Preconceived Observation

The topic studied in this naturalistic observational research study was called “pick me up.” The purpose of this study was to place a note card on the ground labeled “pick me up” and observe the type of person that picked the card up. The research question was “Which gender will pick up the card more and which gender will react more?” The researchers had three hypotheses: (1) More women will smile when reading the card than men, (2) More men than women will notice the card and continue walking, and (3) More men than women will notice the card.

My observation locations are Starbucks and restaurant. I chose them as my observation location because those are the places where people normally talk, study, socialize and interact in a casual manner.

Before I report my results, I must explain how I conducted my observation, or my research methods. To say that I only walked a lap around the Walmart store and left would be far from the truth. I dressed like an average shopper even making sure to grab a buggy. I started my observation in the grocery department, making the transition to the electronics,

For this project, I chose Target’s department store because, one, I am an employee there and most importantly I felt that it showed different types of people in multiple ways through its products. For my first observation my goal was to examine how the store was arranged, the products that

Thesis: Although some claim that retail anthropologists’ placement of surveillance cameras for consumers while shopping is manipulative, it is not in fact unethical because their actions are meant for the benefit of the consumers, the benefit of the producers, and most importantly, shoppers are aware of the surveillance cameras.

If a blind person walked into the room, I would expect to see someone who looked feeble, wore dark glasses, used a cane, and potentially had a guide dog. The narrator of this story had similar preconceptions about the blind. Some of these preconceptions were that “the blind move slowly and never laugh”, “sometimes [the blind are] led by seeing-eye dogs”, the blind man’s life and marriage were unfulfilling because he was unable not see, and others that had to do with physical appearance and mannerisms. This blind man though breaks these stereotypes and much more. Conventional ideas about the blind are broken because of the way he was portrayed and helped to teach the narrator a lesson.

In the works of Alistair MacLeod, Alden Nowlan, and Aaron Smith, each author establishes that the difficulty within parent-child relationships is a result of the differences between adult and child mentalities. Due to vast life experience, the parental figures in all three texts possess fixed, personal notions of what is morally correct, which clashes with the growth mindset of the children and incites miscommunication in the relationship.

The method can be seen as an alternative to more extensive trials, which may take place later, prior to a release of a product.

We live in a society where we are watched constantly by social media, twitter, employers and even shopping surveillance cameras. Although each outlet has its different uses for watching, there are pros and cons. Social media may share life styles or events with users with just a touch of a button or click of a mouse. Twitter updates the user with instant news about certain individuals or celebrities and what is trending. An employer keeps a watchful eye on a new employee to make sure they are the right fit for the company or can also watch to make sure their assets are secure. Surveillance is mostly thought of as monitoring assets, but what about the true assets it monitors, the consumer at a store. Consumers are the bread and butter of the store, without the consumer there are no sales, and if no sales then there would be no store. I refute the claim that the retail anthropologists’ surveillance of consumers is manipulative or unethical. In fact, I think the surveillance of consumers can help both the retailer and the consumer. Surveillance can provide an overall good shopping experience for both consumer and retailer. The surveillance videos can show which products the consumer wants and buys, it can help the retailer place good products in good organizational areas, and provide not only the consumer, but the retailer with a good overall shopping experience.

My informant explained an observation she had made about the flow of the customers in the coffee house. Due to the location, the flow of customers corresponds to the arrival of public transportation, trains and buses. When a train arrives and customers get off the train, many wait to transfer to a bus close to the entrance of the coffee house. During that time, there is usually an influx of customers in the restaurant. Sometimes the line to order extends to the entrance door, during this time the customers wait time to receive their order is much longer than the wait to place an order. My informant explained that the extended wait time for an order was due to a limited number of staff working in the kitchen.

From an etic lenses, American society can be perceived as overly repetive and/or simplistic; with retails chains that seemingly defy state and even county boarders. From an emic lense; for the most part, these chains provide the American community with a sense of "comfort" ("In Praise of Chain Stores") but in turn can also act as catalyst for ill-advised hostility. Citizens in which hold misplaced sentiments towards the concept of retail chains believe that the store "really is all that matters", therefore, developing a sense of mistrust towards "what the chains sell". This widespread misconception can cause an upbringing of speciaility stores that shelves items that mimic "exactly what the chain sells" only without the brand name attached. It may also cause low-value stores to "stay empty" due to the chains placed conveniently on the other side of the street.

Tires squeal across the hot asphalt; exhaust fumes fill the air. Innocent shoppers leap to safety as cars circle the neighborhood grocery store lot in search of the ideal parking spot. Engines revving. Adrenaline rushing. The driver's sole mission is to obtain a white lined rectangle of pavement before entering the race known as shopping. As a safety precaution, competent and considerate shoppers should be aware of the distinct character traits of the three annoying types of shoppers: Hurry Harry, Suburban Sally, and Picky Pete. Knowledge of their parking-lot-to-checkout-stand habits increases the chance of avoiding a head-on collision.

Originally, the research was going to be conducted in large-scale departments stores found at malls such as Nordstrom or Macys. It was thought that sampling in stores such as these were a great way to gain more data on both females and males, along with families and friends because department store environments were ideal to see a multitude of social situations between varying people. These bigger stores ideally would have many people shopping alone and in a group so comparisons can be made between the two, while also allowing a large enough environment where changes could be made to cater to people shopping in a group.

The question that I set out to study was whether more men or women used their phones while walking. I expected more women than men to use their phones while walking because I believe that women spend more time on social media, texting, and making phones call when they are in public spaces, particularly in the mall, which is where I conducted the observation. Women often go to the mall in groups, and when in the groups, they tend to look at social media together or text others as they travel from one store to another. My hypothesis was that more women than men would use their phones while walking.

Store environment could affect shoppers’ behaviors in several ways. Store environment also influences various stages of shoppers’ cognitive process inside a store, including attention, perception, categorization and information processing. For example, it has been shown that perceived waiting time varies with the valence of music and consumers’ categorization of a restaurant as a fast food outlet depends largely on the external appearance of the store .While the foregoing discussion is mainly concerned about the immediate effects of store environment, store environment may also have lagged or carryover effects on