Narrowing Towards a Research Question
(Sample)

Everyday Theme: Consumerism and the Everyday
 

Broad Topic: College Choice and Status.
 

Relevant Conversations:  1. Aspiring parents (conscious of prestige but also cost) 2. Aspiring students (following parents' lead) 3. Educators (advocating college choice be based on quality of learning and student-school fit) 4. College Admissions (promoting school choice as a crucial decision, without acknowledging the product-sales dimension) 5. Test Prep/Counseling Companies (emphasizing admission as competition, requiring investment in training and preparation) 6. Consumer Groups (concerned with the over-pricing of education, and the exploitation of parents' ability/willingness to pay)

Topic Paragraph:

 I am interested in the way that people represent themselves in public by advertising their connection with a college or university, especially when this is not just an expression of support for an athletic team.  I would like to know what it is taken to express, whether it involves unstated ideas about status and the value of certain diplomas. It may be a form of expressing social class.

Working Research Questions:

Why do so many college graduates continue to sport logos on their clothing and bumper-stickers on their cars, years after they've given up on the loosing football teams of their alma maters? Does the school one attends in the U.S. express something about your subjectivity? Does it convey value, a sense of class, of belonging or exclusion?  If the source of one's diploma (rather than grades earned or subsequent life achievements) has meaning, what is it? How do subjects reconcile this status oriented self-branding (Grade-A College Graduate, Not from Concentrate) with other U.S. values about individuality, the merits of hard work and earned successes, and the investment in a class-less society?  Do graduates from all colleges sport their pedigree in the same fashion? Do drivers of all kinds of cars seem equally likely to advertise? Is it prominent mostly in urban areas with competitive job markets and yuppee culture?