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Observation Research Paper
Kelvin L. Heiligh
Liberty University
Helms School of Government
CJUS750: Qualitative Methods of Research
Dr. Denny Powers
Observation Research Paper
McDonald’s Located In Newark, NJ
On a chilly February afternoon in a McDonald’s restaurant in Newark, New Jersey, I sat in
a small two seat booth located near the window. The restaurant was crowded, there was a mix
of families and couples. The smell of freshly made fries and apple pies filled the air. I sat in the
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booth watching the families and overhearing the various conversations going on throughout the
restaurant.
I observed the children interacting and playing with each other in the McDonald’s
“PlayPlace” area of the restaurant. As I watched these children interact and play a game of “tag”
I noticed that there was some sort of hierarchy in how the game was established. For example
the older kids were the ones who picked and chose who was gonna be “it” and where “home”
or “base” was to be set. Social hierarchies are ubiquitous across species and culture such that
some individuals enjoy better access to scarce resources, mates, living conditions or influence
than others (Thomsen, 2020).
The older children seem to take charge every step of the way, throughout the entire
game. While the smaller children were visibly frustrated in their lack of input into the game.
Even amongst the older children, the power and control of the game rested in the kids that
were more outspoken and charismatic. These children were also the more popular of the group
with all the other older and smaller children, hanging on to their every word. Whereas children
show an early emerging tendency to perpetuate group-based hierarchies, efforts to rectify
group-based hierarchies develop more gradually and involve explicit awareness of group-based
inequities and their structural origins (Heck et al., 2022).
From my observations, I can see that the complexities of social hierarchy is already starting in
these small children as they act them out through play.
These interactions that these children are having are clearly going to shape how these
children will interact with their peers in the future, as they try to navigate the complexities of
adult social hierarchy. Across species, social hierarchies are often governed by dominance
relations. In humans, where there are multiple culturally valued axes of distinction, social
hierarchies can take a variety of forms and need not rest on dominance relations (Redhead &
Power, 2022).
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Corner Social Located In The Harlem Neighborhood of New York, New York
On a rainy February night, while visiting a small bar in the Harlem section of New York,
New York called the “Corner Social”, I sat at the bar across from several couples. I didn’t intend
on using this particular time and place as an example for this research paper but the
opportunity presented itself. Unprecedented changes in the timing, duration, and sequencing of
intimate coresidential relationships have made the study of traditional marriage far more
complex today than in the past (Sassler & Lichter, 2020).
I can hear the conversations of two different couples. Couple A, was a young couple
having a disagreement over alleged infidelity on the part of the boyfriend. The female accused
the young man of going out on a date with another woman from social media. The second
couple, Couple B were an older male and female having a nice evening out talking about
memories of the past.
As I sat there listening to both of the couples, I realized that the interpersonal
interactions between the two groups of couples demonstrates the complexities of managing a
relationship. Dating relationships are normative in middle adolescence, but the academic and
social implications of different types of dating involvement remains unclear Ryjova et al., 2021).
Conclusion
On a chilly February afternoon in a McDonald’s restaurant in Newark, New Jersey, I sat in
a small two seat booth located near the window. I observed the children interacting and playing
with each other in the McDonald’s “PlayPlace” area of the restaurant. The kids were
demonstrating some sort of hierarchy in how they played. On a rainy February night, while
visiting a small bar in the Harlem section of New York, New York called the “Corner Social”, I sat
at the bar across from several couples. As I sat there listening to these couples, I realized that
the interpersonal interactions between the two groups of couples demonstrates the
complexities of managing a relationship.
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References
Heck, I. A., Shutts, K., & Kinzler, K. D. (2022). Children’s thinking about group-based
social hierarchies. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 26(7), 593-606.
Redhead, D., & Power, E. A. (2022). Social hierarchies and social networks in humans.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 377(1845), 20200440.
Ryjova, Y., Kelleghan, A., Badaly, D., Duong, M., & Schwartz, D. (2021). The
relationship between dating status and academic and social functioning in middle adolescence.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50(6), 1268-1280.
Sassler, S., & Lichter, D. T. (2020). Cohabitation and marriage: Complexity and diversity in
union formation patterns. ‐Journal of Marriage and Family, 82(1), 35-61.
Thomsen, L. (2020). The developmental origins of social hierarchy: How infants and young
children mentally represent and respond to power and status. Current Opinion in Psychology, 33,
201-208.
