What question is guiding your research? (what do you want to use your research to understand?)
I have a few questions guiding my research:
Are there income inequalities between races?
If there are racial inequalities, why?
How are income level and health status connected?
Are minorities health disproportionately affected because of the income levels?
What are the attitudes/policies/history that contribute to the disparities?
In the workplace…..
How can we mend these differences?
How can we not only become more diverse but more inclusive?
I also want to elaborate my understanding on the different forms of racism and how it is connected with this topic.
Why this question? (help us to understand how it connects to your career/personal interests)
I am very passionate about public health and policy (those are my two majors). My entry level courses have only explored these issues on the surface. Through this project I would like to go more in depth from different angles. One day I hope to use my knowledge surrounding disparities that appear income and health (and other forms) to create societal change through legislation.
How will your professional/internship/organizational/course work inform your inquiry? (what connections can you see with the work that you’re part of in the world beyond our course?)
As I stated above, these issues are core topics in both of my majors. Beyond this course, I want to continue to educate myself and others on social injustices in different forms (women, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, BIPOC, etc.). As a career path, I would like to work in some way to find solutions. However, I do not have an ideal path on how I hope to accomplish this yet.
What fields (academic and professional) matter most to your inquiry? (where are you going to be looking for source material?)
I think the academic fields I am studying at Syracuse matter most to my inquiry. Some other relevant ones could be history and sociology.
Government would be an important professional field. Each branch of government plays a unique role in change.
Another important professional field would be Human Resource Departments of organizations to understand the current ways they work on diversity and inclusion, as well as equality and equity.
I am going to use the databases provided by Syracuse Library to find sources. Additionally, I plan on reaching out to the head of Syracuse University’s public health department for more guidance and insight on how to approach my research.
Currently, I need a more diverse set of sources. Most of the articles I have complied are overly complicated for this assignment. Even though I want to challenge myself, I do not want to confuse myself and readers.
I am a little overwhelmed because there is so much I want to cover through this assignment. I might need to organize my plan better by making it more specific.
I think that narrowing your scope will help you to make this more manageable. People devote entire careers to working on this issue, and you’ve got about 5 weeks, so it will help to narrow this down.
You can accomplish that in this research phase–don’t feel like you have to explain everything there is to know about healthcare inequities and racism in the United States. You can focus in on some specific facet that is most compelling to you. Maybe that’s an issue that you’ve found in the course of your research. Maybe it’s a question that you think is going unanswered in the texts you’re examining. Maybe it’s a particular policy that you think we need to examine, or a particular audience that really needs to hear what you’ve been learning. Those are all ways to tighten your scope.
Let me know what questions you have as you continue.