Suggestions for Project Work
Topics for small research projects
Use the method table to match a topic to observation, survey, archives and interviews.
The book suggests six broad topics for small projects:
- public transport: how a mode of transport (bus, train, auto-rickshaw) is used and has changed;
- communication media: how people use letters, phones, TV or the internet;
- household appliances: how gadgets have changed domestic work;
- public space: who uses a park, a street or a market, and when;
- changing aspirations: what young people hope for, compared with their parents;
- the biography of a commodity: following an object through its life; you might even write as if you were a television set, telling its story.
Each topic is broad: you must choose one specific question within it. You may also pick a topic of your own.
A method table in the book matches each topic to methods:
| Method | Example use |
|---|---|
| Observation | watch who uses a public space at different times |
| Survey | ask many households which appliances they own and who uses them |
| Archival work | read old newspapers to trace the history of a transport mode |
| Interviews | talk to older people about how communication has changed |
Some practical advice from the book:
- Boys should also study domestic work; it is not only a topic for girls.
- For the aspirations topic, interview young people not from your own school, so that you hear different backgrounds and are not just repeating your friends' views.
Ask, don't tell: never pre-judge the answer. For example, do not assume that the decline of letter writing is sad and then ask leading questions. Let people tell you what they think; perhaps they find phone calls better.
Small projects can be real research: careful questions, honest methods and an open mind.
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