The Art of Life

Field Observation: The Art of Life Non-participant observation: Shoppin" rel="nofollow">ing Center Food Court Time: 1100-0100pm Lunch rush Where: Mall of America NOTE: be sure to use terms from Chapter 10: Qualitative Field Research Powerpoin" rel="nofollow">int slide t least 5 to in" rel="nofollow">include theories and defin" rel="nofollow">initions Include notes from observation and answers questions in" rel="nofollow">in Q & A format Purpose: The purpose of this two-step exercise is for you to conduct in" rel="nofollow">inductive and deductive research usin" rel="nofollow">ing qualitative methods. Note: it is important that you conduct the observations as two distin" rel="nofollow">inct events durin" rel="nofollow">ing this class; ?recallin" rel="nofollow">ing? past observations is not the same as purposefully observin" rel="nofollow">ing your surroundin" rel="nofollow">ings from a sociological perspective, and applyin" rel="nofollow">ing two different types of reasonin" rel="nofollow">ing to one observation will not be ?truthful? or successful. The purpose of this exercise if for you to observe one social settin" rel="nofollow">ing or social artifact to begin" rel="nofollow">in to detect patterns in" rel="nofollow">in human behavior ? observance of norms and potentially behaviors that deviate from the norm. This week?s exercise in" rel="nofollow">includes two parts. First, without any prep work, you will need to go to one public place (or conduct content analysis with your social artifact) and observe the people/artifact for 25 min" rel="nofollow">inutes. Social Settin" rel="nofollow">ing: Note people?s behavior, their demeanor, their reactions/in" rel="nofollow">interactions to/with each other. Social artifact: from second to second (for TV), or page to page (for prin" rel="nofollow">int), Note themes, sounds (i.. music), texture of page (i.e. ads in" rel="nofollow">in magazin" rel="nofollow">ine), etc. Second, you will develop a research design with research problem, hypothesis and operational defin" rel="nofollow">initions for variables; then you will conduct another 25 min" rel="nofollow">inutes of observations. Part 1 1) Choose whether or not you will be conductin" rel="nofollow">ing non-participant observation in" rel="nofollow">in a social settin" rel="nofollow">ing, or content analysis of a social artifact a. Social settin" rel="nofollow">ing: this should be a public place such as a park, mall, restaurant, etc. 2) For your in" rel="nofollow">inductive approach, you will simply choose a time and location/artifact for where you are goin" rel="nofollow">ing to conduct your observations 3) a. Social Settin" rel="nofollow">ing: Go to the specified location and proceed with your observations. i. You must be a keen social observer; a ?peepin" rel="nofollow">ing Tom? in" rel="nofollow">in the sociological sense. Take handwritten (recommended) and/or mental notes of: 1. details about your chosen location (time of day, lightin" rel="nofollow">ing, furniture, plants, sounds, temperature, smell, vibe/energy, etc) 2. the people around you, not only their behavior but general in" rel="nofollow">information about their sociodemographic characteristics (age, race/ethnicity, gender, SES, etc); 3. your thoughts and feelin" rel="nofollow">ings while makin" rel="nofollow">ing observations b.Social Artifact: At a specified time (i.e. when a particular show is), carefully observe your social artifact i. Content analysis provides a sustain" rel="nofollow">ined, systematic way to observe and measure the portrayal of that reality, as opposed to the quick, impressionistic way that we normally read consume media. Take handwritten notes of: 1. Details about the settin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in the images you see (lightin" rel="nofollow">ing, furniture, background, vibe/energy portrayed); if audio-visual (note sounds such as pitch of voice, music, etc) 2. Note details about the people portrayed, not only their behavior but general in" rel="nofollow">information about their sociodemographic characteristics (age, race/ethnicity, gender, SES, sexuality); 4) When you have returned from you observation, type up your notes. Review your notes for patterns in" rel="nofollow">in behavior, socio-demographic characteristics, etc. 5) Write-up your observations usin" rel="nofollow">ing ?thick description? of the location (i.e. buildin" rel="nofollow">ing you were in" rel="nofollow">in (what is the architecture like), descriptions of people there (in" rel="nofollow">in terms of socio-demographic characteristics: age, race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status), sounds, smells, temperature, time of day and week, etc); 6) Analyze trends you identified in" rel="nofollow">in your observations/content analysis. What is a possible sociological/theoretical explanation for the trends you observed? This is best done by usin" rel="nofollow">ing sources to provide credibility to your analyses. Part 2 7) Based on your in" rel="nofollow">initial observations and written analyses, develop a specific research problem/question to be further in" rel="nofollow">investigated (i.e. the variation in" rel="nofollow">in behavior of males versus females when enterin" rel="nofollow">ing a store with a glass store front) 8) Identify the key variables you are goin" rel="nofollow">ing to be in" rel="nofollow">investigatin" rel="nofollow">ing, and develop an operational defin" rel="nofollow">inition for each of them (this should in" rel="nofollow">include at least two variables, but not more than four). Your operational defin" rel="nofollow">initions will help to provide parameters for how record variations in" rel="nofollow">in your observations. 9) Write a hypothesis for what you expect to observe in" rel="nofollow">in your second round of observations. 10) Repeat observations/content analysis a. Social Settin" rel="nofollow">ing ? this should be done at the same social settin" rel="nofollow">ing at approximately the same time of day (if you can do this one week later on the same day, it would be great!) b. Social Artifact ? this should be done at the same time (if commercial block), or with the same show, or with a different issue of the same magazin" rel="nofollow">ine , etc. 11) When you have returned from you observation, type up your notes. Review your notes for patterns in" rel="nofollow">in behavior, socio-demographic characteristics, etc. and how they corresponded with your expectations/hypothesis 12) Describe observations usin" rel="nofollow">ing ?thick description? of the location (i.e. buildin" rel="nofollow">ing you were in" rel="nofollow">in (what is the architecture like), descriptions of people there (in" rel="nofollow">in terms of socio-demographic characteristics: age, race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status), sounds, smells, temperature, time of day and week, etc); 13) Analyze your observations in" rel="nofollow">in terms of how they supported/did not support your hypothesis. 14) What is a possible sociological/theoretical explanation for the trends you observed? This is best done by usin" rel="nofollow">ing sources to provide credibility to your analyses. 15) Discuss the differences between your in" rel="nofollow">inductive observations and your deductive observations. How did the way you were observin" rel="nofollow">ing change? How did what you observed change? 16) Briefly describe your thoughts/feelin" rel="nofollow">ings in" rel="nofollow">in the two steps. Did you prefer one approach to the other? Why/why not?