Student Research Opportunities in Sociology

The Department of Sociology provides numerous opportunities for students to work with faculty on collaborative research and public service projects.

How it Works

Students can serve as volunteer-or in some cases paid--research assistants on faculty research projects, and for qualified students, the undergraduate Honors program, the MA thesis (SOC 592) and project (SOC 593), and the McNair Scholars Program are also great options. Students even co-author published research articles with faculty and participate in other forms of research and public service. 

Recent Collaborations

Professor Geoff Harkness coauthored "Sports and Qatar's Empowered Woman Narrative" with RIC undergraduates Esther Quiroz and Kimberly Gomez. The article was published in the journal Sociology Compass in 2018: https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/soc4.12631.

Professor Emeritus Roger Clark frequently coauthors with students. Just since 2019, he has published six articles coauthored with a total of 12 different undergraduate students on topics ranging from the fear of crime,  political and racial attitudes, the gender of TV commercial voiceovers, the relationship between drug overdoses and opioid prescriptions, and the representation of female characters in children's books. Many examples of Dr. Clark's work with RIC students can be found in the journal Sociology Between the Gaps: https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/sbg/all_issues.html.

Professor Jill Harrison has developed an innovative webinar series, "Promoting Restorative Justice in Law Enforcement," in collaboration with local police officers as well as with six RIC graduate and undergraduate students. This series includes webinars on Rightful Policing, Cultural Competency, Racial Profiling vs. Police Profiling, Who We Police and Why, and Mindfulness & Stress Reduction.