Paper Two: Basic Observational Research 3-5 pages Due: Oct 11

Because we are social animals, we are always observing others and interpreting their behaviors according to learned expectations. While we may not always be consciously aware of these expectations, we do tend to notice when someone behaves contrary to them. The purpose of this assignment is give you practice is writing from observation and making a supportable theory to explain what you have observed. As you attempt to explain behavior, you’ll want to think about how social and cultural norms and roles influence behavior (See Invitation Chapter 5 & 9). Your job is to observe and describe behavior and then develop a theory to explain that behavior, i.e., the relationship between different variables. Gender, age, race, dress, and ethnicity are particularly interesting variables to consider. Time of the year, day of the week, time of day, and the location might also be relevant variables. (Brainstorm with your mentor about variables once you know your location.)

Here’s an example: You want to observe people’s behavior on escalators. You know that an unspoken “rule” is that people are supposed to stand to the right to allow others to pass if they choose to walk and ride. As you observe you notice who follows this rule and who does not. You take detailed notes and then you look for consistent variables to develop a theory. Your theory might be, for example, that among people using Metro escalators, men and women dressed in business attire are most likely to stand to the right, no matter what time of day, and teenagers are least likely to stand to the right, especially if they are in pairs or groups, no matter what time of day. From this theory, you develop a testable hypothesis (we’re not going to do this last step).

Part I: Research log—What happens in the “real world”? Observe closely and keep good notes. Date your observations and describe the location of each observation in detail. Count numbers of people observed and describe gender, age, ethnicity, and any other details that might be relevant to your explanations. Draw from any of the senses that might be especially relevant—Hearing? Smell? Touch? Once you begin noticing patterns, also look for instances when people don’t conform to those patterns. And look at others’ reactions when people don’t conform. Keep a list of variables that might be interesting to think about as you begin to develop a theory.

Part II: The Paper. What will it look like?

Introduction: Introduce the topic and why you’re interested in researching this particular behavior. What unspoken “rules,” for example, might govern the behavior? (Think of all the “rules” we’ve internalized about conversational distance, appropriate gendered behavior, etiquette of all kinds, modesty, appropriate clothes, taboos of various kinds, etc.) Your introduction focuses the reader on your research agenda.

Method: In your method, include an explanation of who you are as the observer. Do you think your identity and past experiences have any bearing on what you see? Don’t see? Expect to see? Also include a description of the scene of the observations, how long you stayed, time of day (if relevant). In short, the variables. Note: Be sure to operationalize important terms. Using the escalator example, you might want to explain, what you are calling “business attire.”

Description of what you saw: As carefully as you can, detail the observations you made, noting relevant variables and how those variables affected the observed and expected behavior. You can organize your paragraphs according to each observation, to locations of observations, or according to particular variables, like age, gender, and so on. This section will count most heavily in the criteria for evaluation.

Conclusion and suggestions for further research: Based on what you’ve observed and the different variables you’ve noted, what theory can you propose. What would be some interesting ways to test the validity of your theory. Using the escalator example, then, you might say you could test your theory by interviewing different groups of people at Metro escalators to see if they know the unspoken rule for riding escalators. You might want to conduct some experimental research related to Metro riders’ reactions when the rules are blatantly disregarded. What kinds of situations might you want to test in this case?