P1.1:  ONE  HOUR OBSERVATION

This experience of field observation shows how it can be interesting and surprising; it can be dull and boring; it sometimes arouses your emotions – especially if you observe one person mistreating another.

You will use professional recording techniques.

Overview: You will systematically observe families in a public setting for a period of one hour,
recording your observations in a Data Log.  You will write up the general patterns you can observe in your data.  You will hand in your  Log and a 2-page analytical Report of your observation experience.

Getting started: Locate an observation post where you can remain for an hour, making notes, without intruding on the activities, and where you can see most of the area.  When you have selected your location, stay in it.  Draw a small diagram that shows the general floor plan and your location.

In your Data Log: Write a short description: the nature of your site (retail store, park, church, restaurant, etc.), the date and time of your observation, the number and type of all people who are there when you begin.  Take no more than 5 minutes to do this.  Count how many families are present. If more than one is present, assign a number beginning with the one closest to your location and going the most distant.

Sampling:  If more than one family is present, random selection is used to avoid bias.  Number up to       five families.   Flip 5 pennies, and begin with the family corresponding to the number of heads.
The family you will observe first is number _______________.

If that family leaves, begin to observe the next family who enters.

If no new family enters within 5 minutes, toss coins to choose among the remaining families.

If that family has left, observe the family still visible whose number is closest to that one.

Observing: For each family you observe, write down the following information in your Data Log:

Number of members __________

Sex and approximate age of each member (each one on a separate line)

Family roles if they are evident (husband/wife, parent / child,  family friend,  grand-parent, etc.)

The interactions of the family:  who is interacting with whom? How are they seated or grouped

Write a log of the activities of the members as you watch them: what they say and do, and to whom.

You will not be able to capture everything (e.g., what they order in a restaurant) but you can note whether each person orders for him/herself, or one person orders for all, whether someone corrects another person, if some of them seem angry or in love or uninvolved with each other)

When this family leaves, draw a line in the Data Log.  Start again with a new family.

Your Data Log is your record of observations – the data for your study.  It should include just the things that you could see: not what you think about the.

Your Report – Separate from your Log

2)   Write a short (2  page) report.  (a)  For each family observed, describe any gender patterns and any interaction patterns within the family, using data to support your claim.  (e.g., who disciplines children?  Pays? Makes choices?).  (b)  Contrast the families you observed.  What differences do you see among them? Again, you’re your data to support your claims.  (E.g., Loud or quiet? Do members of one family interact frequently while members of another do not?)   (c)  Conclude with a paragraph that describes your experience of “paying attention in a disciplined way” — one sociologist’s term for research methods.

Format: Double-space your report, with 1″ margins, using an 11 or 12 point font.  You do not need a “References Cited” page for this assignment.  You must staple the pages together.

Turn in: The map of the location, the data log, and the report.

Grading:  An A paper provides a specific and clear description of patterns within families, and makes clear and direct comparisons of families, drawing on the data. Evaluative terms are avoided.