| What Can I Do With a Bachelors in Sociology? |
| A National Survey of Seniors Majoring in Sociology |
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| Project Summary |
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| Sociology majors, their parents, and the public often ask, “What can bachelor’s-level graduates do with their degrees in sociology?” To find out what these graduates are actually doing, the American Sociological Association (ASA)’s Research and Development Department will survey a sample of sociology students three times: (1) in their senior year of college, (2) one year after graduation, and (3) two years after graduation. The Sociology Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF) has provided support for this study. The ASA has sub-contracted to the Indiana University Center for Survey Research (CSR) to conduct the survey proper and provide the ASA with the results for analysis. A committee of current and former chairs of sociology departments is advising on all phases of the project. |
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| The Senior Survey |
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| The senior-year survey will go into the field in spring 2005 and asks seniors why they chose sociology as a major, what skills and concepts they learned, what activities they participated in, and what they intend to do after graduation. The survey items were selected and ranked by sociology department chairs who attended a workshop at last year’s annual ASA meeting. The advisory committee refined the survey, and students in research methods classes are currently pre-testing it. The final survey will be ready in January 2005. |
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| Sample Selection |
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| The Research and Development Department will randomly select 20 PhD-granting departments, 20 Master’s degree-granting departments, and 40 bachelor’s degree-granting departments to represent the share of graduating seniors from each type of institution of higher education. We will ask chairs of these departments if they are interested in participating in the study and if they will be able to provide us with a list of senior majors and their e-mail contacts within a few weeks (in some cases they will require approval from their own campus IRBs). If a chair of a randomly selected department declines to participate, we will substitute another school of the same type from a list of volunteer departments. |
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| Data Collection |
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| Senior sociology majors in the selected departments will be invited to participate. They will be provided with a consent form to sign as part of the online survey and can decide not to participate. The aggregated results of this survey will be issued to sociology department chairs and majors in a variety of formats, including customized tables. These data can be used to improve department curriculum, activities, and services. |
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| Help Needed |
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| As of December 2004, we are building a pool of volunteer departments interested in participating in the study. These departments will serve as substitutes in the event that randomly selected departments are unable to participate. Not all substitute departments will be asked to participate. Volunteers will need to provide a list of students majoring in sociology and indicate whether they need or can obtain IRB approval for this project. Once the student names and e-mail addresses are provided to the ASA, the students will be invited to participate in the online survey hosted by Indiana University’s Center for Survey Research (CSR). If you are interested in participating, please let us know so that we can send you further information about the survey. |
| Please feel free to e-mail Roberta Spalter-Roth or William Erskine with any questions or comments. Or call us at 202-383-9005. |
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| BA & Beyond Home |
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Volunteers |
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Advisory Board Members |
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| Draft Questionnaire (PDF) |
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Project Calendar |
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ASA IRB Protocol (PDF) |
