For this chapter assignment, you will conduct a short observational study of soc

For this chapter assignment, you will conduct a short observational study of social behavior in a public place.
You may select an outdoor mall, school cafeteria, or some other setting with a large number of people that is open to the public and where you can hang around without appearing too conspicuous.  Go to the setting only to conduct this assignment—not because you have business or social plans there.
Plan to spend about 10 minutes conducting your study.  Allow at least that much time soon afterward to write up your notes (and, of course, more time than that to write the paper).  Prepare a tentative plan for observing, emphasizing phenomena that are of most interest to you and that you believe will be most helpful in understanding social behavior at this location.  Consider observing the frequency and type of interactions between people, and so on.  You should observe nonverbal and body language, exits and entrances, spatial arrangements of people, and so on.  Also review mentally from your previous experiences in this type of setting to help you decide how to focus your formal observational experience.
While you are observing, take brief notes as unobtrusively as possible.  Depending on the setting, you might want to go outside or to another area to unobtrusively jot down a few notes.
Write up your notes in as much detail as possible (try to record all that you observed) soon after leaving the setting (but do not try to record everything “while it is happening,” because you’ll miss too much!)  Record what you observed as accurately as possible.  Be sure to include in your notes a description of the place that you observed and of the types of people in the setting. Try to focus on the situation, the types of people in it, and how they interact, not on particular individuals or socially irrelevant activities (such as the color of clothes worn).  You may try to infer characteristics such as social class and mood from what you observe about people, but be sure and cite the evidence for your inferences.
You may wish to count the number of activities, persons of different types, and so on.  If anyone asks you what you are doing, you should mention that you are observing people’s behavior for a class assignment.
Report briefly on how your “study” developed:  how you entered the setting, what you first noticed in the setting, how you felt in the setting, what you did during the observational period, and what impact you seemed to have on the setting.  Present your findings, identifying the different types of behavior and types of interactions and/or groups you observed.  Note the frequency of occurrence of these behaviors, how their occurrence varied, and who engaged in which behaviors.  Try to identify the similarities and differences between people and groups engaged in different behaviors.
Analyze your observations.  What have you learned about social behavior in this setting?  Are differences in social status or other characteristics important in influencing behavior in this type of setting?  In your conclusions, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your study and explain how generalizable you believe your findings are.  What general conclusions about social relations or human behavior can you draw from your study.