2. Executive Summary
Research objective
The objective behind the observational research in plan is for the examiner
to gain insight toward determining just exactly how attentive/observant cell phone
users are of their surroundings when zoned into their phone, as well as their ability
to pick back up on what’s going on in reality when they come back from spending
time in so-called “phone world.” The purpose in observing these cell phone users is
to lead the researcher toward answers to the defining question: what is the actual
truth about multitasking? Can people be efficient in their work when challenged to
face many tasks at the same time? The researcher may forecast a sense of
confrontation in the study of multitasking methods when dealing with the
imperatives of quality vs. quantity in competition of those cell phone users who may
be unknowingly juggling multiple tasks at hand.
How this information could be useful to marketers
It is quite interesting to watch someone who is zoned into his or her cell
phone. One could say or do anything while another is completely engulfed in
“phone world” and it may be presumed that there is often a high probability that
they will not comprehend what the other is saying. If one were to even change what
is said, mid-sentence, while another is in a deep texting conversation to something
absurd about blue cows with wings, the other is unlikely to hear what you have said,
let alone laugh about it. Society has shaped the world into such a pro-multitask
environment where people have actually become convinced that they not only have
the ability to multitask, but they believe they are efficient in doing so. Observational
research can help marketing departments of any company in efforts of getting up
close and personal with the consumers of their brand in distinguishing which their
consumers prefer: quality or quantity? Do consumers of the brand prefer to have
multiples of the product for a low cost, or one product of better quality that will cost
a bit more? For example, one can question, do men want a nice razor with six blades
whose razor heads may be a little more expensive, but get a closer shave, or are they
constantly traveling, possibly even losing their razor, and need disposable, or maybe
one a little cheaper than those of high quality to get the job done? Or, in relation to
this study, do users want a cell phone with multiple applications that can all be ran
at the same time, in turn producing a poor battery life, or do people want a phone
with select applications that has a 48-hour battery life with the added addition of a
14 megapixel camera? In determining how consumers of the brand are in real life,
research can create products that can better suit its consumers.
Hypothesis
Research will find multitasking to be absolutely inefficient for more than (85-
90 percent) of those sampled and the remaining sampled persons (10-15 percent)
will prove multitasking somewhat efficient, but still not as efficient as they may have
3. presumed. Observations will later prove that person A, zoned out into his or her cell
phone, will not even recognize that person B put a hat on their head while they were
in “Phone World.” It is predictable that person A would not even notice if person B
and person C switched T-Shirts if it weren’t such a process to physically take it off,
switch it, and put it back on.
Summary
Observational research has found that multitasking is arguably more efficient
than the researcher may believe. In sampling different groups of different numbers
of members in different places at different times, research can be varied so that the
researcher is able to get an unbiased account of information.
4. Methodology
Observation A was a group of eight persons, ages 19 through 23 and listed
AA through AH, while in a group study for an upcoming accounting exam on
Tuesday, October 1, 2013 at 4-5:00 PM. The observation lasted for about 60
minutes and included the recordation of approximately how many times each of the
eight persons picked up his or her phone and for how long each pick-up. Upon
observation, the researcher had found that surprisingly enough, not a single person
of the eight persons refrained from touching his or her phone. The researcher kept
tally in a notebook of each time persons AA through AH had touched their phone
and the stopwatch application on the iPhone to record the time spent on their phone
per pick-up. While six of the eight persons were paying attention to their mobile
devices, the researcher had put on a pair of glasses. Prior to the observation, the
researcher had asked the observees to honestly answer if they had noticed she had
put glasses on. Only three of the eight answered, “yes.”
Observation B was a group of four persons, all 21-years of age and listed BA
through BD, while eating lunch at Old Venice Pizza Company on Sunday, October 6,
2013 from noon to 1:00 PM. The observation lasted for about 60 minutes and
included the recordation of approximately how many times each of the four persons
picked up his or her phone and for how long each pick-up. Upon observation, the
researcher had found that just like observation A, not a single person of the four
persons in Observation B refrained from touching his or her phone while at the
restaurant. The researcher kept tally in the Notes application of the iPhone of each
time persons BA through BD had touched their phone and the stopwatch application
on the iPhone to record the time spent on their phone per pick-up. The researcher
left to change clothes in the restaurant’s restroom and returned to the table.
Immediately, all four members of the group had laughed and asked the researcher,
“why did you change clothes and where did the clothes come from?”
Observation C was a group of three persons, ages 20-22 and listed CA
through CC, while attending Mr. Andrew Almand’s Accy 202 class in Conner Hall
room 212 on Monday, October 7, 2013 at 10-10:50 AM. The observation lasted for
about 50 minutes and, just as Observations A and B, included the recordation of
approximately how many times each of the three persons picked up his or her
phone and for how long each pick-up. Upon observation, the researcher had found
that unlike Observations A and B, one student had managed to refrain from touching
her phone while in class. The researcher kept tally in a notebook of each time
persons CA through CC had touched their phone and the stopwatch application on
the iPhone to record the time spent on their phone per pick-up. The researcher had
changed seats five times within the 50 minutes of class (one seat-change within a
three seat radius between each of the three students per each ten minutes of class)
and only one of the three persons had claimed that they noticed the researcher’s
seat-changes when asked at the end of the observation. Surprisingly, person CC had
noticed, who had been the one who spent about 6.5 minutes on their phone during
Mr. Almand’s class, not person CB, who had not even once picked up their phone.
5. Limitations may include the hesitance to be truthful about recognizing any
environmental changes while attempting to be successful in multitasking by those
questioned at the end of each observation. Another factor may include the
extremity of changing an entire ensemble in hopes of observees not recognizing the
change.
6. Results
Observation A
Thursday, October 1, 2013
4:00-5:00 PM
Glass study room in Weir Hall
Person # of times
phone was
picked up
Average
time spent
on phone
per pick-up
Average
total time
spent on
phone
Notice?
AA 8 ( 2 m + .5 m +
1.5 m + 4 m,
1.5 m + .5 m +
.5 m + 2 m ) /
8 pick-ups =
1.6 m/pick-
up
1.6 m * 8 pick-
ups = 12.8 m
of 60 m
No
AB 2 ( 3 m + 1.5 m )
/ 2 pick-ups =
2.25 m/pick-
up
2.25 * 2 pick-
ups = 4.5 m of
60 m
Yes
AC 4 ( 2 m + .5 m +
1 m + 3.5 m ) /
4 pick-ups =
1.75 m/pick-
up
1.75 * 4 pick-
ups = 7 m of
60 m
Yes
AD 4 ( .5 m + 5 m +
3.5 m + 2 m ) /
4 pick-ups =
2.75 m/pick-
up
2.75 m * 4
pick-ups = 11
m of 60 m
No
AE 7 ( .5 m + .5 m +
1 m + 4 m + .5
m + 1 m + .5 m
) / 7 pick-ups
= 1.14
m/pick-up
1.14 m * 7
pick-ups =
7.98 m of 60
m
No
AF 5 ( 3 m + 1 m + 1
m + .5 m + 1 m
) / 5 pick-ups
= 1.3 m/pick-
up
1.3 m * 5 pick-
ups = 6.5 m of
60 m
No
7. AG 12 ( 4 m + 3 m + 3
m + 1 m + .5 m
+ 3 m + 1 m +
.5 m + 2 m + .5
m + .5 m + 2 m
) / 12 pick-ups
= 1.75
m/pick-up
1.75 m * 12
pick-ups = 21
m of 60 m
No
AH 9 ( .5 m + 1.5 m
+ 4 m, 1.5 m +
.5 m + 6 m + 2
m + 1.5 m + .5
m ) / 9 pick-
ups = 2
m/pick-up
2 m * 9 pick-
ups = 18 m of
60 m
Yes
Observation B
Sunday, October 6, 2013
12:00 - 1:00 PM
Old Venice Pizza Company
Person # of times
phone was
picked up
Average
time spent
on phone
per pick-up
Average
total time
spent on
phone
Notice?
BA 6 ( .5 m + 1 m +
1 m + 1 m + 3
m + 1 m ) / 6
pick-ups =
1.25 m/pick-
up
1.25 m * 6
pick-ups = 7.5
m of 60 m
Yes
BB 9 ( 4 m + 2 m +
3.5 m + 1 m +1
m +1 m + 2.5
m + 2 m + 1 m
) / 9 pick-ups
= 2 m/pick-
up
2 m * 9 pick-
ups = 18 m of
60 m
Yes
BC 2 ( .5 m + 3 m ) /
2 pick-ups =
1.75 m/pick-
up
1.75 m * 2
pick-ups = 3.5
m of 60 m
Yes
BD 3 (1.5 m + 1 m +
2 m ) / 3 pick-
1.5 m * 3 pick-
ups = 4.5 m of
Yes
8. ups = 1.5
m/pick-up
60 m
Observation C
Monday, October 7, 2013
10:00 – 10:50 AM
Conner 212
Accy 202 class with Andrew Almand
Person # of times
phone was
picked up
Average
time spent
on phone
per pick-up
Average
total time
spent on
phone
Notice?
CA 2 ( 4 m + 2.5 m )
/ 2 pick-ups =
5.25 m/pick-
up
5.25 m * 2
pick-ups =
10.5 m of 50
m
No
CB 0 0 m/pick-up 0 m of 50 m No
CC 4 ( 3 m + 1 m +
.5 m + 2 m ) /
4 pick-ups =
1.625
m/pick-up
1.625 * 4 pick-
ups = 6.5 m of
50 m
Yes
9. Conclusion
Observational research upon multitasking in terms of cell phone use has
proven to be more effective than the hypothesis had perceived.
In Observation A, about 62 percent of the sampled population was unaware
of their surroundings. Although it had been a small change for the researcher to put
glasses on, the researcher had still been in all of the eight persons’ peripherals and
spoke up several times in hopes of getting attention from those persons so they
would give the researcher a glance to see what had changed. It is safe to conclude
that in Observation A, 71 percent of those who had spent more than 6.5 minutes did
not notice the change, but there are two outliers, persons AC and AH who had,
indeed, spent over 6.5 minutes on their cell phones and did notice.
In Observation B, 100 percent of the sampled population had noticed that the
researcher had changed get-ups. This may lead the researcher to question: is
multitasking in terms of cell phone use truly efficient? Or was the environmental
change too extreme?
In Observation C, only one of the three sampled persons had noticed that the
researcher had changed seats every ten minutes in the duration of the class. To the
researcher’s surprise, it had been not person CB, who refrained from using her cell
phone in the duration of Mr. Almand’s class, but rather person CC, who had
averaged about 6.5 minutes on their cell phone. Although she had not been using
her cell phone, she had been so interested and concerned with the class that she had
paid no attention to the researcher’s whereabouts. This can prove, though, that
multitasking can be inefficient as well. Observation has given researchers an
example of another extreme, other than the use of a cell phone.
Observations made have indefinitely proven the hypothesis wrong, as it had
been perceived that 90 percent of the sampled population would go without
noticing environmental changes. Instead, the research through Observations A, B,
and C have proven the average persons who did not notice environmental change to
average at about 42 percent.
10. Recommendations
Instead of changing the ensemble, next time, the researcher should maybe try
putting a hat on, or possibly taking off a red lipstick. The extremity of the outfit
change may have limited the observational research to be unrealistic, since
Observation B proved that 0% of the sampled population had not noticed the
researcher’s get-up. This can indefinitely be considered an error in research, but it
is important to include information as such so that researchers are able to see the
fine line between what goes unrecognized and what is immediately noticed.
A sample of different age ranges may bring about different outcomes, as well
as different tasks. Researchers can, next time, go as far as asking the sampled
persons to participate in a trivia quiz possibly while driving in an enclosed course.
Many different resources are available in the pursuit of finding if
multitasking is truly as efficient as the human mind perceives it to be.
