Research Ideas

I can't call these dissertation ideas because I am officially over thinking about it for awhile. I have moved on to the more general category of research ideas because that's where it all starts and since I'm just beginning it seems like the right place to be.

In an effort to begin on neutral territory and make some decisions about what really interests me and not just focusing on what I've been working on, I went to the bookstore and browsed the social science, anthropology, political science, and philosophy sections. Expecting a eureka moment proved a thousand times more ambitious than I should have been: I should have hoped for a bit of a narrowing of ideas. Instead I found this...

Things that interest me: social stratification, abject poverty, comparative poverty, food security, political poverty, policy formation, child welfare, linguistics as a basis for social work, working class issues, feminist philosophy, equality (gender, ethnic, etc), and pretty much everything else.

Another thing that has been weighing on me is that scholars spend a lot of time being scholarly and I don't know how well that translates to social work getting done. Is that a possible topic? Considering how social work practioners learn about and use research? There are many aspects to this including the language used in peer reviewed journals, the accessibility of peer reviewed journals, support for changing practices in bureaucratic agencies, interest in learning about new research, etcetera, etcetera.

So many thoughts, so little time. I only wish my thoughts were currency.