[1] The title of her 1986 doctoral thesis was Single Women as Immigrant Settlers in New Zealand, 1853–1871.

[1] Her work has been marked by innovative approaches to historical research methodology and story-telling.

For example, in her 1990 book A Woman of Good Character, she analysed the data connected to the lives of over 4,000 women, in combination with more conventional historical archival work, to understand a large migrant group: single women who came to New Zealand in the 19th century.

[5] Macdonald was awarded a Marsden Fund grant in 2014 for a project entitled "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Settler: Garrison and Empire in the Nineteenth Century",[6] which has developed into the Soldiers of Empire project.

She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi in 2017.