They may comment on primary sources, or use the evidence from primary sources to construct an argument. Books or journal articles that analyse, critique, or synthesise a range of sources are examples of secondary sources (Massey University, 2019). 

Watch this video to learn more about Primary and Secondary Research: 

How do I search using the Library? 

The Library has hundreds of different database collections, each containing thousands of different journals, ebooks and more. Watch this video to learn how to search many of our resources in our Library Search. Scroll further for helpful search tips. 

Essential Search Tips Using Boolean Operators: 

  • Quotation marks search for a phrase instead of individual words. For example, "social media".
  • AND finds records with all of your terms/keywords and narrows your search. For example, (children AND nutrition AND "mental health)
  • OR finds records with any of the terms and broadens your search. For example, (children OR youth OR teens).
  • Truncation finds records with a term's various endings. For example, animat* = animate, animated, animation, etc. 

Watch this short video for more information on Boolean searches:

Selected below are a number of key databases, with descriptions, to help you with your Systems Research. For further databases, explore our A-Z List. For specific journal titles, search the Library's journal holdings. 

Google Scholar is a great place to look for scholarly sources, but much of the information requires a subscription to read. If you are searching in Google Scholar, make sure to link the Library, to be able to access more information. To link Humber to Google Scholar, watch the following short video: 

Finding Grey Literature

The term grey literature is used to describe a wide range of different information that is produced outside of traditional publishing and distribution channels, and which is often not well represented in indexing databases.

A widely accepted definition in the scholarly community for grey literature is

"information produced on all levels of government, academia, business and industry in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing" ie. where publishing is not the primary activity of the producing body." 

From: Third International Conference on Grey Literature in 1997 (ICGL Luxembourg definition, 1997  - Expanded in New York, 2004).

Documents that are considered grey literature include:

  • policies or procedures documents (including government documents)
  • guidelines
  • conference proceedings, papers or posters
  • dissertations and theses
  • clinical trials
  • leaflets and factsheets
  • publications from professional associations, think tanks, and other organizations
  • and more.

Adapted from the University of Exeter Libraries and McMaster University Libraries.

Grey Literature is meaningful in helping address gaps in research on a particular topic and may help present a more holistic understand of said topic. It is an important source for:

Adapted from McMaster University Libraries

One of the challenges with grey literature research is where to go searching. As with most forms of research, there isn't a single database or search engine that is going help you discover publications and relevant documents for a topic. Instead, depending on which type of grey literature you're looking for, you'll be headed in many directions and rely on different search strategies.

Here are a few places to get started finding Grey Literature:

Try using a Google Advanced Search. 

  • Do a keyword search on a topic (ie: refugees and housing)
  • You can limit a search to a site domain: .gc.ca (Canadian government) or.org (general organizations) or .edu (some educational institutions use this domain name).
  • You can limit a search by document type: (ie: .pdf) 

Example Google Advanced search: 

And if you need some additional guidance and resource suggestions, consider reviewing this Grey Literature Guide from the University of Toronto Libraries.

Finding Statistics, Data and Demographics

Statistics, data and demographic research takes time and can sometimes be challenging (but also fun!).

Below are Library resources that will help you find this information. If you would like support with your research, book an appointment with a librarian to help you get started with your research topic. 

Open Data Sources

Canada

International

Finding News Sources

Finding Legislation