SESC Conducting an Observational Study Paper

The observation assignment has two required components:

Complete your observation, taking field notes. Then revise those notes, using complete sentences. You will use these notes for the workshop for this module.

1. There are three options for your observational study:
2. You need to spend approximately 2 hours observing some form of social interaction in a public location. A public site is one that people would reasonably expect that their actions will be observed. If you want to observe people that you know, or if your observation will somehow be noticed or affect the interactions you observe, you should disclose your role as a researcher to the subjects. Please contact me if you are unsure about disclosure for your subject(s). DO NOT STUDY ANYTHING ILLEGAL! You may not observe a location that has a primary focus upon children (such as a playground or school classroom). It is essential that you consider and describe how you will negotiate CDC protocol for COVID19. Specifically address how you will meet social distancing, masking, and other essential matters. Your safety and the safety of those around you is essential.

You may observe public interactions from a private location. For example, if you have a window in your residence or place of employment that will give you a place to observe public interactions. Do not observe private interactions in your residence or place of employment.

Given the ongoing pandemic, you may not want or be able to go out to a public location for this observational study. You may choose to observe television or social media for this assignment. News coverage is a possibility: perhaps you could watch an hour of news on two very different channels. If you have children at home, perhaps you might want to watch Frozen II (for the 20th time) and actually take notes and use this as your observation activity. You may choose to observe government briefings regarding issues and concerns in your community, state, or nation. Perhaps you are active in social media. You can observe this and take notes. Just one word of caution, please be careful about privacy for your own family and friends on facebook, twitter, instagram…..make sure that your observations preserve their privacy. For example, you might discuss posts that discuss the posts on that social media (e.g. homeschooling, politics, cat videos), being careful that you don’t post details that might identify your contact. 

1. It is essential that you submit your proposal here before you actually do the observation. I want to make sure that you are safe and give you suggestions about doing your observation in an ethical way.

Assignment requirements:

Write a one paragraph description of the site that you plan to observe. Make sure that you include the reason why you selected that site and the time of day/week that you plan to do your observation. Please note the specific caveats noted in each of the three options above. You will need to receive permission prior to your observation.

1. NOTE: I Choose question 3- Movie Little Mermaid