Sociological Observation
Eye contact: Do people avoid making eye contact with you?
Body language: Do people change their posture near you? Do they move away from you? Do they stop to see what you are doing?
Facial expressions: Do people give you a strange look? Do they appear to be confused by your behavior? Suspicious? Amused? Indifferent? What does their facial expression look like and what does it suggest?
Ignoring you: Do people simply ignore you? What about their behavior suggests that they are ignoring you?
Social Factors: Did you feel your gender, race, ethnicity, or age affected how people responded to your presence? Did you see differences in how people were treated differently based on their gender, race, ethnicity, or age?
In choosing a location for your sociological observation, consider how your race, ethnicity, and gender could affect how people (i.e., management, security) respond to you. Choose a location where you can feel comfortable and safe to conduct your observation.
To complete this worksheet, replace the bracketed text with the relevant information.
Questions
1. Where did you conduct your observation?
2. At what time of day did you conduct your observation?
3. How did your appearance as an individual affect your observation? For example, gender, race/ethnicity, age, dress, hairstyle, and so on.
4. Did anyone react to you? What did they look like, and what was their reaction?
5. How did you feel while you were conducting the observation? Was it difficult for you to be the observer? How did this observation differ from your life as an everyday actor?
