All sociology and social work majors carry out research as a requirement for graduation. Students are encouraged to take a multidisciplinary approach and collaborate with faculty and students in other departments, such as Criminal Justice, Communication, Politics, Psychology, International Relations, and Nursing.

Faculty and students in the Department of Sociology and Social Work are engaged in a wide variety of research topics and are affiliated with several research programs across Saint Anselm College. Our students have presented their work at various interdisciplinary undergraduate conferences on campus (Mind over Major and Showcasing Our Art and Research (SOAR)), as well as at regional sociological research conferences like the Eastern Sociological Society Annual Conference.

There are several opportunities for compensated student research. Saint Anselm College currently receives funding from the New Hampshire Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (IN-BRE) grant. Internal funds for research are also available in the form of the Albert H. Gordon Summer Research Fellowship, the Honors Summer Research Fellowship, and the fall and spring Undergraduate Research Fellowships. Additionally, students have served as research assistants working on faculty research projects and have secured external sources of funding to complete their own research projects.

Recently, sociology and social work students have used the IN-BRE grants to fund research that addresses the social determinants of health, which is important for improving health and reducing disparities in health and health care. Our students have also recently won the prestigious Albert H. Gordon Summer Research Fellowship, which funded research on how labor and employers navigated the rise of globalization since the 1970s, and secured external funding sources to support field research examining gender dynamics in rural Nepal.