Field Research!

Homework #3 should be fun.  It involves people watching and taking notes about interactions you observe in public places.   There are two general steps.

1. Practice making observations.  The first is practicing the art of creating field notes on your observations.  Our initial data collection happened at Baker Center food court area during class on Thursday Oct 12.   Use chapter 13 of Neuman as a guide (see especially 441-449).
1. Make sure you write down you observations and your interpretations.  Many times we interpret before we realize exactly what we observed that lead us to that interpretation.  Reflect on and record both parts. 
2. Deliverable:   Post two note cards to the shared notes on the Baker Center observations, see below.  Due-- before class on Tuesday Oct 18.
3. Thanks everyone who went to the Baker Center for observations
1. Here is the link to the google doc where you can post your note cards.
2. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PqxA--uNaq7MN9b-BQSqeJvHnV0eKBIABpANc8U8uXg/edit?hl=en_US
4. Below is a template for a digital note card.  Each person should submit two cards to the google doc.  Make sure you include your name on both.

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Notes:  This is a template-- copy and paste this into a document and overwrite the content with your notes and interpretations.  .  Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.  ah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.

Interpretation: , comment comment, interpretation. .  Blah, comment comment, interpretation.Blah, comment comment, inn.Blah, comment comment, interpretation.

Claim or theme:   people do XYZ

Name:  Ted Welser

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Writing up your field note in an interesting report  (Due Thursday Oct 27th)

1. Report on Field Research
2. What it includes:    
1. Create it as a google document;  share it with your group and with me.
2. Title should be based on themes that you found
3. Include an image or multiple images (s)
4. Main text describing what you found
1. Introduction
2. General description of setting
3. Findings
1. Finding one
1. Quote or description
2. Interpretation
3. Significance
2. Finding two
1. Quote or description
2. Interpretation
3. Significance
3. Finding two
1. Quote or description
2. Interpretation
3. Significance
4. Other observations, as necessary
4. Discussion and conclusion
1. Relevance of observations and themes to other research
1. You need to find sociological and social psychological theory and research that is relevant to your interpretations and observations. This sections should make clear how concepts from research and theory improve or expand our understanding of your setting. 
2. Suggest further investigations:  based on what you have observed, what further inquiries would be worth doing?
5. References
1. Format them in standard ASA format.   

See example of start of a write up here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PqxA--uNaq7MN9b-BQSqeJvHnV0eKBIABpANc8U8uXg/edit?hl=en_US
Part #3.5:     Advice on your write up

The first helpful thing to consider is that there were three general questions that everyone went in with:  
1.  what is the place like
2.  what are the people like
3.  how do they interact

Given those as your general questions, your write up should include info that provides particular answers to those questions.  

It is helpful to start by assuming that your readers don’t know anything about [your study site], can you describe what it is like a bit? You should do this in a way that is accurate and INTERESTING. Vivid details that truly reflect what the place, people, interaction are like are great. Think of observations that EXEMPLIFY what the place is like. It is often helpful to think of the intro as a narrative, as though you are painting a scene for a movie or other type of vivid window into a social world.

After you have moved beyond the sort of general intro to what the place, people and interaction is like, you would want to provide particular observations and themes (your three themes) that give us a more in-depth window into particular folks/interaction/etc. that are interesting and related to ideas from sociology. Consider that your intro has set the stage, now your three key observations should be organized as themes, with the observations providing evidence, an in-depth slice into what some key part of that social world is like, what it means, and should be interesting to us for sociological reasons.

Hope that helps.