POSSIBLE RESEARCH TOPICS

Your research paper, and the resulting thesis statement, must be an ARGUABLE issue. Be
prepared to present the actual findings of your research convincingly even if you discover that
your findings differ from your personal opinions. Remember, research is objective and not a
“soap box” for personal views. The following topics have been divided by subject:

BIOETHICAL ISSUES EDUCATION

 Withholding the truth from dying  Should schools determine what is

patients learned?
 Limits to confidentiality  Does a common curriculum promote
 Involuntary commitment equality?
 Organ donation  Home-schooling
 Access to experimental drugs for  Measurement-driven instruction
dying patients  Mainstreaming: beneficial to all?
 How to achieve literacy for all?
CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY  How can the government make
 Is criminal behavior biologically teacher’s profession become more
determined? appealing?
 Street crime vs. white-collar crime:  How can we modernize education to
which is more serious? make it more appealing?
 Is the criminal system racist?  What are advantages and
 Plea-bargaining disadvantages of home-schooling?
 Does arrest reduce domestic  Is present educational system
violence? capable of creating geniuses?
 Execution of juveniles  The importance of multilingual
education.
DEATH PENALTY  Do grades do justice to students’
knowledge
 The death penalty for minors
 The death penalty for the mentally ENVIRONMENT
handicapped
 Televised executions  Does the wilderness have intrinsic
 The death penalty as a deterrent value?
 The relationship between race and  Is there a cancer epidemic due to
the death penalty. industrial chemicals in the
 Women and the death penalty environment?
 Global warming
ECONOMIC ISSUES
HUMAN ISSUES
 Mandatory national service
 Minimum wage  Women in combat
 Is the middle class shrinking?  Career vs. family
  Euthanasia – an assisted suicide?
 How can research help cure AIDS?
 Are there effective ways to prevent
cancer?
 How do fats positively affect human
body and mind?
MASS MEDIA
 Does mass media shape Filipino
values?
 Privacy in the Information Age
 Advertising: is it ethical?
MORALITY
 Animal rights
 Do rich nations have an obligation
to help poor nations?
POLITICS
 Is a world government possible or
desirable?
PSYCHOLOGY
 Is behavior determined by biological
processes?
 Alcoholism as a disease: fact or
myth?
TEEN ISSUES
 Adolescent health problems
 Communications between parents
and teens
 Adolescent marriages
 Teen pregnancy:
o Emotional aspects
o Psychological stresses
o Short- and long-term affects
o Socio-economic aspects
 Spending/purchasing power of teens
 Teenage alcoholism:
o Socio-economic aspects
o Short- and long-term affects
o Emotional aspects
 College vs. career
 Major causes of juvenile crime
Topics on Business
 How can one turn a business idea
into a successful startup?
 How can creative marketing increase
the sales?
 Does taxation aim to kill small
businesses?
 Effective time management for big
and small teams.
 Is multitasking a productive method
of work?
 What are minimum wages around
the world? Should The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights control
them?
Topics on Social Issues
 How do social media influence
interpersonal communication?
 How can team sports affect social
abilities?
 LGBT tolerance around the world.
 Global citizenship: pros and cons.
 How to deal with social anxiety?
 How can one defend privacy issues
on Facebook and other social media?
 How to stop bullying in schools?