Bryant Yang

Sociology, '17, working with Professor Paul Chang

Professor Chang and I worked together on his long-term project to understand the changing family patterns in South Korea. I was primarily involved with the literature review for the project at its beginning stage, which primarily involved synthesizing existing research on family patterns and categorizing it into salient categories for the research to be built upon. I was also able to help Professor Chang with developing the questions he asked his subjects in Korea, whom he was interviewing throughout the semester.   

Working on this project has been extremely eye opening in terms of actually understanding what it’s like to be a "sociologist," from the beginning of the research process to actually seeing the data collection process. It gave me a much greater appreciation for how intensive and fascinating the original research process is and how much goes on behind every paper and article I read in my studies. While I am not planning on pursuing academia after college, this experience has helped me understand the rigor and application of academic research and truly value the very real implications of what I am studying as an undergraduate.