Research Ideas

A study comparing the proportions of people rushing through train stations as a measure of stress or busyness. Train stations are fascinating places. I reckon it'd be fascinating to do a longitudinal study of the amount of people rushing through trainstations and/or the pace at which they are moving. Over time this could perhpas provide a measure of how life is speeding up.

A study of how personality types (eg Myers Briggs) are portrayed in movies. Ie. Are the emotional types portrayed negatively or positively? What about introverts vs extroverts, etc. Movies are obviously a great refelction of our culture and values. During the last century we've developed several models of personality types. Studies already tell us that certain personality types are more common than others. But what do we know about how different personalities are valued and how this might affect young people and their developing personalities as they grow up. I think it'd be fascinating to know how different personalities are portrayed in films, which ones are portrayed positively? which negatively? does this vary between genre's. Has it changed over time. What about the appearance of unlikely heroes such as those played by Adam Sandler and Jim Carey?

Do some research on the role/participation/involvement of women in the NGO/community sector or the lack of involvement/participation of men, particularly younger ones. Men and particularly younger ones are much under represented in the community sector, why? What does this say about the way our society values the sector, perceptions about gender roles etc.

A study on uses and forms of consensus decision making worldwide. Consensus is an emerging decision making system as an alternative to auotcratic and antagonistic systems. It's already used in a range of different ways and contexts, but awareness of this is quite low. A study which examined the uses and forms of consensus across the globe would be a great tool for assisting people and groups to take it up and use it more effectively.