Observation is not required. Just close guess works.
Directions: You will be conducting your own experiment (naturalistic observation) for this activity. As you will see in the textbook, a naturalistic observation is just an observation of behavior. For this activity, I'm asking you to go out into a natural setting (outside your home) and observe people. You can observe any behavior you choose! Be creative and have fun (and be safe)! Please observe for a total of 15 minutes. Make sure to collect the TOTAL number of people observed AND how many of those people performed the behavior you are observing. This will allow you to calculate percentages later. Some examples of past student naturalistic observations include:
a. How many people make a complete stop at a stop sign
b. How many people buy coffee at Starbucks vs. Dazbog
c. How many people say thank you for holding the door
d. How many people wash their hands after going to the bathroom?
e. How many people are waring flip flops vs shoes?
f. How many people are wearing sports team's paraphernalia?
g. How many people jaywalk?
1. What behavior are you observing? *For example, how many people completely stop at a stop sign?
2. What is your initial hypothesis (question or prediction to be tested)? *For example, I think more people will not do a complete stop at a stop sign.
3. How did you operationalize the variable(s)? *For example, decide how you will define a "complete stop"? Is it a slow roll through the stop sign? Is it a full stop with no pause? A full stop with a 1 second pause? 2 second pause? Etc...
4. Where did you record and collect the data?
5. Analysis of the data: Percentages, Averages, etc... Make sure to record the total number of people observed and how many people performed the observed behavior. *For example, over 15 minutes you observed 30 cars and 15 of them made complete stops.
6. What were your findings or conclusions? What can you conclude about people based on the behavior(s) you observed?
7. What problems, unusual outcomes or ethical issues did you encounter? *For example, were there too many cars to count. Did someone fall in the cross walk and change how a driver behaved etc...