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Social Research

at Briar Cliff University

SOCIAL RESEARCH B.A.
Students who find human behavior interesting, puzzling, and worthy of study often choose to major in social research. Sociologists study what people do when they are doing things together, whether they are two people relating to one another as friends or entire nations interacting in a global system. They study the social significance of social class, race, ethnicity, and gender discrimination and inequality. They investigate social processes such as deviant behavior, social control, and conflict. They use the qualitative and quantitative research tools of sociologists, anthropologists, and geographers. Social researchers gather empirical data that describe human institutions such as law, religion, education, the family, and the health care system. Sociologists then formulate theories that understand, interpret, and explain those institutions and processes.

A major in social research prepares an individual to gather, analyze, and interpret data for organizations, businesses, and social service agencies. Students interested in a teaching career may earn certification with a minor in sociology or through a concentration of specific courses. Students interested in a career as social researchers will acquire the theoretical background and research skills needed to pursue successful graduate study. Regardless of a student's career path, the social research program prepares individuals for interesting lives as well as for intelligent participation in efforts to improve the world in which they live.

INTERNSHIPS
Seniors have completed internships by assisting with funded projects of the Social Sciences Research Center at Briar Cliff and at such off-campus sites as the following:
Human Rights Commission, City of Sioux City
Girls, Inc.
Victim Assistance Program, Dakota County
Marian Health Center, Survey Research
Department of Housing, City of Sioux City
Nature Conservatory
Department of Leisure Services, City of Sioux City
Mary Treglia Community House
Council on Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence
Planning Office, City of Sioux City
Patient Education, St. Luke's Hospital
Jacob's Ladder, Mt. Olive Church

Faculty Highlights
(click on the pictures to email a professor with your questions)

Dr. Paul Olson, Ph.D., joined the Briar Cliff faculty in the fall of 2005 and is currently an assistant professor of sociology. Dr. Olson teaches courses on racial, ethnic, and gender inequality, research methods, sociological theory, sports and masculinity, and the sociology of religion. He is also actively involved in the implementation of learning communities at Briar Cliff.

Dr. Olson's research interests are primarily in the sociology of religion with an emphasis on church attendance and giving and the ways in which religious organizations cooperate, compete, and are occasionally in conflict with one another. His most recent research looks at week-to-week church attendance patterns in a number of churches from the 1950's to the present to see if attendance was more consistent in the past than it currently is and if national tragedies affected attendance in the past in the same way that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, did. He is also the editor of the quarterly newsletter for the Association for the Study of Religion, Economics, and Culture.

Dr. Olson and his wife, Teresa, have been married since 1997 and have two daughters, Phoebe and Siddha. When not on campus or changing diapers, Dr. Olson likes to run road races and participate in triathlons.

Education: Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2006; M.A., University of Kansas, 1999; B.A., University of Northern Iowa, 1997

Dr. Grace Ann Witte, O.S.F., associate professor of sociology and liberal arts, received her doctorate from the University of Notre Dame. In addition, she is coordinator of the criminal justice program at BCC.