Naturalistic Observation Research Results

Naturalistic nonice Research ResultsObservation is categorised as one of the core skills of user research. Naturalistic Observation is a research method that involves observing the effects in their natural environment without intruding or changing it in any charge. The observer is required to guardedly watch the natur e realy occurring behavior without letting the subjects know that they argon 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 opusipulated in a laboratory due to ethical concerns. It also serves the purpose of accompaniment the external validity of the research as the findings that are observed are occurring in the natural environment.Study 1Date 19th July, 2014. Day of the week Saturday. Time 1100 A.M. 1200 P.M. (morning) and 600 P.M. 700 P.M. (evening). Location Caf Coffee Day, C G S Chamber , Ground Floor, Nagarjuna Hills, advance Road Number 1, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad 500034. Near GVK One. Duration of expression each session was of an hour each (60 minutes). Collectively, deuce 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 Caf Coffee Day, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. The first at 1100 A.M. 1200 P.M. in the morning and the secondment one at 600P.M. 700P.M.in the evening. The whole purpose of carrying out two sets of observation was solely based the concept of finding out whether at that place is a difference in the crowd and the right smart they be develop when they visit the Caf in the late hours of the morning in contrast to those that visit the Caf in the evening.Layout of the Caf The Caf be open for the most expose of the day as comfortably as night. It is located in one of the busiest streets in the city and therefore caters to a enlarged variety of customers ranging from early morning office goers to college students. It can be identified as a 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 good deal who were present at the Caf to attend an official meeting with their accomplice 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(prenominal) or less confirmed by the way they were dressed and the tired look on their faces.Stages of observationSystematic observation of the CustomersEntry of the customersAbiding by the brotherly norm of standing in a alinePurchaseThe wait after the purchase is doFinding s flows preferablyBetween 1100 A.M. 1200 P.M.Entry of the cu stomers With due obligingness 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 Caf, some of them directly stood in the queue up, without wasting a unmarried moment to even look around, while there were some who directly grabbed diet 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 arent, we find them to be looking around, with calm expression on their faces. They look exchangeable the ones who do not have to meet any deadlines. thither 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 ph ones and listening to music. Some accompanied calls while one bird kept justifying over the phone as to why she was late and wasnt at her workplace yet. deuce 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 perpetrateive, cover in college.At this point, at around 1133 A.M. a well dressed woman (L 1) knockes into the Caf and tries to persuade a slightly older man, forrader 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 change overd and allowed the doll to stand in the queue before him. At this point, other woman (L 2) who had been waiting in the queue for the past 15 minutes, raises her voice to object and asks the w ench (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 make 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 same(p) 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 reared one for herself.The wait Most people crowd 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 grass 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 trim 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 tray 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 1147 A.M. who left as soon as they failed to find a completely empty table. This also indicates the fact that people are not put in 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 caf from 1100A.M. 1200P.M. in the morning and those who visited the caf in the evening from 600P.PM. 700P.M. It is important to note that the crowd that the cafe catered to, at the bakshis office hours was different from that they catered to in the evenings. In the evenings, the people who visited the cafe were in the main 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 sandwi ches 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 deadlines that need to be met.Observations and interpretationsThe lady objected and stopped the other lady from bound the queue. As soon as she opposed to it, there were other people in the queue who supported her. rape of social norms much(prenominal)(prenominal) 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 take exception queue jumpers which basically suggests that our spontaneous social order maintenance is weak. Milgrams experiment also concludes that in only 10% of the occasions queue jumpers were physically ejected from the line. On a bout 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. There 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 superpower hastily collapse. Moreover, when people stand in a queue, in a coffee shop, group arrangement is difficult and as a consequence of which social order is extremely weak. pile 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 make out 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 th ey 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 kickinginess 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 Hi bitch. The word 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 b asically an attempt on their part to appear 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 cornerstone of this particular observation. They differ in every case.Study 2Date 19th July, 2014. Day of the week Saturday. Time 300 P.M. 400 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 raillery, 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. Ther e were 36 people who attended the discussion.Observation and interpretations The good 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 cosy in nature. Although the discussion started on a calm and controlled tone, the environment in the room soon changed. A series of heated arguments, fast-growing(a) 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. twain 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, la dy1 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 seat. 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 logically. When the situation appeared to be more or less controlled, it still wasnt. 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 t hroughout the discussion. People were talking among themselves, arguing, and there was complete topsy-turvyness 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 extremely 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 soul. 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. H er 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 discussion 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 persuasion 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 hearty Sciences. Name Prakriti Dasgupta. Roll No. H2013BAMA28. Subject Social Psychology. BA 2nd Year, Semester III.1