COM 501: Research Methods in Communication
Ethnographic Observation Assignment
This assignment is designed to give you the opportunity to make observations of a scene as a qualitative researcher would, and to try out a key method of qualitative research for yourself.  You will be required to write a short description of your chosen scene and then to make a comment on those observations. 
Recommended Process: Detailed Instructions
1. Choosing an Ethnographic Scene
Choose a scene that is contained in a small area and has a definite focus on human communication activity.  These scenes need not be fancy or complicatedyou will get enough information for the write-up while watching just about any activity.
YOU MUST choose a scene that you are not directly involved in, OR, do not know much about.  Choosing an unfamiliar scene will make this assignment easier for you. Typically, the people who do poorly on this assignment observe the place that they work. Because work places are too familiar to people, they often make assumptions about what they have seen instead of passively observing.
Examples of Possible Ethnographic Scenes
The coming and going of shoppers in a mall
Getting on and riding the bus
Buying coffee at a coffee shop/restaurant/bar
The coming and going/activities in a hotel lobby
The coming and going/activities in a movie theatre lobby
Examples of Difficult or Challenging Ethnographic Scenes
A family party or a party with friends.  This would be difficult because as a primary participant, you will find it very hard to sit back and observe what is going on around you.
The place that you work.  Almost always, you cannot put aside what you already know about the scene.  This results in conclusions about the scene that are not based on observations you made while you were observing your scene..
Please Note: Do not choose scenes that are likely to have children as their focus.  This includes daycares, parks, or playgrounds.  Clearly many scenes will have situations in which observations of children are unavoidable, such as a mall.  Please reach out if you have any concerns about this regard or are unsure if your scene will focus on childrens behavior.
2. Observation
Observe your scene discreetly.  In many cases, the easiest way to do this is to find a place to sit quietly and then to simply watch what is going on.  Please do not talk to people or interview people during this time. You will want to spend enough time in the location to develop some insight and gather thick description.  This should be at least 1 hour or more.

3. Note-taking
Take notes in a small notebook.  If it is possible to make notes during your observation, do so, but do not find yourself so focused on taking note that you do not watch what is going on.  Your notes should include:
i. Information about the scene itselfwho is there, lighting, physical description, smells, etc. You should be using ALL FIVE senses to observe (i.e., smell, taste, feel, see, hear).
1. What do you see?
2. What do you hear?
3. What do you smell?
4. What do you feel?
5. What do you taste?
ii. Information about how people communicated/interacted with one another (THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANTfocus on the communication, and NOT on interpreting the communication. For instance, saying someone seems angry is a CONCLUSIONinstead, you should be simply writing down what you see/observe (body language, facial features, voice inflection/tone) and hear).  In your write-up you can start to make conclusions.

4. Filling out your notes
When you have spent enough time in the location to develop some insight and gather thick description, stop observing the scene.  In a quiet place, fill out your notes.  Be sure to include more details about the topic above.  At this time, you should start to think about themes, patterns, or conclusions in what you saw.
i. Dont forget to fill-out your notes.  This means that you should be adding additional details and forming these into complete sentences, a coherent description of the scene and the order in which things happened/were observed, thick descriptions of what you saw, heard, tasted, felt, smelled
You must submit your filled out notes (typed) along with your write-up on the assignment due date.  DO NOT submit your initial notes from the scene.  These do not count.  You must fill them out.

5. Write-up and Submissions
Your write-up is limited to three pages, typed, double-spaced.  Do not write more even though you might be able to.  In your write-up, you should discuss the following things and your papers will be graded based on this list:
i. What you did.  This may be a simple statement of where you went, how you set up to do your observation, and perhaps why you made those decisions.
ii. A general description of the scene.  These are taken from your notes and should give me/us enough to understand what you were observing.  You will have to choose carefully from your notes what is important to include here.
iii. What you saw people doing/how they were interacting and communicating.  These are taken from your notes as well.  This is the heart of your description and should provide me/us with the details of how the people you saw were involved in the scene you were observing.  Remember that there will be additional details in your notes that you will not include here.  You need to choose what you include deliberately.
iv. A general conclusion about what you observed.  This conclusion might be as simple as detailed comment on the activity like something you never realized about the scene you observed AND the communication patterns within it.  This requirement is key for a good grade, as this exercise is about observing the scene and commenting on the communicative aspects of it.  It is more than just description.  Keep in mind, however, that your comment does not have to be earth shatteringit may be fairly straightforward and mundane while still moving your paper from observation and description toward analysis. It must involve some sort of conclusion about the communication patterns within the scene you observed.
You will need to make decisions about how much to tell me/us and what is important about your scene.  It may not all be important.
Do not forget to include FILLED OUT your notestypedat the end of your paper.