Naturalistic Observation Research Results

Naturalistic Observation Research Results Observation is categorised as one of the core skills of user research. Naturalistic Observation is a research method that involves observing the subjects in their natural environment without intruding or changing it in any way. The observer is required to carefully watch the naturally occurring behaviour without letting the subjects know that they are being observed. This type of research is advantageous primarily because it permits the researcher to directly observe the subject in a natural setting. It allows the researcher/observer to study aspects that cannot be manipulated in a laboratory due to ethical concerns. It also serves the purpose of supporting the external validity of the research as the findings that are observed are occurring in the natural environment. Study: 1 Date: 19th July, 2014. Day of the week: Saturday. Time: 11:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. (morning) and 6:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M. (evening). Location: Cafà © Coffee Day, C G S Chamber, Ground Floor, Nagarjuna Hills, Near Road Number 1, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad – 500034. Near GVK One. Duration of observation: each session was of an hour each (60 minutes). Collectively, two hours (120 minutes) of observation. Not so important, yet Observer: Prakriti Dasgupta. Background: I did two sessions of observation of both an hour each and on the same day at Cafà © Coffee Day, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. The first at 11:00 A.M. 12:00 P.M. in the morning and the second one at 6:00P.M. – 7:00P.M.in the evening. The whole purpose of carrying out two sets of observation was solely based the concept of finding out whether there is a difference in the crowd and the way they behave when they visit the Cafà © in the late hours of the morning in contrast to those that visit the Cafà © in the evening. Layout of the Cafà ©: The Cafà © remains open for the most part of the day as well as night. It is located in one of the busiest streets in the city and therefore caters to a large variety of customers ranging from early morning office goers to college students. It can be identified as a â€Å"hang-out spot† for a group of friends or just a place where lonely soles sit down with a cup of coffee and a book, spending their time the way they desire. Within the first fifteen minutes, I observed different kinds of customer behaviour patterns. The first session consisted of people who were present at the Cafà © to attend an official meeting with their fellow office co-workers presumably over breakfast, while there were others who were resting which I assume is due to the hectic night shifts at their workplace. This is more or less confirmed by the way they were dressed and the tired look on their faces. Stages of observation: Systematic observation of the Customers: Entry of the customers Abiding by the social norm of standing in a queue Purchase The wait after the purchase is made Finding seats preferably Between 11:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. Entry of the customers: With due respect to the fact that every individual is different and behaves differently, we can categorise them into those which are in great hurry and those which have plenty of time in their hand. On entering the Cafà ©, some of them directly stood in the queue, without wasting a single moment to even look around, while there were some who directly grabbed food from the compartments and then stood in the queue. Ignoring the ones that were in a hurry, when we shift our attention to the ones which aren’t, we find them to be looking around, with calm expression on their faces. They look like the ones who do not have to meet any deadlines. There were also a small group of girls who had friends waiting for them. They were carrying school bags and were dressed in casuals which indicates that they were college students. While in a queue: There was no interaction between the people who were standing in the queue. They kept themselves busy by looking at their phones and listening to music. Some attended calls while one lady kept justifying over the phone as to why she was late and wasn’t at her workplace yet. Two men and one woman took out their wallets and purse respectively. The group of young girls kept giggling and laughing about a certain boy whom they find attractive, back in college. At this point, at around 11:33 A.M. a well dressed woman (L 1) rushes into the Cafà © and tries to persuade a slightly older man, ahead in the queue if he would allow her to make her purchase before he did. She justified her request by saying that she was late for work and had two kids waiting in the car and they had to be dropped to school. The man, seemed to be in two minds which I assumed, owing to his facial expression but however was convinced and allowed the lady to stand in the queue before him. At this point, another woman (L 2) who had been waiting in the queue for the past 15 minutes, raises her voice to object and asks the lady (L 1) to go back and stand in the queue. Clearly she (L 2) was late for work as well. As soon as she (L 2) objected, all the others standing in the queue begin to support her. This was followed by several other verbal objections from other people standing in the queue. Some of them even exchanged dirty looks. A small argument took place among them where the lady with the kids (L 1) used her kids as bait and the other (L 2) asked her not to use her children as an excuse for violating certain social norms. Ultimately the lady (L 1) was forcefully ejected from the line. Having no choice, she went and stood right at the end of the queue and awaited her turn. Purchase: Most of the customers carried a bag with them and not a single customer was standing in the queue without a phone in their hand. This reflects how man is unable to move around without technology. It has become a necessity more than luxury. One important thing that I noticed was that none of them took a look at the menu card or what the cafe served which indicated that they were regular customers at the cafe and they were aware of what was available. However, there were four young boys who were seated at one corner of the cafe, intently looking at the menu and discussing what each of them would like to have. Most of the people in the cafe took the coffee and sandwiches they purchased and ran out of the cafe while only a few sat at the cafe and had their food. There was this little girl with her mother who looked at the cupcakes on the counter and then very carefully and ordered one for herself. The wait: Most people crowded around the counter, awaiting the food that they had just ordered with numbered bills in their hands. They were restless and impatient. They kept taking a glance at their watch in a frequent manner. The group of college girls kept enquiring for their order every five minutes and they ultimately managed to annoy the manager seated at the counter. Most of them opened their bags and wallets and kept the excess change they had inside it. Along with that they either kept their phones in their pockets of inside their bag. Since, almost all of them had ordered a cup of coffee irrespective of whether they had purchased anything else to eat with their hot beverage or not, it was seen that they took the coffee with their right hand and simultaneously picked up a lid and a straw with their left. These were the ones that were in a rush and as they ran out of the cafe as soon as they received their order. The ones that were eating in the cafe carefully carried the tra y to their seats making an effort not to spill the coffee. Finding preferable seats: It was observed that if people did not get the seats of their choice they simply stepped out of the cafe. Nobody waited for the seats to become empty. This indicated that there were other choices available outside as well from where they could acquire food. There was a group of five men, who entered the cafe at around 11:47 A.M. who left as soon as they failed to find a completely empty table. This also indicates the fact that people are not ready to sit with other unknown people even when one or two seats were empty in the other occupied tables. Difference in the ‘Type’ of customers that visited the cafà © from 11:00A.M. 12:00P.M. in the morning and those who visited the cafà © in the evening from 6:00P.PM. 7:00P.M. : It is important to note that the crowd that the cafe catered to, at the peak office hours was different from that they catered to in the evenings. In the evenings, the people who visited the cafe were mostly the young crowd consisting of teenagers in contrast to the office goers in the morning. The cafe catered mostly to single customers in the morning who stop by the cafe to pick up their breakfast but, in the evenings most of the people are in groups who are sitting and talking about different insignificant things that bother them, sipping their piping hot coffees, biting into their sandwiches and partially gossiping. The environment is relaxed and nobody seems to be in a hurry. The manager at the counter also seems to be settling the accounts in peace and there is no time crunch and deadline s that need to be met. Observations and interpretations: The lady objected and stopped the other lady from jumping the queue. As soon as she opposed to it, there were other people in the queue who supported her. Violation of social norms such as cutting into queues is not an appropriate thing to do and is not acceptable by the crowd as such. Perhaps jumping queues would have been an easier thing to do in the evenings when the crowd is more or less understanding and easy going. Early research indicates that people were reluctant to challenge queue jumpers which basically suggests that our spontaneous social order maintenance is weak. Milgram’s experiment also concludes that in only 10% of the occasion’s queue jumpers were physically ejected from the line. On about half of the occasion people hardly cared to react or take an initiative to stop it. Milgram attempts to explain that most people are too scared to intervene or challenge a queue jumper because challenging queue jumpers could mean losing your own place in the line. Th ere is chance that a fight may take place and everyone is delayed while it is being sorted out. This reflects on the idea that social systems have to tolerate some deviance otherwise they might hastily collapse. Moreover, when people stand in a queue, in a coffee shop, group formation is difficult and as a consequence of which social order is extremely weak. People tolerate queue jumpers as they themselves want to avoid social disorder. People left the coffee shop when they did not find a completely empty table because people do not like to sit and share the table with complete strangers. Some of the people took out their wallets as soon as the stepped in to the coffee shop which indicates three things: they might be in a hurry or they are running late for some important work, or they are extremely hungry or they prefer to be prepared before they start on doing anything, in this case, standing in the queue. People are very impatient and restless and they do not like waiting. Women are more impatient than men are. Men have a tendency to wait quietly. Although, men remain quiet, their faces give away their restlessness. In spite of that their patience level is higher than that of women. This aspect however, does not fit into the stereotype which says that women are more patient than men. Young girls are attention seeking, therefore, they try and attract attention towards themselves by their gestures and the way they speak to one another. They make use of inappropriate words to even greet each other, for example: â€Å"Hi bitch†. The word â€Å"bitch† is being casually used in this context and is not meant literally. The use of crass language among the girls and the boys of this generation is basically an attempt on their part to appear â€Å"cool† and popular among their peers. Also, they cannot stay without taking a glance at their cell phones every now and then. These assumptions and generalizations are purely made on the basis of this particular observation. They differ in every case. Study: 2 Date: 19th July, 2014. Day of the week: Saturday. Time: 3:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. Location: Lamakaan, an open cultural space. In Lane Adjacent To CBay, Opposite GVK One, Road No. 1, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana 500034. Duration of observation: 2 hours (120 Minutes) Background: I attended a discussion, on whether the education system kills creativity or not. The discussion was held at Lamakaan. Being an observer I was restricted to participate in the discussion actively. Several eminent educators, mentors, school/college professors and industrialists from different sectors were present, who were willing to share their views and opinions on the matter that had been raised for discussion. There were 36 people who attended the discussion. Observation and interpretations: The entire event was well organised and effectively carried out by Man1. The discussion proceeded in an orderly manner. Before the discussion began, there was a session where all the people present for the discussion had to introduce themselves. This session was overlooked by Man1 himself. This was the first instance of interaction between the participants present. This session was characterised by appreciation for fellow participants, to a certain extent only. Man1 exhibited leadership qualities. His characteristics were those of a democratic leader. He did not restrict the participants in anyway. The discussion was more or less informal in nature. Although the discussion started on a calm and controlled tone, the environment in the room soon changed. A series of heated arguments, aggressive gestures, difference in opinions and eventually conformity among all the participants is how the discussion can be described. I observed different social behaviour throughout the course of the discussion. In order to simplify the task of observing, I named a few fellow participants who were actively taking part in the discussion. Members: Man2, Man3, Lady1, Lady2, Lady3, Girl1, Girl2. To be noted: all the members taking part in the discussion were well read and were aware of the current scenario prevailing in the education sector and the impact of the flawed system. Man2 was an influential speaker. He managed to convince all the people in the room by stating relevant facts, but failed to convince Lady1. His justification for the statements he had made, did not appeal to her. She constantly scrutinised his argument. Both were aggressive in nature and constantly argued throughout the discussion. In due course of the argument, Man3 who was intently noting down every statement, interrupted the argument and spoke up in support of the lady1. The only interpretation that can be derived by this is that, lady1 was successful in convincing, if not all, but one participant. Her argument, therefore could not be dismissed. At this point, Man1 intervenes and tries to control the situation. He was still calm, composed and confident and held on to his composure in spite of the chaotic scenario and considered the perspectives of both Man2 and Lady1. He takes the midway path and succeeds in convincing both the participants. He states valid facts and speaks logica lly. When the situation appeared to be more or less controlled, it still wasn’t. Followed by this when lady2 makes a statement, she is opposed by Girl1 and Girl2. Both of them are students and they continue to argue with Lady2 in an aggressive tone. All this while, there was a small detail that I had forgot to mention. The participants were already sitting with people whom they already knew from before. Only the 5 participants who came alone for the discussion sat beside other fellow participants who they did not know. They were in groups throughout the discussion. People were talking among themselves, arguing, and there was complete chaos in the room at one point. People spoke out of chance, raised their voices in an attempt to put their views across. This is when Lady3 takes control of the situation. She makes her statement on another aspect and states her facts out loud thereby, shifting the focus of the argument to another concept related to the same topic. She was extrem ely persuasive and gave just reasons to the participants to agree with her. It was very interesting to observe how she was single handily successful in putting her ideas across. When lady3 entered the discussion, she exhibited all qualities of an influential person. She was confident, consistent, and had unbiased views. Minority influence refers to a form of social influence where the individual with contrastingly different beliefs in comparison to the other people, should have correct ideas and should resist social pressure and abuse. Her views were influential and convincing to such an extent that other people who were confused and were in two minds, along with the ones who had strong contrasting opinions conformed to Lady3. Conformity refers to any change in behaviour that is caused by another person or a group of people i.e. Lady3 has acted in a certain manner which had influenced the others to conform to her statement. But there was one such boy who took an active part in the d iscussion but, was hesitant to accept the ideas put forth by Lady3. In due time, he as well conformed to her. Conformity was studied by Solomon Asch, who conducted an experiment which concluded that it was primarily social pressure from perhaps a majority group that could affect a person to conform. In this case, it was primarily informational conformity as Lady3 stated accurate, and rational facts and figures to prove her idea and statement. It is basically the power of the situation that regulates and influences all human behaviour. It is the power of the situation that brought about instances of social influence and conformity. I observed that people belonging to the same age groups thought alike. Their opinions and views converged and they behaved in a similar manner. They had similar patterns of thinking and interpreting the situation. They reacted to certain situations in similar ways as well. This is possibly because all of them have grown up experiencing the same dynamic changes in the society. Also, this might reflect similar bringing up patterns. In course of the discussion I attained an in-depth insight on the different social behavioural patterns which man tends to exhibit depending on the prevailing scenario. Acknowledging the advantages of Naturalistic Observation, this research technique also has quite a number of disadvantages that we cannot ignore. In this kind of research technique, people may behave differently if they come to know that they are being watched. They become conscious and may try to behave in a certain way in order to conform to what they believe the observer expects to see. One major drawback of this research method is that different observers may draw different conclusions on the basis of their observation of the same witnessed behaviour, owing to their ability to make accurate assumptions which is again a rare scenario in most of the cases. However, observing different human behaviour patterns closely and then drawing meanings out of them poses as a challenge to all those researchers who carry out experiments on the basis of this research technique. The end. Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Name: Prakriti Dasgupta. Roll No.: H2013BAMA28. Subject: Social Psychology. BA 2nd Year, Semester: III. 1

My Reaction To The Sociological Imagination Chapter One: The Promise Essay

After reading The Sociological Imagination Chapter One: The Promise by C. Wright Mills, I had mixed emotions about multiple topics in which he discussed. The overall subject of the Sociological Imagination is one that I found to be confusing. Firstly, I agree with his statement that, â€Å"Nowadays people often feel their private lives are a series of traps,† (Mills 1). This statement is then followed by the acknowledgement that humans, as individuals, are nothing but spectators of our everyday milieu. When going about our daily lives, many individuals feel as if they must do certain things because they cannot overcome the obstacles standing in their way. I agree with this idea because I personally feel as if some days I am â€Å"trapped† in my own life, and there is nothing I can do to escape. Whether this is with my daily high school schedule, daily work schedule, or even my weekly CCAC schedule, I feel as if there is no way out. I become so caught up in everything at once that I just want to â€Å"break free† in a sense, escaping for just an hour, so I can relax. The second point he conveys, is the idea that individuals can only vision their fate in accordance to the knowing of their place in the hierarchy of one’s surroundings. One example indicating social stratification is how ranking individuals allows for the knowledge of fate, such as a given class rank in high school. The class rank is a numerical value given to each student allowing for them to know where they stand while being compared to their peers. The previous example demonstrates how I also agree with Mills’ idea. However, there were also numerous topics that contradict my opinion and I am not in complete accordance with. One of these topics that Mills discusses, but I do not agree with is when he states, â€Å"Neither the life on an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both,† (Mills 1). My reaction to this quote is that I believe it is false. I personally believe that to understand the life of an individual, one does not need to know the history of their society. If one would trace history back far enough, everyone will end up back at the same few places. Therefore, making all history of society even and unnecessary to understand the life of an individual. Although I disagree with this idea, I understand Mills’ idea of the historical involvement. Overall, this chapter of Mills’ work left me with a reaction of mixed emotions. I agreed with some aspects of his work, yet disagreed with certain aspects of his work. I never thought of an  individual and history in a co-ordinance together. I also would have never thought of a daily life being â€Å"trapped†. This chapter led me to want to further read into the ideas of social positions, social values, and social troubles and issues. My final reaction to this chapter is that Mills’ has a uniqu e way of thinking, and it led me to personally have mixed emotions to his overall work. The first main point of C. Wright Mills’ chapter that I found to be appealing is the idea of social positions. It should be clarified that social position is not discussing positions in terms of physical location, but as a hierarchical stature. It is similar in that of the location on the totem pole. Mills notes that,â€Å"†¦[Sociological Imagination] is the idea that the individual can understand her own experience and gauge her own fate only by locating herself within her period, that she can know her own chances in life only by becoming aware of those of all individuals in her circumstances,† (Mills 2). This quote is showing that in order for individuals to know their own future, they must know where they rank in place with everyone else. Another phrase that may also seem applicable here, is self-consciousness. Knowing everyone’s locations allows individuals to estimate where they may be in a few years, without over or under estimating themselves. If they see someone who is relatively close to their own social status being successful, they can then come to the conclusion that they too, will be successful. Their social position can then help them look back in history and see where they may be able to assist in the current making of history. Every person lives out a biography during their lifetime, and it helps shape society, even though their input is minor to the current history making (Mills 2). Social positions have helped shape history from generation to generation. The second point I would like to discuss, is the idea of social values. A value is something that holds importance and meaning to someone or a group of people. When asked a question regarding public issues and private troubles, Mills responds quite simply that, â€Å"To formulate issues and troubles, we must ask what values are cherished yet threatened, and what values are cherished and supported, by characterizing trends of our period, (Mills 5). By this quote, Mills shows the importance values have on society, and that they must be characterized depending on how they make people feel. The state of an individual is directly related to the state of their values. People  experience well-being when they have values that are not being threatened. This is due to the fact that they have nothing to worry about, and they can go through their day in a normal fashion. However, when the opposite occurs, and the individual has values that they feel are being threatened, the individual then experiences a crisis. A crisis is a sudden change or a stage of danger. Furthermore, if all of the individual’s values are threatened at the same time, they experience a full panic, overwhelming fear. In continuance, if one does not know of any cherished values nor experience any threat, they are in a state of indifference. In addition to the above, the final feeling is the experience of uneasiness or anxiety. This occurs when the individual is unaware of cherished values, yet feels a threat. Often people have these feelings, but are unaware of the direct cause of them. One example Mill uses in his work is the time period after World War Two. He mentioned how not everyone was aware of the values, but all felt a threat. From the previous one can conclude that there was a full feeling of uneasiness in America. As one can now see, values play in important role in society and in the individual. The final idea that I would like to acknowledge is the idea of social troubles and issues. There is a distinct difference between troubles and issues, and Mills makes that very clear in his work. According to Mills, â€Å"Troubles occur within the character of the individual and within the range of his or her immediate relations with others†¦,† (Mills 4). In other words, troubles are the problems that are concerned with the self and personal awareness within their direct surroundings. Troubles are private matters to an individual and occur when their values seem threatened. He also states that, â€Å"Issues have to do with matters that transcend these local environments of the individual and the range of her inner life,† (Mills 4). This also means that they are public matters, and become a problem when the public values become threatened. Issues are public matters and can range as small as one group of people to as large as a few communities. There are many common examples showing the difference between troubles and issues. Unemployment is a perfect example to differentiate between the two. Unemployment as a trouble is if one man is unemployed, and as an issue is if ten percent of the nation’s workers are unemployed. As one can see, the trouble is personal and the issue is public. Another example is war. The trouble of war is the need to survive and to  make money out of it as a career. The issue of war is the cause and effects on others, therefore making it public. Those are examples of the major differences between troubles and issues. In conclusion, after reading the article The Sociological Imagination Chapter One: The Promise by C. Wright Mills, I had an overall feeling of mixed emotions. I strongly agreed with some of his topics, while disagreeing with others. Throughout the entire paper I was capable of understanding Mills, even while is disagreement. The topic I found to be most appealing was the fact that some individuals feel a sense of being â€Å"trapped† within their own lives. Although it sounds contradicting, Mills was capable to explain the idea thoroughly and fully. I also believe that with the understanding of social position, values, along with troubles and issues one is fully capable of understanding the Sociological Imagination. Social positions is knowing where the individual stands comparatively in their society, or if taken broader, in history. Social values are the ideas that individuals cherish and when threatened causes different experiences within one’s self. Social troubles occur when values are threatened, but at a private and small scale. In opposition, issues occur when the same or different values are threatened, but at a public or macro scale. Overall, I believe that Mills’ Sociological Imagination is a grand topic that may be analyzed to help new ideas begin. Works Cited Mills, C. Wright. The Sociological Imagination

Astronomy: From the Earth to the End of the Universe

What is the universe? For something so mind numbingly large, it is quite simply to define – the universe is simply everything that exists. However let us ponder that question. Imagine a blind goldfish born and raised in a tiny fishbowl.For that goldfish, the universe is the gallon of water, the glass boundary, and the sand and ornaments sitting at the bottom. While it is apparent to us the universe is much larger than that, for the fish that is the entire extent of the universe – a gallon of water, a glass bowl, some sand and the rain of fish food coming from above.In some ways, mankind is that blind fish, oblivious to the extent of the universe since his universe is defined only by what he can perceive and observe. Astronomy can be seen as a tool by which mankind slowly grew his universe, from his planet, to his solar system, to his galaxy to 156 billion light years wide thing that we call our universe today.One could argue that astronomy is the first science to emerge , beating out physics, biology, chemistry and other fields of study in occupying mankind’s academic curiosity. We can say this because astronomical phenomena are probably one of the first observations made by our ancestors. It does not take a knowledge or curiosity of science to notice the presence of night and day.It does not take a scholar to notice that the sun rises in the same direction and sets in the opposite direction day after day. Primitive man looked at the moon and would notice its changing shape and the fact that on some days it is present and on some days it is not. One does not need a telescope to notice those numerous twinkling points of light in the sky called stars.Even without possessing the astronomical tools we have today, ancient civilizations have created numerous ways to observe and catalogue the behavior of celestial bodies. The concept of a calendar was based around the changing patterns of stars in the heavens.Knowledge of such patterns became impor tant for ancient farmers as the presence of specific patterns in the sky could tell them that it is time to plant, another set of patterns would tell them that it is a good time to harvest, and another set of patterns could tell the imminence of the annual flooding of the river. For early man, the connection between movements of stars and the events unfolding in his midst were clear. Knowledge of celestial movements aid him feed himself and his family.With such heavenly foretelling, the development of a feeling of connection between the Gods and the stars is hardly surprising. Huge monuments were erected to serve as observatories for these events.Monuments to the gods were created to align with celestial behavior. Stonehenge in Britain served as a stencil for solar motion. In Chichen Itza, pyramids and towers dedicated to the gods also served as astronomical observatories.

Blissful Quotes About Love

Have you ever noticed that when you are in love, you always go around with a smile on your face? Indeed, love brings immense happiness to the lives of those who are experiencing it. The following happy love quotes talk about the bliss that those in love experience. Jennifer Aniston True love brings up everything - youre allowing a mirror to be held up to you daily. John Sheffield Tis the most tender part of love, each other to forgive. Nora Roberts Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, delight the heart. And they both take practice. Teilhard de Chardin The day will come when, after harnessing the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. Erica Jong Love is everything it is cracked up to be. Thats why people are so cynical about it... It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you dont risk anything, you risk even more. Helen Keller The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched; they must be felt with the heart. George Elliot I like not only to be loved, but to be told that I am loved. Leo Buscaglia The life and love we create is the life and love we live. Barbara De Angelis Love is a choice you make from moment to moment. Joseph Conrad Woe to the man whose heart has not learned while young to hope, to love - and to put its trust in life. Michael Dorrius Love transforms; it simultaneously makes us larger and limits our possibilities. It changes our history even as it breaks a new path through the present. Saint Jerome The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart. Karr Love is the only passion which includes in its dreams the happiness of someone else. T. S. Eliot Love is most nearly itself when here and now cease to matter.