This document summarizes various research projects conducted in public policy, urban planning, and communication studies. It includes independent research on the Thai Town neighborhood in Los Angeles, the federal Move to Opportunity affordable housing program, and the effects of Facebook on relationships. It also describes organizing a tour of the Persian community in Westwood for a planning class and conducting interviews with the Downtown Women's Center. Finally, it mentions plans for group research on the effects of narrative versus non-narrative instruction on memory retention and learning across different age groups, genders, and socioeconomic classes.

1. Research
Public
Policy
and
Urban
Planning
Research:
Neighborhood
Study
on
Thai
Town
-­‐Conducted
independent
research
on
Thai
Town;
analyzed
neighborhood
demographics,
built
environment,
culture,
community
development,
housing,
and
socioeconomic
indicators.
Move
To
Opportunity
and
Community
Development
Research
on
Affordable
Housing
Programs
-­‐Conducted
independent
research
on
both
positive
as
well
as
negative
effects
of
the
federal
government’s
“Move
to
Opportunity
Program”
on
low
income
households
as
well
community
development
programs.
Neighborhood
Tour
-­‐
Persian
Square
-­‐Organized
and
conducted
a
tour
for
a
UCLA
Urban
Planning
class
titled
"Planning
With
Minority
Communities"
of
the
Persian
community
and
history
in
Westwood.
-­‐Researched
history
if
Iranian
community
as
well
as
immigration
to
Los
Angeles
and
Westwood
-­‐Contacted
various
Iranian
business
owners,
non-­‐
profits
and
religious
organizations
for
students
to
meet
and
learn
from
as
well
as
interviewed
various
store
owners
to
learn
about
the
history
of
their
business.
Domestic
Violence
Policy
Brief
-­‐Worked
with
a
partner
on
researching
United
States
public
policy
on
domestic
violence.
Furthermore,
summarized
domestic
violence’s
history,
its
effects
on
children,
and
the
role
of
the
media.
Downtown
Women’s
Center
Interview
-­‐Conducted
an
interview
and
on-­‐site
visit
with
the
Downtown
Women’s
Center.
-­‐Wrote
report
about
services
provided
as
well
as
an
assessment
of
clients’
needs,
how
the
organization
creates
change,
and
challenges
for
the
community.

2.
Communication
Studies
Research
Facebook’s
Effects
on
Relationships
(Independent)
This study focused on the role the Internet has played on the dynamics of relationships
people have. In this study the focus is on what positive and negative effects Facebook has
had on the quality and quantity of established relationships. Participants were chosen
through a convenience sample. 45 college participants were asked to take an online
survey anonymously and 2 other college participants were interviewed. Results
demonstrated that Facebook has positively impacted relationships that were established in
real life. Furthermore results indicate that Facebook has not increased the number of
close friends people state having. Lastly Facebook has helped people maintain long
distance relationships. Such results have been supported in studies done by Pollet,
Haspels and Boyd.
Dynamics of Cross Sex Friendships (Independent)
The age-old question of whether men and women can just be friends has reached various
conclusions from an array of studies. This paper will examine past research that focuses
on the dynamics of cross sex friendships, giving insight to whether men and women can
just be friends. Research shows that there are gender differences in cross sex friendships.
While it is possible for men and women to have friendships, research shows that many
challenges arise such as one partner wanting a romantic relationship while the other
wants a platonic relationship. Research reveals that one person in the cross sex friendship
is usually dissatisfied with the platonic nature of the friendship but out of fear of rejection
maintains the cross sex friendship.
The Effect of Narrative versus Non-Narrative Instruction on Memory Retention and
Learning (Group Work)
We wish to continue the investigation into the efficacies of narrative education building
upon current research, and to add depth and context to our results by testing across
genders, age ranges and socio-economic classes in hopes of achieving a comprehensive
understanding of narrative as an education tool and technique. By working with different
age groups ranging from kindergarten and graduate school, we will attempt to minimize
the limitation of working outside of the critical development periods necessary to achieve
cognitive maturation and in which learning is optimized. By working across genders we
would like to establish if there is a gender component to narrative learning and if so, can
it be cross referenced against a specific age category to maximize efficacy of this
teaching method? We will begin inquiry by testing for retention and basing the need for
future studies analyzing comprehension and conceptual understanding using our first
results as a foundation.