Plan and conduct research to develop and test theories about societal issues such as crime, group relations, poverty, and aging.

“Plan and conduct research to develop and test theories about societal issues such as crime, group relations, poverty, and aging.” is a core task performed by Sociologists. Among the occupation's 13 rated tasks, workers place it 9th by importance (#5 most important). About 100% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Research historical or social issues. in Getting Information
• Develop research plans or methodologies. in Thinking Creatively

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E2. Exposure with tools — software built on top of a language model (not the model alone) could cut the time by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.50. Automation potential label: T2.

How AI is actually used on this kind of task

The Anthropic Economic Index observes how people actually use AI on tasks like this one across millions of real conversations.

• 0.006% share of AI-use records mapped to this task
• Most common interaction: learning
• Average autonomy of the AI: 3.7 (1–5; higher = more autonomous)
• 98% of interactions still needed a human in the loop

Observed AI use describes people choosing to use AI as a tool on this kind of task today. It is augmentation and assistance, not a measure of jobs replaced.

Working with AI vs. handing it off

Of the AI conversations mapped to this task, the split between people working alongside AI and people delegating the task to it.

How people interact with AI on this task

Other tasks in this occupation

• Analyze and interpret data to increase the understanding of human social behavior. · importance 4.7
• Prepare publications and reports containing research findings. · importance 4.3
• Collect data about the attitudes, values, and behaviors of people in groups, using observation, interviews, and review of documents. · importance 4.3
• Develop, implement, and evaluate methods of data collection, such as questionnaires or interviews. · importance 4.3
• Teach sociology. · importance 4.3
• Present research findings at professional meetings. · importance 4.0
• Develop problem intervention procedures, using techniques such as interviews, consultations, role playing, and participant observation of group interactions. · importance 3.8
• Consult with and advise individuals such as administrators, social workers, and legislators regarding social issues and policies, as well as the implications of research findings. · importance 3.7
• Direct work of statistical clerks, statisticians, and others who compile and evaluate research data. · importance 3.5
• Collaborate with research workers in other disciplines. · importance 3.5
• Develop approaches to the solution of groups' problems, based on research findings in sociology and related disciplines. · importance 3.3
• Observe group interactions and role affiliations to collect data, identify problems, evaluate progress, and determine the need for additional change. · importance 3.2

See all tasks on the Sociologists page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-5466,
  title  = {Plan and conduct research to develop and test theories about societal issues such as crime, group relations, poverty, and aging.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-5466}
}