Dochuk's research deals primarily with the United States in the long twentieth century, with emphasis on the intersections of religion, politics, and the rising influence of the American West and Sunbelt Southwest in national life. He teaches courses that span the entire post-Civil War period but focus particularly on post-1890 developments. He also offers thematic courses on U.S. religious history, political history, American society in the 1960s, 1970s, and the Cold War period, and the politics and culture of energy (oil in particular) and environment.