What's a good idea for a sociological research project?

Question

I have to work on this all semester, so I really want something that's going to keep me entertained throughout the whole thing. Any ideas?

Answer 1

This depends somewhat on what education level you're at, but here are some topics I find interesting:

1. I recently finished a year-long project on the growing gap between various groups in approval of homosexuality in the United States. It kept me interested, but I guess it's not for everyone.
2. for the same project I was tempted to study pro-anorexia or "pro-ana" support groups, which are basically groups of people (usually teenage girls) who promote anorexia as a way of life. There are several internet sites and communities.
3. two of my classmates did projects on homelessness, specifically the culture of homelessness and of organizations providing services for them.
4. two more classmates studied portrayals of Muslims in the media, which is a ripe enough topic to keep you busy for as long as you'd like.
5. something else that just interests me is the extent to which policy opinions are socially determined; that is, do people make up their minds on issues like immigration, minimum wage, war, affirmative action, etc. based just on thorough considerations of the facts, or do social and cultural influences (the media, peer pressure, cultural constructions of "liberalism" or "conservatism," deference to the instructions of religious leaders, and so on) play an important role?
6. If you're at all interested in theory, you might try contrasting actual Marxist theory with the American perception of Marxism that has been constructed through the experience of the cold war.
7. I did a different project interviewing people to see if gender has an effect on how people think about war, specifically the war in Iraq.

Answer 2

Find a way to measure someone's compassion.

Are we, as a society, more apt to help ourselves or help others? How are these choices biased (male/female, by age group, by income level, by race, by location, by political affiliation, by religious affiliation).

You should be able to determine some interesting facts, along the lines of:

"A female, 40-50 years of age, who makes less than $50,000 per year, who is caucasian and from a middle class neighborhood, a Democrat, and non-religious, is 50 percent more likely to donate time, money, and votes to help her fellow citizens in need than a male, 20-30 years of age, who makes more than $80,000 per year, non-caucasian, from an upper-class neighborhood, a Republican, and a Christian"

..or something like that.

Investigate who is truly giving unto others and who is not - and break it down into an intelligent, scientific social assesment based on data.

It'd be cool - and I bet you'd find the richest Churchgoers don't give nearly as much to the needy as the poorer non-churchgoers.

But then again - I might be very wrong! Do the research and let us know!

Answer 3

Something I also wanted to do but didn't have the time was a visual sociology piece related to the body art that people have. Take a picture of peoples tattoos and or other body art and have them share with you the meaning of the art to them. You could them categorize and analyze by types of responses...

Answer 4

I was a soc major in college and I remember doing a paper on graffiti. I think I called it Murals of the Metropolitan or something like that. I went around Chicago and took photos of graffiti and researched street gangs, etc. I included the photos in my paper, etc. It was the ONLY paper I remember writing besides one other one I had about sexual abuse but that was for a Social Statisitcs class.

Answer 5

Going against cultural norms...seriously...it could be a lot of fun too.

for example:

Go into an elevator and face the wrong way - see what people do

Go to the supermarket and buy your groceries..then try to negotiate the price with the cashier

Just think of things that we do everyday that are social norms and then attempt for you or a friend to break them and see peoples reactions. Enjoy!

Answer 6

How about this How the 1ST Nations lost thier land and were nearly all wiped out.And Custer how much of a racist he was,and the gov trying to kill all the Buffallo to starve the Indians.I could go on and on.If your intrested i would write a page for you,on my point of view i am 1ST Nations myself.Peace Victorio

Answer 7

something that comparatively involves race, sex, age, gender, class. so maybe looking at how elderly people view social media or how high crime areas are viewed from an outsider vs an insider perspective

Answer 8

Survey people and ask them if the sit or stand to wipe their butt. You'll probably be surprised at the results.

Answer 9

Goto a school and find the most popular kid observe him/her and find out what they do and what they like. Then make that kid the extreme opposite and see what happens :p

Answer 10

haha same here! taking up sociology this sem too. How about a project about "pre-marital sex" or "Hook-ups" students encounter today...haha