UN3010: Participant Observation Research Exercise

Upload to CW BEFORE class start time; bring hardcopy to class Wed., Feb 21
Your submission should contain two documents: (1) your original paper and (2) your field notes
from both unstructured and structured observation periods. These should be combined into
one file for CW upload. A paper without field notes will be considered incomplete.
The objectives of this assignment are to:

1. Identify sociologically relevant concepts in “real world” social situations.

2. Systematically collect and analyze observational data related to these concepts.
3. Understand the subjective human dimension of observing the real world.

Exercise tasks:
(1) Identify a research question.
First, decide on a research question. You will need to think carefully about what kinds of
questions can be answered by observing “real life” social behavior (as opposed, for example, to
questions that require you to ask people explicitly about their beliefs about something). Think
also about the sociological relevance of the research question. Frame your research question
using general concepts such that you could connect your interest to research conducted at
other times and in other places.
(2) Identify a field site.
This exercise will involve two periods of observation in a social setting of your choice. The first
period of observation will be relatively unstructured, so the main task beforehand is just to
choose a location. Choose a place in which people do, in fact, interact with each other in
some capacity and in which you can observe social interactions without them entirely
revolving around you. Please choose a setting that is reasonably safe and to which you have
access.
(3) Conduct “unstructured” observation.
For this first time around, spend a minimum of 45 minutes observing. Rather than focusing on
answering your question, for this FIRST of TWO observations, you should instead focus on
“unstructured” observation. Bring materials for taking notes. If you feel you need to ask
someone’s permission to observe in this setting, do so. Also, it’s fine to answer people’s
questions truthfully if they ask what you are doing, or to “participate” in whatever way is
appropriate for your setting, but do not turn this into an interview based project by initiating all
interactions yourself. Your task is to pick apart how you “know” things about the people and
interactions you see. Pay attention, for example, to what cues you use to categorize people in
socially relevant ways from visual cues (e.g., according to gender, race, class, student status,
age, extroversion, family status, etc.). None of these schemas of categorization is as obvious as
we sometimes think, though you’ll find some more difficult than others.
Challenge yourself to identify some of the less obvious ways that you regularly categorize
people from visual cues. Also pay attention to interactions between people and how you
abstract from them. For example, what makes you interpret an interaction as “friendly,”
“antagonistic,” “reserved,” “flirtatious,” etc.? Be specific about verbal and non-verbal cues that
inform your evaluations. Take notes on what you actually see or hear. Don’t jot general
“impressions”; the goal is to figure out where these “impressions” come from in terms of
explicit words and behaviors. Any description of an individual or an interaction requires
explanation; how do you know what you’re seeing in terms of specific gestures, expressions,
words, etc.? Write down (in shorthand that you can fill out afterwards) everything that you
realistically can during the observation period.
(4) Fill out notes from unstructured observation.
Immediately after the observation period, fill out your field notes to the extent possible. Do not
wait to do this! If you wait, you’ll forget the details that are critical for the exercise. After you
have your complete notes (and only then!), ask yourself: What were the key interactions or
actors in a setting? Did anything surprise you? What questions did your observations raise? Jot
down your answers to these questions at the end of your field notes, in a section labeled
“Other Thoughts."
(5) Hone your research question.
Now, that you have conducted unstructured observation, in the second field experience you
will pay specific attention to your research question. This visit will be more structured than the
first. This time, you will answer the research question at the same field site in which you
conducted the first part of the exercise. Remember that a research question needs to be
empirically tractable! You must be able to see and/or hear the evidence that is required to
answer your research question. Think about how you will systematically identify the evidence
required to answer it. Under “Other Thoughts,” write down your question as well as a concrete
strategy for observation. The strategy should be sufficiently specific that another student in
the class could join you and be looking/listening for the same kinds of things.
(6) Conduct “structured” observation. Observe and take notes again for a minimum of 45
minutes in your field site. For this second part of the exercise, focus specifically on collecting
evidence that will answer your research question, and try to follow the guidelines you created
about how to observe these relevant pieces of evidence.
(7) Fill out notes from structured observation. Again, fill out your shorthand field notes
immediately after the period of observation is done, and keep these to turn in with your
written assignment. What is/are the answer(s) to your research question? (Note that this will
almost certainly be a provisional answer, since 45 minutes is generally not long enough to have
a definitive answer. That’s perfectly fine.) How would you improve the specification of your
research question if you were to do the structured observation again? Take notes on these
issues in another section labeled “Other Thoughts."
Written assignment:
The written assignment follows from the research exercise itself. The paper should be no more
than 2500 words. (Please include a word count when you turn in the paper; the word count
pertains to the paper only, and not to your field notes.) You will have far more empirical
material that you can possibly write about in 2500 words, so you must be selective.
In the paper, clearly labeled and in the following order, include:

1. Describe the field site you chose (1 paragraph).

2. Analyze the unstructured observation, including insights you gained from considering the
questions posed in the above tasks (3) and (4).
3. Describe your research question, its sociological relevance, and the observational strategy
you developed to answer it (2-3 paragraphs).
4. Analyze the structured observation, including the answer(s) to your research question.
Specify how you would improve the specification of your research question and/or your
empirical approach to answering it were you to do the project again.
5. In the fifth and final section, consider how your observations might have been shaped by
your background. The goal here is not to run through a battery of your characteristics
(race, gender, class, age, etc.) or to vaguely comment on how you would have seen things
differently if you were a different person. Instead, and in specific terms, discussion how one
(or two) personal characteristics might have affected observations that were directly
related to your research question (1-2 paragraphs).

Sections 2 and 4 will comprise the bulk of the paper.