04-19-2007, 09:50 PM

Hey all,

I've got a research paper due for my empirical politics class due in two weeks but I'm having a really hard time coming up with a topic and I was hoping for some suggestions.

Basically, the topic is actually a hypothesis that we will be able to test with data already on my college's server. The data comes from General Social Surveys, so they're pretty typical questions.

Some examples:
- People with high incomes get better educations than people with low incomes.
- The higher the number of males in a state, the less females there are in the Senate for that state.
- The older a person is, the more likely it is they will oppose the legalization of maurijuana.

Like I said, they're just hypothesises - I don't know whether they are true or not, although I could test them. Still, they don't really interest me all that much.

So, if any of you have any questions similar to the above (that at least somewhat involve politics) please suggest them. If there's anything you're curious about, just let me know. I'd love to hear from you. I need to have my topic nailed down soon, but I'm really having trouble.

Thanks.

04-19-2007, 10:03 PM

sounds interesting.

everything i thought of off the top of my head for a topic could probably be seen as offensive to someone though, so i better not share.

04-19-2007, 11:10 PM

I don't know if it would be interesting to you:
The comparison between a young woman who never married vs. a single mother with children.
Who would be more likely interested in voting on all elections (not just presidential).

More young women may vote for a woman president than more older women. Or, vice versa.

04-20-2007, 12:38 AM

How about testing how third-party representatives vote on issues. Like whether they're more liberal or conservative in their decisions on votes. (Third party basically meaning any party that isn't democrat or republican.)

04-20-2007, 10:38 AM

Great ideas everybody!

Keep them coming!