Read the following case study problem and purpose.
You are studying human behavior and how people greet each other and say goodbye. Specifically, you are interested in examining rituals of greeting and taking your leave. The problem is that researchers have examined these rituals from the perspective of gender, age, class, and race. But, little literature exists on how the setting might influence these interactions. This problem is unique, and important for leadership because of the impact our diverse work contexts could have on these types of communication rituals, which are known to impact organizational culture. The purpose of your ethnographic qualitative study is to examine greeting and leaving communication rituals in public places.
Choose a public place to observe. Go somewhere like a park, or a coffee shop and just sit and observe your surroundings. Make detailed notes about what you see and hear (don’t reveal anyone’s private information). Take notes on human behavior for about 30 minutes or so. Describe behaviors, emotions, actions, setting, context, smells, furniture. Use Your five senses: Sight, hear, taste, smell, touch/feel. [Note to writer: You can use the Dallas Galleria Mall as the public place and make it as it fits the assignment].
Come back to your peers and answer the following questions in approximately 300 words.
- What and where did you observe?
- Describe one of your senses to your peers.
- What made this difficult? How could an observation protocol have helped focus your work?
- What advice do you give to yourself and your peers for conducting observations in your future studies?
