Q Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to give you first hand/hands-on experience with one of the less obtrusive methods in social research; observation or content analysis. You will also explore qualitative data and qualitative data analysis. Skill: You will increase your data gathering skills. You will learn to look carefully at specific aspects of your environment, to start seeing things like social researcher - where are the patterns? anomalies? What is interesting here? You will learn to take copious notes on a setting or content. You will create a chart to systematically measure your research question. You will learn to turn these notes (qualitative data) and themes into a coherent idea (working theory). You will learn to build theory (even if small). Knowledge: You will gain knowledge about the subject you have decided to study and build theories. Task if you choose Observation: Conduct a pilot study using the method of observation 1. Decide on a location where you would like to observe people's behaviors. 2. If you sit for a while and don't notice anything, either look harder, imagine you are an outsider, or move! 3. Conduct a brief observational study in a public location on campus where people congregate. A cafeteria, dining area, a building lobby, or a lounge would be ideal. 4. You can sit and observe, but you cannot do observation WHILE WORKING! 5. Take notes unobtrusively, without violating any expectations of privacy. 6. Observe for one hour. Write up field notes, being sure to include a description of the setting and commentary on your own behavior and your own reactions to what you observed. If you create a chart or rubric to guide your observations, please include it. 7. Write up your results including your working theories. If you want to make generalizations in this write up you need to have tallied something in a chart. In other words, if you'd like to claim "most people did X", you need to have the raw data to back that statement up! Approx 1 1/2 pages write up plus whatever notes, data, and charts you are providing. Criteria: Please view the rubric for specific criteria your grade will be based on. In general, be sure to spend a significant amount of time in your setting. In addition, the write-up and analysis of the data that you accumulate should also take a significant amount of time to digest and report. This is not a quick and/or easy assignment. Here are some additional guideposts to achieving the outcomes: • o ? ? Be sure you identify a concept and indicators that measure the concept ? Be sure to address any ethical considerations and/or considerations for diverse populations ? Be sure to collect and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data ? Be sure to identifies a theory that emerges in the research cycle and suggests where to go next ? Be sure to evaluate the validity and reliability of the pilot study Task if you choose Content Analysis: Conduct a pilot study using content analysis. This content can be TV commercials, books, magazines, instagram posts, documents or any other content you are interested in exploring and have access to. You will learn to turn these notes (qualitative data) and themes into a coherent idea (working theory). You will learn to build theory (even if small). 1. Decide what type of media you are going to use: television, magazines, catalogs, or picture books , facebook, snapchat, twitter, song lyrics, newspaper headlines, textbooks etc. (these are some easier starters for content analysis). 2. What will you look at? What ideas interest you about this "content"? 3. How will you sample items to review and collect data. Be sure to note how you decided what to look at and how many you looked at! 4. Design some type of chart to tally ideas you start to see. This is needed because you may want to say thing like "most articles are about..." when you really don't know if most are unless you've COUNTED them. This also will help you focus on what you are most interested in without getting distracted. 5. Be sure you building an interesting idea or theory about "what's happening". Just counting how many times "X" is mentioned on twitter is not all that interesting - let's be real. So, add layer like, women were more likely than men to mention X on twitter for example. 6. As you tally you should also take notes on the content you are reviewing. These notes will also help you build "themes" that you are finding. 7. Continue to sample until you feel like you have enough data that you are starting to have something interesting to say. You are building theory! 8. When you are "saturated", write up your methodology (including your sampling technique) be specific about your choice and why you made them, and your exploratory findings. Note what further research you would suggest would be helpful in developing this theory and concept further. 9. Write up your process and conclusions. Be sure to indicate why you made the decisions you made methodologically (why you chose that sample for example). Tell me what interesting patterns emerge. Describe your working theory about what's happening or interesting. What would other researchers who had more time with this possibly want to look at or study further? Approx 1 1/2 pages write up plus whatever notes, data, and charts you are providing. Criteria: Please view the rubric for specific criteria your grade will be based on. In general, be sure to spend a significant amount of time in your setting or viewing your content. In addition, the write-up and analysis of the data that you accumulate should also take a significant amount of time to digest and report. I suggest reviewing qualitative data analysis and coding prior to submitting this assignment. This is not a quick and/or easy assignment. Here are some additional guideposts to achieving the outcomes: • o ? ? Be sure you identify a concept and indicators that measure the concept ? Be sure to address any ethical considerations and/or considerations for diverse populations ? Be sure to collect and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data Collects, organizes and analyzes BOTH quantitative and qualitative data. ? Be sure to identifies a theory that emerges in the research cycle and suggests where to go next. ? Be sure to evaluate the validity and reliability of the pilot study. **This short video describes a brief example of a potential idea for this assignment** Example Content Analysis (Links to an external site.) Rubric Observation Assignment Observation Assignment Criteria Ratings Pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeEthics Evaluate ethical considerations in social research threshold: 4.0 pts 5 pts Exceeds 4 pts Meets 3 pts Mostly meets 2 pts Some indication it meets 1 pts Does Not Meet 0 pts Ungradeable 5 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeScientific Method - A level Describe and perform steps in the scientific method. threshold: 4.0 pts 5 pts Exceeds 4 pts Meets 3 pts Mostly meets 2 pts Some indication it meets 1 pts Does Not Meet 0 pts Ungradeable 5 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeValidity and Reliability - B level Distinguish reliability and validity in a chosen research method threshold: 4.0 pts 5 pts Exceeds 4 pts Meets 3 pts Mostly meets 2 pts Some indication it meets 1 pts Does Not Meet 0 pts Ungradeable 5 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeQualitative Data - C level Identify qualitative data threshold: 4.0 pts 5 pts Exceeds 4 pts Meets 3 pts Mostly meets 2 pts Some indication it meets 1 pts Does Not Meet 0 pts Ungradeable 5 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeQuantitative Data - C level Identify basic quantitative data threshold: 4.0 pts 5 pts Exceeds 4 pts Meets 3 pts Mostly meets 2 pts Some indication it meets 1 pts Does Not Meet 0 pts Ungradeable 5 pts Total Points: 25