Assignment:
The SPOT I chose was New River Valley Mall in Christiansburg, VA
Participant Observation
Task: Select a spot on campus (or off campus) to observe individuals (i.e., Muse, the Bonnie, Starbucks, the mall, etc.).
Observe the behavior of individuals in that location for 60 minutes. While observing take detailed notes for 30 minutes (qualitative). Be sure to note what they are doing, what they are talking about, what is going on around them, etc.
For the other 30 minutes take a quantitative measure of behavior such as tallying the number of times a particular behavior is conducted.
After you finish your observation, write up a brief summary of your findings (one page minimum without header). Also, discuss what generalizations you can make from your observation. You may want to refer to the book to help with this assignment.
General Requirements for Write-Up:
The write-up should be:
- Double-spaced
- One inch margins
- Times New Roman, 12 pt font
- A minimum of one full page (this does NOT include whatever header you add, i.e. your name, date, and class, a header is unnecessary)
- Include a time, place, and date stamp in the header of the time you got to the location, the time you left, the location's name, and the date you completed the observation