FIELD RESEARCH

ASSIGNMENT TWO: FIELD RESEARCH Your second assignment for this class is to do field research. You will be conducting observations to answer a research question. This assignment is worth 100 points and is due ELECTRONICALLY by 6:00 PM on Tuesday, April 11th. WHAT TOPIC IS APPROPRIATE? The first step is to select your research question or a subject you are interested in. As you would expect, there are subjects that are more or less appropriate to answer using observation. For example, while a survey is a good method to examine views about mandatory sentencing policy, it would be much more difficult to observe such attitudes and emotions in an observation. Remember: your role as the observer is very limited. While we have discussed different methods of field research, you will be a complete observer. You will NOT be interacting with the subjects or persons you are looking at. Again, you have a great deal of discretion on what you would like to look at- this could be people obeying traffic laws at certain times or intersections, observing behaviors in parks or bars, comparing visible signs of disorder in neighborhoods. Just be sure you can answer it using ONLY observations. Please email if you have questions about what is an appropriate research question. NOTE: Police ride-alongs and observations of your classes are NOT appropriate, as you would not be a complete observer. PART ONE: OBSERVATIONS AND FIELD NOTES (30 POINTS) To answer your question, you are required to have at least THREE separate observation periods, for at least one hour each. Take field notes during your observations. Field notes should provide: • 1. A detailed account of observations with regards to the behaviors, people, and/or physical attributes being observed as well as information specific to your research question. • 2. Interpretation of what is going on with regards to your research question and what you expected to see. For example, you should note if you are noticing in patterns that address your research question. • 3. Information on when and where observations were completed as well as to depict the overall setting including the weather. A strong suggestion would be doing this WHILE you observe, rather than relying on your memory (some prior students have used the “notes” function on their cell phone so it appears that they are texting). Depending on your subject, however, taking detailed notes during the observation period may be difficult. You may need to jot down words or phrases that you fill out later. Overall, remember, less is NOT more when it comes to field notes. It is unlikely you will gather too much information. You do not always know what will be relevant and what will not be, so don’t be afraid to take a lot of notes. Be as detailed as possible. It can be helpful to go back to your notes after the observation period and fill in overall impressions and ideas that you may have. You will turn in a TYPED copy of these notes with your short paper. PART TWO: FINDINGS PAPER (70 points) After you make your observations and complete detailed field notes, you will be writing a short paper. This paper will be 3 to 5 pages in length. • INTRODUCTION (20 points): First, explain what your research question was and why it was answerable using observations. Next, describe how you decided to answer it. Describe the strategies you used as an observer. This includes justifying what was observed as well as why certain locations, dates, and times were chosen for observations. In other words, what locations and times and days did you observe and why? • BODY OF THE PAPER (15 points): This section should explain the findings of your research. Please keep in mind that I will have your field notes and that the purpose of this paper is not to spend three pages summarizing what you saw. It should include a consensus of your findings and how they relate to your research question. It may be helpful to use an example or two from your field notes to support your conclusions or explain why that answered your question. • CONCLUSION (20 points): In the concluding paragraph you should discuss your limitations or struggles you may have had in answering your research question. Specifically, you should include assessments about the validity and reliability of your results as well as generalizability. Finally, this section should also include a discussion of how sampling dimensions affected your observations (pg. 307 in text). • EDITORIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL POINTS (15 points): Your assignment should include a title page (including name and class time). The paper should be well edited (i.e., readable) and organized as stated above (Introduction, Body of the Paper, Conclusion). In terms of formatting for the paper: one-inch margins, double-spaced, times new roman, 12-point font, and please add page numbers. Things you will be evaluated on: Detail and quality of the field notes (please be sure they are typed) How well you answered your question, or formed conclusions. Thoughtful analysis of limitations. Organization, writing, structures of the paper (remember introductions, body of the paper and conclusions) WORDS TO THE WISE: • These assignments are intended to be very rigorous and I have extremely high standards for them. I view them as being an opportunity to showcase what you have learned in this class. Please ask me if you have any questions regarding this assignment (particularly your topic). The description provided here includes all the items on my rubric. I highly recommend creating a checklist based on the details of this assignment.