Participant Observation Paper

1301 31ST ST SE apartment #5 in the City of Auburn, King Co, WA. Dispatch

In this group there were no disruptive members. I filled the role of an observer, I offered feedback at the end of the session. The counselor filled the role of standard setter. There was an encourager, a harmonizer, an expediter, and a follower.

in this picture i took a group selfie at work. my manager drew, the man in the orange, is looking at the camera. he is wearing an orange shirt, has his glasses on. has a look on his face as if to say “storm what are you doing?” one of my best friends jasmine is also in this picture. she goes to school with me. she has a smile on her face because i had just cracked a joke. i seem to always make the crew members laugh. she is weariing her mcdonald's visor / hat. has on the mcdonalds uniform and is looking at me all smiles. Erika, the woman in the picture with purple gauges is about 8 months pregnant. she is having a baby boy and she is rubbing her tummy, her son was kicking, her belly was moving in the way his foot was. she seemed to be in alot

In July, on two consecutive days, I attended two group sessions for two and three year-old children that took place at the libraries in various parts of San Antonio. The library setting of these groups additionally emphasized the importance of early literacy through a series of interactive and entertaining activities. The goal of these sessions was to offer a great variety of educational and entertaining activities to encourage development through play and learning through sensory stimulation, storytelling, and movement.

Participant-oriented evaluation is, in my opinion an exceptional methodology used to evaluate a program, organization, or policy. Through the incorporation of participants the evaluator is able to collect, analyze, and generate in-depth findings. It is imperative to note that participant-oriented evaluation approaches share a common similarity, as they all incorporate the use of stakeholders (Fitzpatrick, Sanders & Worthen, 2011). However, each approach intends to use the stakeholders to acquire diverse results. Participant-oriented evaluations encompass the following approaches: responsive evaluation, naturalistic evaluation, practical participatory evaluation, developmental evaluation, empowerment evaluation and democratic evaluation.

The company I decided to observe is the United States Army I have been working in the Army for the past seven years, I’ve been deployed a total of three times to Iraq and Afghanistan. In the time I have been in the Army gives me a good opportunity to describe this organization.

For my non-participant observation, I went to a Cheesecake Factory in a strip mall located nearby an urban city. “Doing Gender”, a journal article by West and Zimmerman, describes the nature of gender and sex in society. When I was observing people, I was really trying to locate patterns among genders, or assumed genders. Gender can be defined as “an achieved status: that which is constructed through psychological, cultural, and social means” (West and Zimmerman pp. 125). The article describes gender as something that is achieved, grown up with, and taught to by others who perform gender. Performing gender is conforming to stereotypes and ideals put in place by members of society in order to be seen and accepted as a specific gender.

The social observation setting that I chose was a play area in the indoor shopping mall in the city were I reside. There were approximately 15 children (divided equally among genders) of various ages, accompanied by several adults’ most likely parents or family members. Although many families and children are not originally together, when facilitated in a common play area, social interaction develops. The children seem to group within similar ages, which developed into three noticeable groups. Some of the children were brothers and sisters, however as stated before many of the children had never interacted before. Although my wife granddaughter (who has Asperger’s syndrome) was in a different area of the shopping mall, I observed the groups

If I am walking around my hometown and notice that half or more people are overweight, the way that I would explain this observation is by focusing on the person's diet as it relates to the amount of processed foods which consist of hormones and GMOs that the people consume every day out of habit and social acceptance. If I were C. Wright Mills my analysis would differ in the observation by not focusing on a single person's diet habits but on the public as a whole and how the food market focuses on creating these processed foods and distributes these foods filled with hormones and GMOs into the public causing this obesity problem.

Qualitative/Observations/Ethnographic- with a focus on food, beverage and alcohol testing is one of MBA Recherché major marketing research methods. MBA Recherché confirms that it has stringent requirements for the recruiting of respondents and testing of products, in order to ensure the safety of all respondents. A chef handles the food when the firm conducts food testing that requires preparation; and respondents are asked about food allergies and health concerns. In the testing of alcohol, all respondents are given strict requirements, and are expected to follow them. Respondents are told that they should not consume alcohol on the day of the marketing research study, and prior to arriving at the facility for the research study, the respondents

As I observed the class of the experienced practitioner(EP), I noticed that she stated clear objectives, emphasized and worked to meet those specific objectives throughout the plan. She ensured that the lesson was supported with appropriate resources to cater to the needs, interests and abilities of all learners.

An event that I observed in during the co-op placement was a consultation meeting held between a client and my coworker. In this meeting, my coworker discussed information regarding the next quarter for the business that the client owned, which was to be held between August to October. From this meeting, I learned how an Accounting Firm receives all the information of a client, which is then transferred onto an Accounting Software to transmit and show a detailed and complex report.

placement the areas I am strong at and the areas I need to develop or improve at.

I found that the participant observation method was the most helpful and easiest method to use. I was able to talk with the firemen about their experiences and see how they interacted. I also worked out with them and sat around talking with them. This method allowed me to get information about their interactions because I could easily observe them talking amongst themselves and to me. One of the downsides of this method was that I could not record information as I was observing. Writing down what they were saying and what was going on would seem rude and would be hard to do. I had to wait until leaving the firehouse before recording what happened. This led to more vague information because of forgetting things.

Observation is watching events, people or activities in their natural setting. Observation can be non-participant (detached) and participant (involved). Participant observation is regarded as a scientific tool because the researchers study people in their natural environment; however, the researchers must be as objective as possible (non-judgmental; not overly involved) to capture the reality of the subject (Maciones & Plummer, 2005). The participant observation is further broken down in overt (obvious) and covert (hidden). Therefore, observation was chosen, because the researcher is able to examine the participants in their natural environment and the research utilized participant observation as a means of collecting data from the students