What's WRI 235 about?

Talking with people is fundamental to social scientific research. Historians and sociologists conduct interviews to glean insights about personal experiences and global events alike. Economists and political scientists deploy qualitative surveys to understand how people think, learn, and reason about social issues, the law, and beyond. Anthropologists and psychologists observe real-time dialogue—whether in situ or in curated settings—to discover the linguistic foundations of institutional and interactional life. But what makes those methods distinctive from the conversations in which we all already participate in our everyday lives? And what makes conversation a convincing base of evidence for understanding human behaviors and societies more broadly?

This sophomore research seminar immerses students in the art and science of conversation-based methods for social research, empowering them to develop habits of mind and practical skills for scholarly success as they pursue an original social scientific project of their own design. In the first half of the course, we learn about the essential elements of social scientific inquiry as practiced across Princeton’s eight social science departments, transform topics of interest into focused and feasible plans for interview- or survey-based research projects, and synthesize expert wisdom and experiential knowledge to devise instruments for original data collection. In the second half, we test drive our interview guides or surveys with our target communities, share our most triumphant and most awkward moments from those conversations to improve our interactional skills, and imagine what future stages of our research might entail if actualized—whether in the spring semester through WRI 236 (“From Data to Discovery”), as a summer passion project, or through departmental independent work opportunities. Throughout, we discover how our bodies and our voices are indispensable tools for achieving innovative and impactful social scientific discoveries.

A prospective concentrator in African American Studies might pursue an oral history project documenting the professional trajectories of Black doctors and healthcare workers at the close of the twenty-first century. Aspiring policymakers could organize a community-based research partnership with educators in the Princeton area to reveal the unseen factors driving teacher shortages in American public schools. Students passionate about language and communication could conduct bilingual interviews to discover when and why conversational code-switching occurs. An engineering or natural science major curious about the cognitive underpinnings of a topic like climate change skepticism might develop and run an original survey experiment; a humanities student eager to understand the musical tastes, media habits, or value systems of their fellow students could convene focus groups to scratch that intellectual itch. All topics and students are welcome, whether you plan to major in a social science field or not! 

How do the schedule and assignments work?

“Is Talk Cheap?” is a standard, one-semester, full-time seminar. The course meets for two 80-minute blocks each week and, unlike all other Sophomore Research Seminars this year, does not hold a precept. For Fall 2025, WRI 235 will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 - 10:20 a.m.  

Short, weekly assignments comprise 50% of each student’s final course grade and are organized around research skills relevant to their individual project and intellectual goals. Those smaller assignments are also the building blocks of each semester’s summative assignment (each contributing 15% to each student’s final grade) and the inspiration for each semester’s concluding exercise (each contributing 5%)—about how their research experiences and learning might transfer to other courses and contexts. 

Students interested in continuing with their research beyond the fall term will have priority for admission to WRI 236, “From Data to Discovery,” in Spring 2026.  
 

What else should I know?

Like all sophomore research seminars housed in the Writing Program, this course will include sessions on obtaining undergraduate research funding, building a research network at Princeton (and beyond!), balancing professional ambition with personal wellbeing, cultivating a supportive peer writing community, and sharing research findings effectively in public-facing genres. 

For more information, review the Registrar’s listing for WRI 235.