More Related Content Similar to SOC118FinalPortfolioPNM.docx (1) Similar to SOC118FinalPortfolioPNM.docx (1) (20) 3. Research Proposal……………...……………...………...………………………………………64
Portfolio Unit: Concepts for the Field…………….……………...……………...…………..…67
OPTIONAL PORTFOLIO UNIT: WHAT DID I LEARN?………..……...…...…………….68
WEEKS ONE AND TWO:
INTO THE FIELD!
Portfolio Unit: Research Interests without Fear of Failure
The exercise that Luker has us do on page 21 was something that I have never
done before, so it took me a little while to think of something that I would investigate in
the social world. In class I wrote down that I would like to ideally study access to
education and resources such as books, technology, tutoring, advising and so on. I think
that it is a worthy topic to investigate and research, as there are serious disparities and
inequalities among communities in regards to access to adequate education as well as
educational resources. For example, I am from Palo Alto, California and the education
system that I grew up with was great – there were plenty of resources that I could utilize,
such as the library, tutors, electronics, and so on. However, only traveling a few miles
away is the education system in East Palo Alto, which is a very different story. The kids
that go to school in East Palo Alto do not have nearly the same amount of resources or
opportunities available to use in their student careers, and many are receiving old and
worn books/textbooks that are outdated. If I had the opportunity to research and analyze
education disparities among different communities, it could highlight some social and
cultural implications of the education systems and possibly give revealing information
about race and class relations.
Some quotes that I found to be interesting from Luker’s, Salsa Dancing into the
Social Sciences are very helpful in this exercise of thinking about a possible research
interest. From the chapter Salsa Dancing, a quote I found to be interesting is, “When I
speak of social science “methods,” by the way, I mean a set of guidelines about how to
conceptualize and execute a systematic and rigorous intellectual inquiry into something
that lets you get as close to the “truth” as possible. For me, the twin goals of “methods”
are to create a research design where (1) you can be surprised by your findings and (2)
others can be persuaded by them” (Luker, 56). It is amazing to think that findings from
my field site and research could be an influence on others or myself as this is an exercise
I have never done before. The possibilities are endless! Another quote from Luker in the
chapter What’s It All About is, “Part of living in a globalizing world and a globalizing
economy is having many of your takenforgranted assumptions shaken up. So the job of
the qualitative researcher is to figure out not only how what Luntz calls “the elements that
have made up public opinion” have changed, but why” (Luker, 38). What I have realized
throughout this quarter is that we are not only observing and taking notes in our field
Paulette McCroskey 3
4. sites, but we are also noting patterns, recurring behaviors, similarities, and much more
while drawing analysis and insights into the deeper meaning behind them.
Portfolio Unit: Forays into the Field
The research that I conducted was on my own at a café right next to campus. I observed
the people sitting, eating, and mingling for 30 minutes around 9:15 a.m. I found an
individual to interview and ask the questions given to us. What I noticed in my 30minute
observation was that there was a variety in the types of groups/individuals present at the
café. There were a few groups of people who were eating and talking as well as quite a
few individuals sitting by themselves and were on laptops, working quietly but very
focused on their screens.
The people sitting alone rarely looked up to see what was happening around them and
seemed to be in their own little bubble where they could not be disturbed. The groups of
people that I observed were interesting in that one group consisted of two older women,
another group was a group of teenagers, and another group was a younger couple. The
two older women were having a conversation and were holding eye contact the entire
time while the group of teenagers had all their cell phones out and were quite frequently
looking at them and zoning out of the conversation.
The dependency on technology was prevalent more so with the younger people that I was
observing while the individuals who were a little bit older never really looked at their
phones and kept eye contact the whole time they were talking with the person in front of
them.
INTERVIEW
Background Questions:
How old are you? 24
How do you selfdefine in terms of:
Gender? Male
Race/ethnicity? Caucasian
What is your highest level of education? College graduate.
If you are a college student if so what year are you and where do you go to
school? I went to UC Santa Barbara.
Social Media:
Which social media do you use: please list all of the accounts that you have used in
the last month. I have used Facebook, Linkedin, and YouTube.
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5. How often do you use each one? I use YouTube and Linkedin the most, and
Facebook now and then.
Yesterday, what social media did you use? Facebook and YouTube.
Please describe how you decided what information to share about yourself?
I do not share all that much, but when I do I make sure to limit what I post on Facebook
as many of the people I am friends with are not close friends and I do not really feel very
comfortable sharing personal information with acquaintances.
Do you feel pressure to share things on social media? No, I post what I am
comfortable with and do not feel any pressure to post on social media.
General information about yourself? Yes I post general information.
Private information about yourself? I do not post very much private
information.
What do you do about your reputation or image?
I do not really care all that much about maintaining a certain reputation or image, I just
post what I am comfortable with and do not really concern myself with other matters.
Do you share everything about yourself? Only the best things about yourself?
No I do not share everything about myself, I limit what I post and when regarding
something personal, I use inbox messages with close friends so I definitely conceal some
things when posting on Facebook. As for Linkedin, I post everything because it is
regarding possible jobs and I want to have the best job opportunities. It really depends on
the website whether or not I am sharing personal information.
Understanding Privacy:
When you hear the word privacy, what comes to mind? When I think of privacy I
think of the sharing of information and keeping certain information in the private versus
public spheres.
How do you define private information? Public information? Private is anything
related to personal life such as family, friends, and relationships. Public information is
general information that I don’t mind strangers being able to see.
What are you comfortable sharing in public and private? I’m comfortable sharing
general information but not comfortable sharing personal information about family,
relationships, or friendships.
How do you balance sharing and privacy? I limit what I post and do not really post
anything that I would feel uncomfortable with strangers seeing.
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7. What do you know now about privacy that you wish you had known earlier? Just
that what you post online is there forever and it is not easy to completely remove the
information.
Do you do anything to protect your privacy? Make yourself less vulnerability? I
limit what I post and only accept friend requests from people I know.
Has this changed over time? No, I have pretty much always been watching out for
posting private things and try my best to not reveal personal or private information.
Do people think privacy is important? Yes, it is very important. I believe that being
knowledgeable about privacy and personal information sharing is very important to
know, especially for younger people and future generations.
Is privacy an individual or public good? Both? I believe it to be both.
When you use digital media, are you concerned about your information being
visible or collected, and, if so, by whom?
Companies? No.
The government? No.
Hackers? (identity theft) No.
Anyone else? No.
Would you use free or lowcost cell phone or internet service if it meant being
tracked? Why or why not? No, it’s not worth it.
Is there anything else you would like me to know or that you would like to say?
Not particularly.
INFORMED CONSENT
My interviewee gave informed consent. Here are the guidelines:
The informed consent process should be appropriate to the research and participant
population being studied. NO MINORS under 18 EVER FOR ANY REASON. Each of
your respondents must give informed consent. Informed Consent should include the
following elements:
1. Description of the research and investigators conducting the research;
2. Explanation of the procedures (e.g., audio/video recording);
3. Duration of the subject’s participation;
4. Subject protections (e.g., extent to which confidentiality will be maintained);
5. Permission to begin the research;
6. The participant should be given the contact information of student researcher.
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8. Before observing or interviewing any person, you should assure your respondents that
you will protect their anonymity and the confidentiality of their responses. You should
explain that you will never use their real names or any other identifying information
when you report your findings. During interviews, you must assure them that: they do not
have to answer any question they do not wish to answer, they may stop answering
questions at any time, the data will be erased at the end of the study, no names or
identifiers will be collected, and pseudonyms will always be used. Students MUST
respect all ethics involved with research, protect anonymity, and follow all SCU
guidelines for conducting ethical research.
WEEK THREE:
ENTERING THE FIELD &
THE LOGIC OF QUALITATIVE INQUIRY
Portfolio Unit: Future Research Interests
Looking at the exercise from Luker’s page 39, some questions that I would ask that I
might want to spend some time investigating include:
Why do some school districts have more accessible resources than others?
How is the funding for one school so different than the school a few miles away? Where
is the funding going to and how is there this blatant inequality?
How come some students have access to resources such as computers, iPads, tablets, etc.
and other students do not?
How can we get schools to be equal in regards to resources, textbook adequacy,
advising, and so on?
How is it that some teachers are very passionate about what they teach and make it a joy
to learn while others seem to dislike teaching kids? What is the impact of this on the
students?
How can we get adequate funding at all schools so that all students have equal access to
the resources that are necessary to utilize in order to succeed as best they can?
At the schools where the funding is not adequate in regards to resources and technology,
where are the funds being put into?
Why are there racialethnicity inequalities in our school systems where we stereotype
students based on their skin color and assign them as being a certain type of student?
Why can’t we treat every student with the same respect and dignity in setting them up to
succeed?
These are just some of the questions I thought of when doing the exercise for chapter 2 in
Luker. This topic of access to adequate education and educational resources is something
concerning one’s community, socioeconomic status, racialethnicity, family life, and
much more so it is a complex, yet very important topic to tackle.
Quotes from Luker:
Paulette McCroskey 8
9.
Now looking at quotes from chapters 36, there were many that caught my eye. From An
Ode to Canonical Social Science, the quote, “The takehome lesson from this discussion
is that along with sampling and operationalization, both bias and generalization are things
that you and I have to worry about, and worry about a lot” (Luker, 47). That is something
that at first I was very mindful and indeed worried about because I noticed that in my
notes, I was giving my opinion about things/people that I was observing, and I needed to
keep in mind to be objective and nonbiased.
A quote from What Is This a Case of, Anyway? regarding one’s research question is,
“Fourth and finally, a good research question, properly answered, advances the state of
play in one or more intellectual conversations that are already going on in some part of
the scholarly world that matters to you” (Luker, 52). I would say that my question/topic
is something that is definitely part of the scholarly world as it is regarding the education
system and is something that I find to be of great importance and most definitely worth
pursuing.
From Reviewing the Literature, I liked the quote, “So for us salsadancing social
scientists, a “review of the literature” is not something we do once, but many times. We
do it at the beginning of the process, as we try to figure out how to “frame” our research;
we do it many, many times in the middle of our research, as both our frame and our
research question become clearer; and we do it one last time at the end to see if there’s
anything we missed” (Luker, 77). The literature that we looked at in class has been so
helpful in better understanding qualitative methods of research and how to go about
writing our portfolio.
Looking at a quote from the last chapter, On Sampling, Operationalization, and
Generalization, I liked the quote that talks about our task in investigating, “Listen
carefully: not representative of the larger population, but of the larger phenomenon”
(Luker, 103). We need to not only be observing and taking notes, but also be seeing the
larger picture and the meanings behind the actions, language, behaviors, and so on.
Portfolio Unit: Entering the Field & Initial Fieldnotes
Week 3: Coffee Café, from 4:30 5:30 pm on Thursday, April 23
● Group of 2 girls sitting at looking at their phones while sitting directly across
from each other
● A younger man sitting across from an older man, the younger guy looked at his
phone quite a few times, wearing nail polish, made eye contact however paused a
few times to look at his phone; seems as though they might be in an interview;
older man has hands crossed across chest, never looked at his phone;
● At the large table, there is a woman sitting on her own looking at her computer
and at the other end there is another person sitting and taking notes
● Man sitting alone at a table, looks busy working on his computer
Paulette McCroskey 9
10. ● Workers, there are 2 men working and having conversation on and off, making
sure not to bump into each other and being mindful of the close proximity; talking
about other coworkers and what happened the previous day
● Guy ordering a drink went to order then while the drink was being made, he said
“Oh I wanted that cold” and didn’t say thank you when they changed his order,
seemed a bit rude
● There is a man sitting at a table alone and on his computer, rarely looking up from
it
● People sitting alone on their computers seem to be in their own little bubbles, not
paying attention to what is going on around them
● Two male students walked in and ordered drinks and sat down and are talking
face to face, sitting directly across from each other but sometimes one or the other
looks down at their phone
● The types of people sitting were either individuals on their laptops or cell phones
or groups of two people who were sitting across from one another either in silence
and looking at a computer or cell phone or were having a conversation and were
making eye contact and very invested in the conversation
Rewrite:
I walk into the café by SCU campus at 4:30 pm on a Thursday. It is not all that busy but
almost all the tables are taken up and there are varying types of groups scattered around.
The overall layout of the café consists of a few tables alongside the window that can seat
2 people maximum and on the other side of the table there are a few more tables that can
seat 2 people and then a large table in the middle of the side area that can fit 6 or so
people total.
At the 2 person tables, they consist of a group of 2 girls sitting and looking at their
phones while facing each other, sometimes fading in and out of conversation.
Another table has a young man and an older man, both Caucasian and seem to be in a
semiformal interview as they are both keeping eye contact and talking consistently. The
older man has a piece of paper in front of him and occasionally looks down at it before he
speaks to the young man. The young man pulls out his phone and holds it underneath the
table while the other man looks at the piece of paper, but puts away the phone when they
get back to engaging with one another. The older man never once looked at his phone nor
did he ever have it in his hand.
As for the employees, there are two young men working in the small area to prepare
drinks for the customers and they have conversation on and off; off while there are
customers ordering drinks/waiting for drinks and on when there is no line for ordering
food/drinks.
There is a young male, Caucasian who is with his friend, also young and Caucasian and
they appear to be ordering drinks. They sit down while they wait and then when the
drinks are ready, they each get up and one of them picks it up then returns to his seat
while the other says to one of the employees, “I wanted this cold” and hands it back. The
Paulette McCroskey 10
11. barista redoes the order and hands to him and he takes it without thanking him and
returns to sit with his friend.
The tables that can fit 2 over by the window have many individuals sitting alone. There is
one man sitting alone at one of these tables and is on his computer and has his
headphones on; rarely looks up to look at the people walking by him and seems very
invested in what he is working on his computer.
There is another man doing almost the same exact thing, laptop with headphones in and
appearing to be in a bubble of exclusion. Two male students walk in and immediately get
in line to order their drinks, not really speaking all that much to one another, give their
order, then find a table and sit directly across from one another. They make consistent
eye contact for the most part but sometimes if there is a lull in the conversation will look
at their phones, while are both placed at reachable distances on the table.
***Footnote: From here on out, whenever I say he or she, it is referring to an individual
whom I believe is a male or female. When I note an individual’s racialethnicity, it is
what I believe to their racialethnicity, and that may or may not be factually correct.
When I make a reference to someone’s age, it is what I presume that individual to be in
age, and that may or may not be factually correct. When I state someone’s name, it is a
pseudonym that I have created for them – not their actual name.
OPTIONAL Portfolio Units: Meet Visiting Scholar CJ Pascoe
3) LISTEN TO PODCAST AND WRITE UP
I chose to respond to and reflect on the podcast with Natalie Boero and C.J.
Pascoe talking about their coauthored article, ProAnorexia Communities and Online
Interaction: Bringing the Proana Body Online. The podcast was very interesting and eye
opening into the world of online discussions within proanorexia communities and
highlights some of the symbolic language, norms and customs, and media
characterizations regarding them. An overall summary of the podcast is that Boero and
Pascoe were asked questions regarding research methods, responses by the media and
public, interviews, the establishment of authenticity, support, aggression, and what they
want to do in moving forward with their research project and publishing their work.
They started off with defining what a proanorexic online community is and stated
that they in general occur online where there are interactive group discussions in which
members coalesce around an identity of being proanorexic. They identify as having an
eating disorder but see it as more of a lifestyle and are looking for a place of mutual
support in dealing with issues of side effects, relationships, dieting tips, weight and
weight loss statistics, sharing pictures, and so on. Boero and Pascoe conducted 20
interviews with people who were active participants in these online discussions, and these
interviews ended up helping their research a lot because they were able to get a lot of
clarification of the meanings behind the posts and members meanings, language, norms,
and so on. One example of a members meaning that they saw was posted quite a bit was
about is the term “wannarexic”, which means someone wanting to lose a few pounds and
Paulette McCroskey 11
12. following online discussions, but is seen as someone who just claims to be anorexic but is
not really.
A few quotes that struck me were regarding the difficulty revolving around
conducting a research project about body image in looking at online discussions as well
as the norms of being an active participant in these discussions. The first quote is,
“There’s the parallel in thinking about the methodological issues of how do you study
bodies when you are studying them online”. The author takes into account the importance
of seeing and observing in person in a research project such as this one, but there were
many ways to get that in the online discussions in the pictures and dialogue that the
members of these communities were participating in. The participants posted pictures
verifying authenticity of actually being anorexic, or saying that they were overweight and
were just in the process of losing weight. Another quote that I found to be interesting
regarding following the online norms and customs is, “It was really about participating in
the discourse more than proving you were actually skinny. You had to say you wanted to
be skinny if you weren’t skinny, or prove that you were skinny. Knowing the norms for
participating.” The discourse, rules, and norms were to be abided by at all times.
The benefits/challenges to society related to this topic could be that looking at
these discussions can reveal insightful information on the serious issues that currently
stand regarding body image among young women, but also that the media sensationalizes
this topic and takes the most extreme cases to generalize an entire group of people and
online community. This podcast opened my eyes to online discussions that previously I
had no idea even existed, but highlighted some of the larger issues that are at hand when
talking about these proanorexic communities. We have serious body image and dieting
issues with young women, and these online discussions are just an outlet where people
can come together to talk about how it effects them in their everyday lives and to give
support to one another.
WEEK FOUR:
ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELDWORK
Portfolio Unit: Fieldnotes
***Footnote: I changed my field site from the café to a food court as I felt I could
observe much more activity, conversation, movement, and behavior that of which I could
get more use out of in my fieldwork analysis. The café was a bit more quiet and subdued
whereas the food court was lively, bustling with people, and had a lot of great
interactions to observe. Thus, the rest of my weeks of field notes and analysis will be
based on the findings from the food court.
Week 4: Food court on Friday, April 25 from 8 to 10:30 pm
● Groups of people vary in numbers, mostly groups of 2 or more people
Paulette McCroskey 12
13. ● Not many people sitting by themselves, the ones who are either looking at their
cell phones or just staring off into the distance
● There’s a couple who are facing each other, but they are not speaking to one
another as the woman is looking at her phone and not talking
● 2 groups of 2 friends sitting across from each other, one was on the phone for a bit
and the other was looking around and did not know what to do; I thought she
would pull out her cell phone but she never did as the call was ended shortly after
that
● Interesting noting the eye contact going on among the various groups of people;
seemed that mothers and daughters made more eye contact than fathers and sons
● Women seemed to hold eye contact more so than men
● Couples sat across from each other and made eye contact, sometimes pulling out
their phones
● A lot of families, with younger and older kids, when sitting sometimes the parents
pull out their phones and then the kids, if they are older, will also pull out their
phones
● Indian families/couples seemed to use technology on their dates/family time and
made constant eye contact
● Mostly people sitting alone were men, saw a few women sitting alone as well but
the men seemed to be more comfortable sitting alone as they used either a tablet
or their cell phone
● As the food court started closing down, people cleared out very quickly
● The workers got much louder in their conversations once everyone cleared out;
they were talking with their coworkers, listening to music loudly
● While taking notes, I got some food because just taking notes in the middle of a
food court seemed to be a bit odd as everyone was either having a conversation or
looking at some sort of device (cell phone, tablet, computer, etc.)
● Maybe received a few suspicious looks while looking around and taking notes but
for the most part the study went well as there were many people at the food court
Rewrite:
I am with a classmate Ayano and we enter the shopping mall food court on Friday
evening, at 8 pm. We notice immediately that the food court appears to be very busy with
all sorts of different types of people, groups, interactions, and so on as we are surveying
the area, which is overall quite large. We decide where we want to eat and get our food,
sit down, eat, then pull out our notebooks to begin our field notes.
In our immediate area, we see that there are many different types of groups present,
including but not limited to families, friend groups, couples, younger kids, older adults,
people sitting alone with technology and without it, and so on.
There are not that many people sitting by themselves, but the ones that are seem to either
be eating and content just doing that and looking around and observing while some other
individuals have a book out or their cell phone or computer. It seems that there are more
men who are sitting alone without any book or technological device and seem
comfortable while women have something that they are occupying themselves with.
Paulette McCroskey 13
14.
There is a couple who are facing each other but are not speaking at all, just looking at
their cell phones; occasionally one of them will say something to the other but it is almost
always about something on their phone and they proceed to show their phone to the other.
There are 2 women sitting directly across from each other, sitting and talking, and then
one of their phones starts ringing and the woman answers it and continues to talk on the
phone for a few minutes. She is laughing and talking on the phone and her friend is
looking around nervously trying not to just stare at her friend as she talks so she just
observes the area around her; she never pulls out her cell phone in the time waiting for
her friend to stop chatting on the phone which was surprising because she looks like she
felt uncomfortable.
When looking around at all the various types of groups, it appeared that the women in the
groups seemed to hold eye contact better than the men and held it longer.
There is an Indian couple sitting at a booth table where they had the option of sitting
across from each other but they chose to sit right next to each other, but they still turn
their heads so that they can maintain eye contact.
The food court started closing around 9/9:30 pm and people cleared out very quickly.
Before not too long, Ayano and I were a few of the only people left, and the only
remaining people were the employees and people cleaning up the seating area, picking up
the food and garbage from the ground.
As the food court started emptying out, the employees at the various restaurants began to
get louder in their conversations and listened to music loudly as they cleaned things up
and started to shut down.
As Ayano and I were sitting and taking notes throughout the night, we realized that we
got a few nervous and suspicious looks but we didn’t let it affect us as there were so
many people present that we blended in regardless, but as the food court started emptying
out, the employees took more notice to our presence and our note taking and definitely
said a few things to one another about our possible intentions or why we were taking
notes at a food court on a Friday night. They did not say anything however, and we
eventually left around 10:30 pm.
Portfolio Unit: The Two Rs, Reflexivity and Reactivity
Thinking reflectively about my research and notes from my field, I feel that I am a bit of
both an insider and an outsider. I am an insider in that I am sitting among everyone else,
doing pretty much the same things as the individuals around me – eating, working, and
chatting. I look no different than anyone else in my field, as I am keeping to myself for
the most part and not disrupting anyone. I am an outsider however in that I am taking
notice of what is happening around me and taking notes about my immediate
surroundings. That makes me an outsider because I am watching, observing, and
Paulette McCroskey 14
15. interpreting the various aspects of dialogue, behavior, body language, and so on that is
occurring around me. This makes me an outsider in that I am fairly confident that I am
the only individual in the food court doing this, but not many people pay any attention to
me as I am keeping my head down and not being overtly obvious that I am taking notes
about the people who I am observing.
There were however a couple of individuals who gave me suspicious looks as I was
looking up around me and then writing down notes, so my guess is that it was at time
visibly noticeable that I was observing and writing down notes about the people around
me. My presence did not change anything, in my opinion, regarding how people were
acting, talking, and behaving because for the most part, my observing went unnoticed. I
think that for me to be reflexive about my role as a researcher is to look at the patterns
and behaviors around me and see the similarities among people as well as the differences.
I need to look at the situation from an objective point of view and see its social
implications and the deeper meanings underneath the dialogue, gestures, body language,
and so on.
Portfolio Unit: Concepts for the Field
What is Participant Observation?
A concept that I found to be interesting from this reading is the idea about participant
observation being deeply related and involved with anthropology. Authors Kathleen
Dewalt and Billie Dewalt state, “Participant observation is accepted almost universally as
the central and defining method of research in cultural anthropology. […] Participant
observation subsumes the bulk of what we call field research or, as it is typically referred
to in anthropology, fieldwork” (Dewalt, 2). Having taken many courses in anthropology
including cultural anthropology, I realized how amazing the interconnectedness between
sociology and anthropology is. They are very different subjects and entail varying
methods in research, but both involve a huge element of similarity, that being participant
observation. The authors characterize participant observation as, “is a method in which a
researcher takes part in the daily activities, rituals, interactions, and events of a group of
people as the means of learning the explicit and tacit aspects of their life routines and
their culture” (Dewalt, 2). In doing my field notes and research of observing the food
court and its various interactions consisting of dialogue, body language, technological
use, grouping, and so on, I have started to become involved in this process of
ethnographic research in observing and beginning to interview the individuals in my field
site.
Learning to Be a Participant Observer
This reading was very interesting in that it talked about learning to be a participant
observer, the theoretical issues involved, membership roles, the role of the researcher,
limits to participation, and much more. A quote that caught my eye is,
Paulette McCroskey 15
16. Just as learning about a new social or cultural context is experiential and, to an
extent, tacit, so is learning to use participant observation effectively. The method
draws heavily on behavioral skills and already established social skills wedded to
a flexible approach to new social situations. Learning to participate in a new
context means acquiring a set of understandings and reactions, that, in fact, we
may not fully appreciate until we begin analysis (Dewalt, 19).
I personally connected with this quote in that I realized in my field notes observation and
analysis that it was relatively easy to do and I felt very comfortable in doing so. The
article talks about specific skills that the researcher must utilize in participant
observation, but that they are skills we already had before doing the observation – we are
just elaborating and expanding on them. For me, people watching has always been a form
of entertainment and a way to pass the time if I was bored, so now doing it as class work
is very eyeopening as I am now looking at my observations but seeing their social and
cultural implications.
Doing Participant Observation, Becoming a Participant
Some main concepts from this reading were that one must gain entrance into the research
setting, identify local gatekeepers, and gain permission into the research area. There are
many factors that must be fulfilled before the research can even begin, so it is very
important to be mindful of them before entering the field site. A quote from the reading
regarding insiders and outsiders is, “They can find out what the outsider is after and
quickly improvise some information that satisfies him without representing anything
potentially harmful to the group” (Dewalt quoting Agar, 40). This sense of “other” is
prevalent so one must be aware of this when conducting research. Applying concepts
from this reading to my field notes is that when I was taking notes at the my field site, I
had to be aware of the area that I was in so that I did not rub anyone the wrong way by
being visibly noticeable that I was taking notes about their behaviors and actions. It
seemed to me that for the most part, no one took much notice to my being there and
taking notes, so I was not made to be the “other”, but it is definitely something that
should be kept in mind when conducting field work observation and research.
Doing Research in Cornerville
A few main concepts from this reading are experience, conducting fieldwork, having an
interest, and integrating into the community where research is occurring. Another concept
that I found to be very important in this reading was that one must be sincere and genuine
in their actions and behaviors in conducting research as well as being in the community.
A quote that I found to shed some light on this is, “I can still remember my first outing
with Doc. We met one evening at the Norton Street House and set out from there to a
gambling place a couple of blocks away. [...] I was thinking about how I would fit in and
be accepted” (78). Acceptance is a big part of this research as he was immersing himself
in a completely new place with new people and he was worried about fitting in and being
accepted among the community. This relates to my field work and site in a way in that I
wanted to blend in among the people eating at the food court, but at the same time I was
watching and observing their actions, behaviors, language, and so on. I had to be mindful
of how I was appearing to come across to others around me when I was looking at them
and then taking notes in my notebook.
Paulette McCroskey 16
18. ● A young family with a mom, dad, and little girl are eating while the parents talk to
one another facing each other and the kid is climbing all over the chair trying to
get their attention
● There is a young boy and his father sitting across from each other, not really
making conversation from what I can see; maybe a few words here and there
● There is a young woman sitting and eating alone, not looking at a cell phone and
looks fine with being alone and not using technology
● Couples seemed to sit across from each other and make more frequent eye contact
than other groups of people
● Groups of friends sat next to each other more than they say across from each
other, especially with groups of two or more people
● People in the food court were mostly sitting and eating, kind of the norm in the
food court → not too many people sitting and not eating; is seemingly the norm in
the food court
● Types of groups of people vary: couples, groups of friends, business people
(dressed in nice clothing and seem formal), families, workers sitting and eating,
moms and daughters, fathers and sons, middle schoolers, people sitting alone, and
so on.
● Employee interactions vary depending on their proximity to one another and what
restaurant it is
● Some employees joke around with one another while other employees do not
really speak to one another and just stand in silence when not dealing with a
customer.
● No employees are seen on their cell phones; when they are in between having to
deal with customers they are either standing in silence or conversing with their
fellow employees
● The employees that I have seen that are on their cell phones are the ones sitting at
the tables, seeming to be on their breaks. Some employees have food and are on
their phones while others are just sitting and looking at their phones – presumably
because they are on a short break and just have 15 minutes to sit and relax
● All the employees are wearing their designated uniforms and it appears that none
of them, across all the restaurants I am in view of, are breaking any uniform codes
● The individuals who are in charge of cleaning up the eating area also have
uniforms but are different than the employees who are serving food at the various
restaurants
● The staff who are cleaning up the food eating area seem to majority consist of
men and women whose racialethnicity appears to me as Latino
● I have spotted one individual on cleaning staff that appears to be Caucasian, is an
older male and has white hair. He is cleaning up an area where a family just left
all their trays and left some crumbs and leftover food on the ground – he does not
appear too happy to be having to clean up all the mess they left behind
● Some people who have finished eating bring their trays to the trash can to throw
away their leftover food while other people just leave their food their and do not
realize that they should be clearing their tables and trays as it is the polite thing to
do
Rewrite:
Paulette McCroskey 18
19.
Ayano and I enter the food court on Tuesday, April 28 starting at 4 pm. and at first I
realize that it is definitely not as crowded as it was on the last time I went, on a Friday
evening. I have realized the depending on the time of day that I go to mall, the amount of
people present varies greatly. Around dinnertime seems to be when there are the most
people present, with all sorts of groups there ranging from families to groups of friends to
older couples. During the middle of the day I noticed that there are definitely people there
but not as many, and there is not the same sense of chaos and people hustling and
bustling around the food court.
The employees who are handing out free samples seem to be less stressed during the
middle of the day as opposed to the evening as they do not have to deal with the large
amounts of people walking in and around the food court. The employees behind the
counter ringing people up also seem to be more at ease during the middle of the day as
opposed to the later parts/evening as they seem to chat amongst each other more and
laugh and joke with one another.
The interaction between the employees and people purchasing food is a very formal and
polite one for the most part. The employee asks, “Hello, how are you?” and the individual
usually responds, “Fine,” or “Good” and then continues to give them their order and pay.
There is never much conversation past asking how they are and then the purchasing of
food. The employees however seem to converse quite a bit with one another and when
they are not dealing with a customer, they seem to joke with each other and laugh quite a
bit. However this is not the case at all of the restaurants, some have employees who are
friendly with one another while others have employees who do not really speak to each
other let alone joke and laugh with each other.
There are many different types of groups, and in my surrounding area, there is a group of
Santa Clara students, a man sitting alone, a couple, a family, and a young man eating
alone. The group of students is clearly Santa Clara students as they are wearing SCU
shirts and they are sitting and chatting while drinking smoothies. Some of them are on
their cell phones and still participating in the conversation while a few of them do not
have their cell phones out.
The young man sitting alone is eating his food and before every bite, he looks around him
a bit anxiously it seems and then proceeds to take a bite. He finishes up his food and
leaves immediately. He seemed to be a bit nervous to be sitting and eating alone but he
never once took out his cell phone.
There are 2 older men who are sitting directly across from one another and holding eye
contact, they do not have their cell phones out nor do they ever take them out to look at
them. They appear to be employees at one of the restaurants as they have chef clothes on
that have some grease on the front. They are very invested in their conversation as they
are steadily holding eye contact and not looking around at the people around them or
their cell phones.
Paulette McCroskey 19
20. It seems that if the groups consist of older people, they hold eye contact more so than
younger people who seem to always have their technology at a very close range, either on
the table or in their hand.
There is a couple sitting across from each other, they appear to be Asian, and they are
both on their cell phones and rarely speak, they only talk to each other to show something
on their phone. They are eating and looking at their phones in silence for the most part.
A young family with a mom, dad, and little girl are sitting at a table with the parents
talking to one another while the little girl is climbing all over the chair and appearing to
be a bit bored. Neither of the parents appears to have any technological device out while
talking to each other.
There is a young boy and his father sitting across from each other right next to me and
they are talking kind of quietly and make eye contact every now and then but for the most
part, they are looking at other things while they are talking, either at the people in the
surrounding area or looking down at their hands or something else in the immediate area.
A young woman is eating alone and does not have her cell phone out or any book or
anything, she seems to be content just sitting, eating, and observing the area.
Most of the groups of people sitting or individuals sitting alone appear to have some sort
of food that they are eating, there are not that many people sitting and not eating. The
types of groups varied greatly and some that I observed are couples, groups of friends,
business people (dressed in nice clothing and seem formal), families, workers sitting and
eating, moms and daughters, fathers and sons, middle schoolers, people sitting alone, and
so on.
Portfolio Unit: Quality Improvement of Fieldnotes
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AND THICK DESCRIPTION
WHO?
People who are eating, conversing, sitting, chatting, and so on in and among the food
court is the who that I am studying. There is such a wide variety of people at the food
court ranging in age, racialethnicity, gender, grouping, etc. to observe as there are
numerous restaurants offering all sorts of culturally diverse foods. I cannot say that I saw
one racialethnic group more so than another because there was such a culturally diverse
array of people present at all times when I did my observations.
That is one aspect that I really enjoyed in being at the food court was that I got to see a
culturally diverse environment with people of all sorts of backgrounds, so I did not feel
like I was conducting my field notes at a site where there was just one group with one
racialethnicity. The food court had restaurants ranging with food from Mexican,
Chinese, Japanese, Italian, American, Korean, Indian, and more so there was large
amount of cultural representation in that aspect.
Paulette McCroskey 20
21. WHAT?
There was so much to observe in detail as the food court is huge and you cannot view the
entire area from one given spot. I could observe my immediate surroundings and the
people, interactions, groupings, and so on within that and that is what I based my notes
off of. These interactions that I observed consisted of groups sitting and eating together
and ranged from families, groups of friends – young and old, older couples, younger
couples, young kids – perhaps in middle school or high school, employees eating
together, people sitting alone, and so on.
I really paid attention to the groups and their interactions with one another in regards to
the use of technology but I also paid close attention to the individuals sitting alone and
their use of technology. Depending on the gender of the individual, when sitting alone
and eating, the use of technology varied. It seemed that with men who were sitting alone
and eating or not, they were content with doing just that and not needing to pull out any
technological device – whether that be their cell phone, iPad, kindle, computer, etc. With
the women I observed however, if they were sitting alone, eating or not eating, they
almost always had a technological device out and looking at it. This use of technology
was present with all groupings, whether it is with groups of friends, families, or people
sitting alone. It was hard to find an interaction where there was not at least one source of
technology present – that meaning that technological device usage ranged from cell
phone to computer use.
WHEN?
The times that I conducted my field notes at the food court (at a mall close to Santa Clara
University) ranged in day/time of day, so here is a list of the exact timing that I went to
my field site:
Week 3: 4:30 5:30 pm on Thursday, April 23
Week 4: 8 10:30 pm on Friday, April 25
Week 5: 3:30 5:30 pm on Tuesday, April 28
Week 6: 5 6:30 pm on Friday, May 8
Week 7: 3 5 pm on Thursday, May 14
WHERE?
My field site is a very public space, just about as public as one can get. There is liveliness to the food
court, as there always seemed to be something happening in regards to interaction, movement, and
noise everywhere you look. I shared my role as an ethnographer in that one of my classmates,
Ayano, joined me in taking notes at the food court. It was great to have her there because it made me
feel like I was less of an outsider in doing my observations because with the both of us there, I felt
like I blended in more. I think that if I were to have gone to the food court on my own and have
taken notes about the people in my surrounding area, I would have been much more noticeable.
Paulette McCroskey 21
22. The food court is a very social place where there are not many individuals sitting alone, whether it
be just on their cell phones, eating, working, or what have you. Being there with Ayano and having
us both taking notes in our notebooks made it look like we were just at the mall doing homework,
not making observations about our surrounding environment and people within it. I would that yes,
my field notes do have a detailed description of the field in that I state that I have highlighted that the
food court was a very large area consisting of a wide variety of restaurants. There is a large sitting
area spanning a long way down, with different types of tables, booths, chairs, couches, and many
more seating arrangements. I was considering writing a map of the food court but there were just far
too many things that I would have to draw and it would be very complicated to have to write it all
out.
WHY?
I think that my field site is potentially interesting and eye opening in regards to qualitative research
and analysis in that there is a huge variety in cultural and ethnic background. The food court is its
own little melting pot of diversity ranging in all sorts of people, whether that be age, gender,
ethnicity, and so on. I found it to be a great place to conduct my research/observations and following
analysis because I was able to take notes and not raise too much suspicion in doing so. If someone
chose a place like a bar or a restaurant, it seems to me that it would be a little difficult to take notes
and observations without it being obvious what was happening. The mall was perfect in looking at
interactions, use of technology, grouping, gender patterns in regards to use of technology, spacing,
eye contact, and so on in that I could watch and rarely anyone gave me a second glance. I felt that
there was so much for me to take notes on that I needed to keep it focused and stay on topic in
regards to my codes. The codes that I chose are a result of what I felt to be most prominent and
noticeable in the given area that I was observing.
HOW AND ETHICS?
It was not necessary to gain access as I was in a very public space. I did not need to get
the okay from anyone to be there and to be doing what I was doing. I felt that I blended in
well, occasionally getting a few looks of suspicion but other than that I felt I was well
integrated into the public. I did not have any key informants, I just came with Ayano, ate
some food, took notes, then left.
INSIDER & OUTSIDER
I feel that I was both an insider and an outsider. I was an insider in that I was doing the
same thing that everyone else was. I was sitting, eating, chatting, and occasionally doing
work in my notebook. That was the one difference that I noticed however between what I
was doing and the people that I was observing. Rarely anyone had his or her notebooks
out or really any form of homework. If someone was working on something, it was
almost always on a technological device, such as a computer, tablet, Kindle, etc. This is
where the food court and the café differed in that at the café, people constantly had
notebooks and homework out as well as their technological devices. The food court was a
very social place where there was a huge presence of food, so if someone had their
computer or cell phone out, they would most likely not have a big plate of food right next
to them.
While I was there, I felt very much of an insider, but now looking back, I felt that I was
an outsider as well. Reflecting on my weeks of field note taking, I was definitely an
Paulette McCroskey 22
23. outsider in that I was taking notes about the people, grouping, interactions, technological
use, etc. around me. I am fairly confident that no one else (besides Ayano) was doing
that, so that makes me an outsider in my actions. However, I did not feel alienated or seen
as the “other” while conducting my observations and actually felt very comfortable and at
ease (the chairs were very squishy too might I add).
PARTICIPANT, OBSERVER, PARTICIPANTOBSERVER
Defining my role in the observations at the food court, I would categorize myself as
inbetween a participant and an observer. I was a participant in that I was doing much of
the same thing that the people I was observing were doing. I was sitting, eating, chatting
and minding my own business – for the most part. When I arrived at the food court with
Ayano, most of the time we would grab some food, sit down and chat for a bit, then we
would proceed to take field notes. I would have to say that starting from initially getting
there to when the time came to leave, I transitioned from being a participant to being an
observer. Sometimes I would get a few suspicious looks when I looked up and around me
when taking notes, but for the most part people did not pay much attention to what I was
doing.
During that first week of notes that I conducted at a coffee café, I was taking notes on my
computer and blended in so easily, no one even looked twice when I was looking around
then typing away at my computer. At the food court however, I was using notebook to
take my field notes. This must have been more of a giveaway as I got more looks at the
food court than I did at the café. The food court was much more of a social atmosphere
than the café however, so there really wasn’t a working atmosphere (such as typing on a
computer, tablet, etc.) as much as the café was. Each place seemed to have their own
norms in regards to conversing, level of loudness, working, and so on.
Portfolio Unit: Concepts for the Field
“Drive On…”
This article looks at soldier’s ethics and the drive for discipline in exploring how cadets
make sense of and master the discipline that is meant to master them. One concept that
this article drew is attentiveness, and one quote that highlights this is, “The purpose of
being at attention is to be ready to receive information. That means that you don’t let
your eyes and ears wander. You wait ready to receive.” (Lande, 2). This ties in with my
field notes as when I am in the food court, I have to be attentive and constantly looking
around the surrounding area to see all the different interactions occurring. I also realized
that throughout these weeks of making observations and taking notes that my
attentiveness and methods of observation have been changing. It has definitely improved
as I have learned to pay more attention to people and interactions that are within my
codes. My main codes being the use of technology, interaction, grouping, and gender. In
keeping these codes in mind as I am looking around and taking notes, I can be attentive
and mindful to concentrate on places where they are prominent so that I can further my
analysis and insights coming from my data and observation.
Paulette McCroskey 23
24. The Body, the Ghetto and the Penal State
Loic Wacquant addresses in the goal of qualitative research in this article in that it
investigates the why and how of decisionmaking and looks at factors that go into that
including participant observation and observant participation. This quote looks at the idea
of direct observation, “ I wanted to quickly find a direct observation post inside the ghetto
because the existing literature on the topic was the product of a ‘gaze from afar’ that
seemed to me fundamentally biased if not blind.” (Wacquant, 107). The goal of
qualitative methods of research is to go far beyond as Wacquant puts it, ‘gaze from afar’
to see the deeper meaning and bigger picture. I can relate this concept to my field notes as
Wacquant looks at the key elements involved in direct observation and demonstrates how
important it in when collecting data. When at the mall, I can really see the interactions
occurring and see exactly under what context they are happening under, enabling me to
see the whole picture.
Discipline of the Catwalk
Ashley Mears’ analyzes gender, power and uncertainty in fashion modeling and looks at
the normalization of gender through the concepts of surveillance, infantilization, and
uncertainty. A quote relating to surveillance states, “Models work in a disciplinary
regime of surveillance and objectification.” (Mears, 430). Models influence women’s
general compulsion to regulate and discipline their bodies in pursuit of a prescribed yet
elusive feminine image. Mears then goes on to compare the surveillance that models
experience to being in prison and constantly being watched and touches on the idea of
selfmonitoring. In her study of the model world, Mears was a participant observer and
that enabled her to really get into the world of modeling and the hardships that model
face.
The importance of participant observation is key in this study and article because without
it, she would have been able to get the depth of notes that she did in order to critically
analyze her findings. Applying this idea to my research and field notes, it relates in that I
can see that participant observation is key in getting up close and personal with the field
of interest as you are right there seeing firsthand what is occurring. There is no way that I
would have been able to come to the conclusions that I did in my field site had I not
actually been there for hours and hours taking notes.
Voices of Women of Color: Redefining Women's Studies
Alma Garcia looks at how women of color and from workingclass backgrounds have
had few opportunities to become part of the networks that produce or monitor knowledge
in women’s studies. She looks at the dynamics between race, class, and gender to see
their interconnected nature and they influence one another heavily. A quote regarding this
intersectionality is, “These personal reflections from my childhood provide a particular
dimension to my analysis of multiculturalism, the voices of women of color, and
Women's Studies. Research on coming of age as a person of color in the United States is
incomplete if gender identity is overlooked.” (Garcia, 21). Her research on gender studies
has looked across these categories of racial, ethnic, and class identities and she has drawn
upon each one in her analysis.
Paulette McCroskey 24
26. survey the area that I am in to see where the available seats are and where a good place
would be for me to take notes about my observations of the people in my area without
raising too much suspicion.
I find a little spot that faces a pretty big open area with varying groups of people, some in
large groups, some in small groups, and some individuals sitting alone. I decide to sit
down in an area facing other tables so that I can get the best observations. I take out my
laptop and a notebook and begin to take notes.
Before not too long I see Ayano as we had planned to meet at the mall and she joins me
to take notes while eating. We go to a table that is a bit higher elevated than the other
surrounding tables and we begin to observe the people and area around us.
I immediately notice that there seems to be a lot of groupings that consist of what appears
to be mothers with their daughters, and I conclude that they are most likely shopping for
Mother’s Day gifts. I notice many mothers with their daughters and barely any if no
groups of mothers with their sons.
There is a group of 2 teenage girls who are sitting and eating, both on their phones and
not conversing at all with one another. They do not speak for a few minutes and act as if
they are not sitting next to each other; their phones seem to be the only source of
interaction for them both.
I see a woman sitting by herself and while observing her, I notice that she never pulls out
her phone; most women that sit alone either eating or just sitting seem to usually have
their phone out or a book/textbook, perhaps an indicator of being busy and not to be
bothered.
Men sitting alone, whether or not eating, tend to not have their phones out as much as
women sitting alone. There is one man who appears to be an employee at one of the
restaurants and is on his break, eating food.. It seems to me that he is an employee as he
is wearing clothes that a chef would wear. He has not looked at his phone at all; he is just
sitting and eating his food, occasionally looking around to see what’s happening in the
food court.
I have noticed many families with either teenage kids or young children, and the parents
with the young children seem to be more attentive to them as opposed to the parents with
teenagers → the parents as well as the teenagers seem more inclined to go on their
phones and not talk even though they are in a very social atmosphere and are sitting
directly across from one another.
I notice that when I am looking down and writing that no one appears to be suspicious of
me or my actions, however when I look around to observe the people around me, people
seem to be more aware of my watching them and give me looks that say “why are you
looking at me?”. I do not blame them however, as they are most of the time eating when I
look over at them and no one, myself included, wants to be watched while eating a big
meal.
Paulette McCroskey 26
27.
Portfolio Unit: Initial Memo
Technology This code is one that no matter what I was looking at/what type of group I
was looking at, technology seemed to be almost always present in any given interaction.
Whether it is a teenager, a younger person or an older person, or what have you, there
were technological devices being used with individuals of every age. Within looking at
individuals sitting alone as well as group interactions, it seemed to be even more
prominent. It seemed very interesting to me that no matter what age, ethnicity, gender,
etc. there was almost always an aspect of technology involved in the interactions. And if
an individual was alone, they almost always had a technological device present. One
aspect of technology that struck me was that with the groups of people who appeared to
be families, it seemed that the parents had no issue in not really speaking to their spouse
or kids as they were looking at their technological device, so that led to the kids to take
out their phones– leading to little to no interaction.
Interaction In the food court, there was a wide variety of interactions whether they were
in large groups, small groups, dates, families, and so on; the level of interaction varied
depending on the group. With people who seemed to be on a date or part of a couple, they
made consistent eye contact while people who were in larger groups seemed more
inclined to go on their phone or computer without it seeming to come across as rude. In
their various group formations, whether it was with large or small groups, dates, families,
etc. many people did have their cell phones out but depending on the situation, they
would vary in their use of it. Almost all groups however seemed to have their cell phones
in close proximity, either on the table or in their hands.
Grouping The grouping that I observed was always varied and consisted of all types of
assortments of gender, racialethnicity, age, spacing, interaction, and so on. One main
pattern that I did notice was that it seemed to be that groupings consisted largely of
individuals of the same sex. Besides the people who appeared to be couples (they
appeared to be this way due to spacing, usually sitting directly across from each other or
sitting right next to each other and making eye contact), groups of individuals, usually
two or more people, seemed to consist of people of the same sex especially with males.
It was very common to see two women sitting and talking with another, perhaps eating or
just chatting. With men, I did not see this as much as it appeared that there were more
groups consisting of three or more men, not usually two.
Gender Looking at gender was interesting in that depending on the context in which I
was looking at gender, my observations varied a bit. When I was looking at technology in
relation to gender, I found that individuals who were sitting by themselves and had their
phones out were more likely to be women than men. Whether or not they were eating, it
appeared that more women had something to occupy themselves with when they were by
themselves. Men seemed to be more content in whatever it was that they were doing,
whether that be eating or just sitting and looking around. This also connects to the theme
of awareness as it seemed that women were more hyperaware when they were alone,
looking around more to see if anyone was watching them while the men also did look
around but not as nervously.
Paulette McCroskey 27
28.
Interviewing Planning
There were many people to consider for the interview at the food court, and includes but
is not limited to: the employees, people sitting and eating, the staff cleaning up the area,
the managers, the servers, and so on. I felt that all of these were great potential people to
interview, however my study was focused on individuals sitting and eating at the food
court and their interactions with one another as well as people sitting alone. However,
looking at the employees at all the different restaurants was interesting in that depending
on what time of the day/night it was, the way they interacted with each other varied
greatly so choosing an employee to interview could definitely have been interesting as
well. There were also a lot of security guards constantly walking around the food court
area, providing surveillance and a watchful eye for any suspicious behavior, so I could
have gotten a great interviewee with them as well. I decided to go with a few different
individuals sitting and eating alone, as that is where a lot of my field notes is centered
around.
Portfolio Unit: Fieldnotes Quality Control II
Jottings:
● Mother’s day is this upcoming Sunday and it seems that there are many groupings
of mothers with their daughters, many of which are eating and chatting; not so
many sons with their mothers
● There is a daughter with her mom and the daughter is on her phone while the
mom is looking off into the distance; they are sitting in silence, not eating or
talking
● There are a few young women sitting and eating, both on their phones, one hand
holding the phone while the other hand is being used to eat the food; neither one
is speaking to the other, they are acting as if they are not really next to each other
and that their phones are their only sources of interaction
● A woman sitting and eating alone, however not on her phone; seemingly content
to people watch and eat while observing the people and area around her
● A family with a mother, father, a baby girl, and a young boy; the father is cradling
the baby as the mom brings the food to the table; as they eat the parents sit and
chat as the little boy scrambles over her chair and the baby lies in the fathers arms
● There are many groups of guys that consist of 3 or more people; not too many
groups of guys of just 2 people; perhaps they do not it to look like they are on a
date? Interesting eye contact with one particular group of 3 guys, they are just
looking down at their food as they talk and do not really look up to make
consistent eye contact but does so every now and often.
● Many families with young children and girls with their moms, not so many guys
with their moms though there were a few guys with their dads
● There is a father with his 2 daughters, and he is on his phone, not speaking to
them as they sit and eat; he does this for a bit until the mom comes over to the
table, then they all start to converse with one another
Paulette McCroskey 28
29. ● The food court seems very packed, many families and groups of friends as well as
people who seem to be in a couple/on a date; the interactions varies dramatically
depending on what type of group is being observed:
*Families: parents do not seem to be on their phones if they have young
children, but if the family consists of older, teenage kids then the parents as well as the
kids seem more inclined to being on their phones and not conversing as much
*Groups: groups of friends vary in size depending on if its a group of guys
versus a group of girls and the level of eye contact and proximity to one another varies as
well
Rewrite:
I walk into the mall on a Friday evening at 5 pm. I make my way to the food court and
that means having to weave in and out of various stores to make my way from the
parking garage to the food court. It is a very hot day and I see immediately as I walk
through the mall that there are many people there, perhaps to escape the heat or just to
have some retail therapy. Once I get to the food court, I find a nice spot facing many
tables so that I can get the best view of the interactions in front of me. I get my laptop out
to begin taking notes as I wait for Ayano as we had planned to meet up to take notes
together. She arrives about 15 minutes or so after I get there and we chat for a bit then we
begin to make observations and notes about the interactions and movement occurring in
and around our immediate area.
We both begin to take notes on our computers and sometimes note to each other
something interesting that we saw, pointing out intriguing interactions, groupings,
dialogue, etc. Taking notes with each other has been helpful in sharing points and
observations, helping to expand and deepen our critical analysis of our notes. In looking
around, I have noticed that there are many groupings of what seems to me as mothers
with their daughters. I believe this to be the case as it seems to be that they are possibly
shopping in preparation for Mother’s Day which is in a couple of days. Noticing that
there are many mother and daughter(s) groupings, I realize that there are not many
mother and son groupings. I see a few groupings consisting of mothers with younger
children and groupings of mothers with older daughters, but not many mothers with older
sons. This is interesting in thinking and analyzing in regards to my codes gender,
grouping, and interaction.
A visual image of the area that I was in is shown below (I could not capture the entire
food court area as it was too large):
Paulette McCroskey 29
30.
Field site members consisted of people eating, sitting, and interacting, as this what my
observation notes were mainly focused on. I also noted behaviors and actions of the
janitorial staff, the employees, the managers, and the security guards as well. I focused
more on the individuals who were sitting with others as well as people sitting by
themselves. In looking at the people at the tables around me I found were the best in
finding good observations to make analysis of, as there was such diversity in types of
interactions and people. The staff working at the restaurants as well cleaning up the
eating areas were intriguing to watch too however as seeing their interactions with other
was very interesting – depending on what gender grouping it was, the level of interaction
varied. At the restaurants, when the employees were not dealing with customers, they
would either chat with each other or just stand in silence. The janitorial staff did not
really talk that much amongst each other because they were moving around more and
sometimes got too far away from one another to be able to carry on a conversation.
Some detailed accounts of interactions that I found to be interesting are mostly regarding
and involving my codes, those being technology, gender, grouping, and interaction.
These interactions are listed below.
One interaction that I noted is consists of a grouping of an older woman and a younger
girl. It seems to me that they are mother and daughter. They are both what seems to me as
Caucasian. They sit down at a table, not facing each other. They sit side by side. The
older woman, who I presume to be the mother, pulls out her phone from her purse and
starts typing on it. They sit in silence for a bit as the she is looking at her phone and the
young girl talks to her. I presume that she is too young to own a phone, as she seems to
Paulette McCroskey 30
