What's a good topic for a sociology report?

I think that you should make an appointment with the prof or go to see him/her during office hours to get some clarification on the assignment. You might want to start out by contacting the Teaching Assistant first, if there is one.

I think your idea is good. Now you should go and research it, to see what has already been done. In your research you should pay attention to the data collection methods the other researchers use. You want to design a study that is simple and doable. Maybe you would put your picture on a number of sites—half with one picture and half with the other. Same text for each. Then see what kind of responses you get. You also need to characterize the sites, because that can have a huge effect on the responses. People on an “adult” dating site might be a lot different than people on a Jewish singles site or Craigslist.

I’d ask for clarification from the instructor, particularly on a long-term project. Surely, there are parameters/guidelines to be met.

Your idea has merit., as it could be used to measure the number of responses achieved if the profiles provide the same information, other than the photo. The downside might be if it is against the site’s rules to do such a thing. Also, it seems unfair to those that might be interested in hooking up with you for whatever the intent of the site is if you have no interest in following up.

Just to throw out some other ideas, how about some sort of study on stereotypes about something that interests you? Italians/Americans or single parents comes to mind.

About your specific idea—what you are proposing sounds more like social psychology than sociology. Sociologists don’t usually artificially set up situations and then observe them.

If it were me, I’d do research on how electronic devices that are supposed to be helpful, are actually causing people to be less social/more destructive.

I’m imagining the rude person at the restaurant shouting on their phone, while others are trying to eat——the person texting while in the grocery line, that doesn’t even bother to look at or interact with the clerk——the people texting while driving….The dichotomy created by one person being social and unsocial at the same moment.

There are literally hundreds of topics. You give me something about people that interests you and I’ll give you your topic.

Considering what I’ve been reading on Fluther today, you could have a series of words or phrases or statements, written on paper only, so that the readers could not gain any type of “meaning” from the words by a speaker’s tone or nuance or facial expressions and have the people say what they think the phrase “means to them.” Or what type of an emotional impact the words or phrases have on them.

You could troll through some Fluther threads to find words and phrases that have or are likely to cause confusion, depending upon how they were said, or meant to be said by the speaker. But the catch is that people can only read the words, and not hear them spoken, and they would be out of context. It would be really interesting to see how people react differently to the same words.

I would read the book Connected by Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler, and map social networking of people you know, and then apply trends or behaviors to connectivity.

Or, Third Place Space and whether or not social media sites like Fluther can fill the role of third place spaces.

@noelleptc I will give you one I’ve been wanting to read if you’ll promise to email me a copy should you write on it.

Parallels between extreme political movements and cults.

@noelleptc Ouch. Then mine is off the table. I see why you are strugling to find an idea. I’ll think on it some.

@noelleptc Here’s an experiment. Put on something you think is ‘slutty’ ( i have problems with the word and the concept, hence the quotes). Walk down two blocks, have someone videotape people’s reactions to you. Analyze.

You could do it on the social impact of baby boomers. That seems to be a huge topic right now….
just an idea!

Okay…so hands-on observation. When I was in college, our Sociality class had a similar assignment. I camped out in the dorm’s laundry room for a couple of months and took notes on how people cleaned their clothes. Did they sort? What products did they use? How often did they wash their clothes?

It was an easy ‘A’ because it was a very specific topic that was measurable. If you can find something that you can monitor on a daily basis that interests you, then you have your topic. Brainstorm with me…what do you do on a daily basis that involves social action?

Hi again. Right, so, yesterday I mentioned that sociologists usually don’t “experiment” or create artificial situations. I’ve been thinking about it and actually, there is one area of sociology that I can think of where there is a tradition of doing this sort of thing. Look up “deviance,” People who study that area often go out and do things that go against social norms, so see how others react. See Garfinkel. (I am a sociologist, btw.)