PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION REPORT
People Watching in the Quad!
Note: This paper would have received a higher score if the strengths and weaknesses associated with being a complete observer were discussed more thoroughly. Also explicitly discussing more core course concepts (i.e., sampling procedures, reliability, validity, etc.) where appropriate would have made this a stronger paper. However, this paper does a good job of describing the "social rules" that exist in a very common situation.
"Are there specific Social Rules for walking through the DePaul University Quad?" I chose this unique topic to research, because the Quad is a very interesting place to "people watch," and walking is a very basic and yet relatively unknown social skill. We take walking for granted and do not think about the specific patterns we use on a daily basis. The fact that I was merely watching people’s walking patterns through the Quad meant that I had to observe as much as possible in order to get an accurate idea as to the "whys" behind their strides. Things that I did not take into consideration were height, weight, sex, and race. I originally attempted to keep track of these variables as well, but shortly discovered that these all had little, if nothing to do with the pattern of one’s walk.
The Quad is approximately two hundred yards long, and one hundred yards wide at its largest points. Set between University Hall on the west, the library and Schmidt Academic Center on the east, and Stuart Hall on the southwest, the Quad is always full of lively DePaul students. The busiest section of campus, the Quad incorporates lavish green lawns, beautiful grassy knolls, and concrete walkways into a relaxing and yet practical atmosphere for the students. Nearly every DePaul student passes through the Quad everyday, making it the most opportune place to observe anything one might want about DePaul students.
The key behaviors that I observed were: 1) Speed of walking pace, 2) What the person had with them (wearing and carrying),and 3) The number of people walking (alone, couple, 3+). I decided that these were the crucial behaviors to observe, because they would give me the best understanding of the walking patterns. Speed I assessed by way of a relative judgment. I saw what appeared to be a normal and comfortable pace and used that to measure relative speed. If a person was lumbering along and seemed relaxed, that classified as slow. On the other hand if the person seemed to be walking at a pace that seemed somewhat strenuous, that classified as fast pace. What the person had with them showed the level of urgency that the person had. Certain objects such as briefcases and bookbags, as well as smoking and eating affect a person’s walk in different proportions. And last, the number of people walking together directly affects walking pattern in many different ways.
I decided that the best way to collect my data would be to be a complete observer. By sitting off to the side on a bench in the Quad, people acted naturally with no reactivity. They had no idea I was studying them which guaranteed genuine behavior. Any other method, in my opinion, would have increased the amount of reactivity because I could have affected their walking patterns. As a complete participant, for example, if I slowed my pace to talk to the person I was studying and they in turn also slowed their pace, my findings would not be accurate I had a direct affect on them. The way I went about actually collecting my data was extremely simple. I sat in the Quad and recorded the necessary information in my notebook as the subjects walked by. Since I did not choose my sample of students and only used the ones that happened to walk by you might say I used a convenience sample. This was much better for my research than any other kind of sample because I did not have to do any work in assembling the samples. The subjects were completely unaware of me or the fact that I was studying them because the Quad is always populated with students reading or studying.
After three hours of observation (an hour and a half on two different days), I believe that I have come up with three very practical and obvious social rules for walking through the DePaul University Quad. Like anything else, there are exceptions to these rules, but more times than not they are followed to the last detail. Rule #1 People walk faster while by themselves. This was the most obvious finding from my observations. It seems as though when we are by ourselves, we just want to get where ever we are going. If there are no distractions, we walk at an extremely swift pace. However, exceptions to this rule most commonly occur when the person is either eating, drinking and/or smoking. Any one or a combination of these activities slows a person’s pace considerably! There are not many slower things than a college student walking through the Quad eating a bag of chips, drinking a Powerade and puffin’ on a cigarette. Rule #2 When walking with others, the increase in numbers equals a decrease in speed. What I mean by this is the more people walking together, the slower the group will walk. Reasons for this are pretty simple, in groups people talking and other distractions slow the pace to one that is appropriate for conversing. Also in large groups of 3 or more, joking and talking slows the pace considerably, because there are more people to communicate to which requires a slower pace. Another reason for the extremely slow pace of a group is that everyone in the group adopts the pace of the slowest one in the group, in order to keep the group together. If this does not happen, and everyone walked at their own pace the group would quickly become a series of individuals. This was the only rule that I observed that there were no exceptions. This does not mean that there are no exceptions, it just means that I did not observe any! Rule #3 The more belongings you have with you, the faster you walk. This covers a variety of things. Bookbags and briefcases to shopping bags and laundry baskets, if you can carry it, or throw it over your shoulder it speeds you up. Obviously there are a lot of variables in this scenario, but most times these things indicate higher levels of stress. Bookbags and briefcases obviously show someone’s intent on working either at school or a job. Going to and from those places for any reason often creates a more tense atmosphere causing a faster walking pace. Another scenario is that maybe what the person is carrying is awkward or heavy so the person wants to get where they are going before they drop it. In any event, it is my observation that while carrying things we become less comfortable, therefore we speed up.
In other words, the speed at which one walks through the Quad is determined by these three social rules that I have stated. A good way to visualize this is by remembering this spectrum that everything falls between. At one end is the fastest. This would be someone who is alone carrying a lot of things. And at the other end would be the slowest, a group of three or more eating, drinking, and smoking! We follow these rules, and understand them even better that I can explain them. That is how over-looked these rules are. It took research for me to be able to realize what goes on daily while walking through the Quad.
I believe that my research was done as thorough as possible. The rules and conclusions that I have expressed are consistent with the data that I acquired on the afternoons of October 6th and 7th. The only thing that I wish I could have been more clear on was the different backgrounds and personal situations of the people I observed. Not being able to tell exactly why a certain person was in a hurry on a certain day may severely skew my results, however it would have been nearly impossible with my resources to be able to analyze each person in that fashion. In any event, to properly study this topic extensive stress and personality tests would also have to be administered in order to increase accuracy. with and intrigued by my findings! In all, I am pleased.