Module 1 Assignment 1.2: Qualitative Observation & Field Notes

Instructions

As we learned in this week’s readings, qualitative inquiry is perhaps most fundamentally different from quantitative in that it seeks to understand people and phenomena in context, that is, situated within and cognizant of their natural environments, through the researcher’s participation. A researcher’s participation can be active or passive, and can take many forms, some of which we’ll explore this term. But simply by doing qualitative inquiry and being present in that context, and then applying your own analysis (wrapped up in multiple layers of your own context!), you are participating in the environment and influencing the data and our eventual understanding of your findings. Put simply: in qualitative inquiry, we actively embrace and make space for the researcher as a part of the research, rather than something to exclude, protect from, guard against, or control. You are an active co-constructor of the knowledge generated through your qualitative study.

This is a key point: You, as a qualitative researcher, will have a hand in every step of the process of conducting a qualitative study, you cannot avoid this, and this is not a problem or limitation or mistake.

This week, we will gain some light practice in co-constructing qualitative data in what I hope will be an interesting and fun activity. Suppose you are conducting a qualitative inquiry on the culture of coffee shops in your local community. Your exact research question might be something like, “What do the behaviors and interactions of [your local coffee shop’s name] customers indicate about the culture of the restaurant?” To answer this question, you’ll spend some time in the field observing and keeping detailed field notes.

For this activity, you should head to your favorite café, coffee shop, diner, informal restaurant, or other similar setting, armed with a pen and notebook, find a comfortable spot, and observe the interactions and behaviors of others for a minimum of one hour.

1. What patterns do you see?

2. What can you infer, and what conclusions can you come to about the culture of your local coffee shop?

3. Your assignment is simply to take rich, robust field notes and submit them – no need to write them up or do any formal academic work with them just yet. Rather, this is about getting into the habit of noticing and analyzing the world around us.

During your observation, you should note interesting interactions, the ways people behave, common social patterns, questions that come up for you, and conclusions you might make about the people and environment you encounter. The following prompts are some things you might pay attention to:

· Do people stay and linger, or order and leave quickly? Why?

· What do you think brings people here?

· Do people talk to others, or have headphones in, or otherwise self-isolate?

· What’s the seating pattern like? Do people sit near others, or far? Why might that be?

· Describe the setting.

· What do people do once they get there?

· What do you hear?

· How does the space make you feel?

· What are you thinking while you do this observation?

· What questions are you left with?

· What common trends or similarities do you see?

These are just a handful of examples; what matters is noting what stands out to you as the researcher.

1.What do you see that gives you some data about the culture of this local establishment?

Please submit scans/photos of at least two pages of your field notes from this exercise.

Following your observation you will write a reflection on your experience in Group Discussion 1.