Unobtrusive Measures Start Assignment
QUESTION FOR THOUGHT
What are some of the differences involved in analyzing material artifacts and written documents? What different kinds of information might they give you? Which would you prefer to study? Why?
EXERCISES
1. Look around your own neighborhood. What physical traces might help you figure out what kinds of people live there?
2 . How might you study the following things without either interviewing or directly observing people?
a. Which toys are most popular among children
b. Whether college students in a particular school exercise frequently
c. Whether people in a particular neighborhood eat healthy foods
3 . Locate some material artifacts that you can analyze. (If you’re having trouble thinking of something, remember that material culture is all around you. It can be, literally, just about anything. ) The items can be contemporary or historical.
Try to find out as much as you can about how the things were produced and for whom. See if you can find out some of the meanings these items may have.
4. Choose a magazine that interests you . Try to step back and look at the magazine as a social analyst, not as a consumer. Then see what you can determine about the audience for the magazine.
What does the magazine seem to assume are the interests and preoccupations of its readers?
What can you tell about the biases and interests of those who publish the magazine? (Alternatively, try this exercise using a newspaper, a TV show, or a radio program. If you are choosing a TV show or radio pro-gram, you will probably need to watch/listen a number of times.)
5. Investigate what historical materials are available, either in your school library, in a public library near you, in a local historical society, or on the Internet.
6. Choose a Web site of interest to you, and analyze its potential us es for research, using the guidelines for evaluating Web sites in Chapter 2.
