Solo observation exercise

Assignment Description

Schedule this the week we do not meet on campus. Duration: 15-20 minutes. Decide on a place, a time, and a frame or question to organize your observation. Make sure you provide a map or photo clearly labelled. If you go to observe a speaker or an event and the event is cancelled, either: 1) reschedule your observation or 2) re-frame your frame or question. (Don't write an observation of kids at the zoo after you arrive and find out the zoo is closed!) Feel free to pick a setting that is interesting for you (like the example where the observations were done at a cliff diving location). Please see the rubric which lists other requirements for this assignment which we looked at in class, like the use of a formal heading. Please use OC, ON, and MN which were covered in the class PowerPoint (See the PPT for an example). Please see the samples, but note both the strengths and the weaknesses evident in these samples.

Keep in mind the prior work needed to set up the observation
Practice OC ON and MN beforehand if that helps you
Print our a grid with columns already labeled if that helps you
Observe for 15-20 minutes
Keep in mind you may feel awkward writing
Consider bringing a book or something to write on & shield your writing

Observation fieldnotes

Begin time: 2:43pm
End time: 3:20pm
Date: September 19, 2006
Location: Education Building Lobby at University of Central Florida
Observer: David Kent Norman
Frame: Individual observation exercise

Time	ON Observer Notes	OC Observer Comments	MN Methodological Notes
2:43	Girl in grey shirt standing at bagel checkout
	Attendant in orange shirt is preparing food for customer in grey shirt
	Attendant says to have a good day and hands food to customer
	Another customer pours drink for herself	Looks like coffee container and she has a gold badge on for a UCF employee
2:45	Male bagel attendant talks to coworkers while taking money from customer
2:46	Customer goes around side to pour something in her cup	Looks like she poured cream
	Customer 2 walks back toward elevator
	Attendant who checked out customer 2 wipes down appliance	Looks like a microwave
			Guy in table on m left is talking on a cell phone and making it hard to understand what the bagel attendants are saying to each other
2:47			A loud gentleman is talking to someone in the gym behind me and overpowering even the guy on the cell phone
	Customer 3 approaches the bagel shop while talking on a cell phone
	Customer 4 skips past Customer 3 in line
	Customer 5 pours herself a drink
2:48	Customer 4 goes to condiment stand to get condiments	Looks like she poured Splenda in her drink from a yellow envelope
	Customer 5 answered her cell phone while the attendant was counting her change
2:49	The attendant broke open a new roll of coins to give change to Customer 5
	Customer 3 left without purchasing anything
2:50	Customer 6 ordered a bagel		I couldn’t understand what she ordered on the bagel
2:51	Customer 5 stirred something into her drink at the condiment station
	Customers 4 & 5 left together
			A new male behind me is entering the gym and speaking loudly
2:52	Some people on the other end of the lobby are standing up from their table	Looks like they’re preparing to leave.
	Customer 6 is still waiting for her bagel at the checkout	She said something to the attendant about a quarter
2:53	A man in a yellow shirt is talking to one of the ladies that stood up earlier
	Customers 7 & 8 are waiting in line to checkout
2:54	Customer 6 is at the condiment station
	Customer 9 stopped a girl walking by her to talk		I didn’t catch what they were talking about
			Customer 8 might have noticed that I’m observing people
2:55	Customer 9’s bill was $7.85	She purchased a red bottle of something and had a big red bucket attached to her rollaway suitcase
2:56	Customer 10 is the guy in the yellow shirt who was talking on his cell phone earlier	He purchased a drink for his female friend at the table he has been sitting at
	Customer 10 went to the condiment station to get a lid for the drink he just purchased and a stir straw
2:57	Customer 11 is wearing a blue shirt	He asked if they sell just a regular bagel, the attendant asked if that’s all he wanted, and the customer just said he wanted the bread
2:58	Customer 11 says he wants turkey and provolone on his bagel
	Customer 11 talks to Customer 13 about doing some observation
			Someone in the gym is yelling counts at people bouncing balls
2:59	Customer 12 is female and wearing a brown skirt with green shirt
	A man in a blue shirt and brown shorts walked through the lobby and into the CMC room
3:00	Customer 11 got his bagel and paid
	Customer 12 paid while holding an empty cup, then filled up the cup after she paid
	Customer 12 poured something into her drink from the condiment station	Looks like she also added Splenda
	Customer 15 skipped in line and filled up his drink without paying
	Customer 16 has a tri-fold wallet	She had to unfold the wallet all the way to be able to pay for her food
3:02	Customer 17 purchased a diet coke in a plastic bottle
	The female attendant brought a cart to the condiment station and moved the condiments to it
3:03	Customer 18 paid in cash and put her change in hear back right jeans pocket
	The male attendant asked the female at the condiment station if she stole his rags
3:04	The attendant asked Customer 19 if she wanted cheese on her bagel
	Female attenant asked man exiting the men’s room if he just got off work	Man nodded his head
3:05			Loud music just started in the gym and a man is yelling numerical counts
	Customer 20 paid for two bottles of Dasani water with a credit card
3:06	Customer 21 grabbed a bottle of orange juice from the cooler and put it by the cash register with a brown envelope
			The music in the gym changes songs about every 5 seconds and just got louder
	Customer 21 asked how the male attendant’s day is going
	Customer 22 asked if he could just get a cup of ice
3:07		The counting in the gym seems to only be “1, 2, 3”
3:08	Customer 22 is eating something in line	Looks like a candy bar
	Customer 22 asked how much for the cup of ice and the attendant did not charge
3:09	A girl in a grey shirt and blonde hair exited the gym and is talking on a cell phone by the chairs in front of the gym doors	Something about money
	Customer 23 and 24 are waiting for bagels
	Girl on phone is happy she can leave whenever she wants
3:10	Girl on phone re-enters the gym
	Customers 25 and 26 arrive in line at the bagel shop
	Customer 25 is holding a bag	Bag looks like it has chips in it
	Customer 25 jogged back to the CMC room with her bag
	Customer 26 paid from a small bag	Bag looks like a coin purse
3:12	Customer 27 is wearing a pink dress and pouring a drink for herself	Customer 27 appears to sruggle to get money while holding a bag with paper in it under her left arm
	Customer 28 pays for food out of her black backpack
	Customer 29 hops up and down	Appears to be excited about something the male attenant said
3:13			A croud of people just walked out of the hallway and is blocking my view of the bagel shop. Many are roudy
3:14	Male in red shirt looks in the gym door window	Walked past me and said “Rafial”	Is speaking loudly behind me to the person he met
3:15	Customer 31 has a large bag on her left shoulder	Bag is black
	Customer 32 purchased a lime Dasani he started drinking in line
3:16	Customer 34 got a diet coke from the refrigerator
	Customer 33 paid from a pink pocketbook
	A girl in a gold shirt with UCF on it carried a blue cooler through the lobby and into the gym	Nobody helped her open the door
	4 people followed behind cooler girl into the gym
3:17	Customer 37 has a purple backpack on her left shoulder with a purse		Girl is standing in my view of the bagel shop
3:18	Customer 37 dropped her purple backpack on the ground to put her purse on the counter by the cash register
	Customer 37 is bending over by the cash register to fix the cuffs of her pant legs	Male attenant is wearing gloves now to prepare C37’s food
	Male attendant removed his right glove to swipe C37’s credit card

Observation memo (written from fieldnotes)

Date: September 19, 2006
Location: Education Building Lobby at University of Central Florida
Frame: Individual observation exercise

Education Building Lobby at University of Central Florida

The male attendant serves customers. The amount of customers fluctuates throughout the day. More than half of the Einstein Bagels customers are female. The bagel stand attendants are familiar with the products and the work environment.

Low level of inference
The female bagel counter attendant appears to be involved with the operations management of the food preparation. She was involved in microwaving food, refilling condiments, restocking drinks in the refrigerator, adding more food to the food preparation area, and taking trash out. The male bagel attendant was concerned more with customer interaction, including taking orders, food preparation, and financial exchanges. Neither attendant seemed to be particularly subordinate to the other.

High level inference
The male attendant appeared to know the menu very well as he would ask customers for additional information about customers' orders without referencing a menu. The female attendant was not interested in customer interaction and was happy and efficient at her support role. She did at times stop to talk to individual customers who seemed like they had a past together; whether it was a past that was class or work related was not clear. The bagel attendant team worked efficiently together; each appeared to do things for the other during each food preparation step without asking the other to do so. The rights for the male attendant to work with money in the cash register and to give away a cup of ice for no charge suggests he has some sort of extra managerial role for the bagel stand. The noise, volume of the apparent coach, and traffic of UCF students in and out of the gym, and the short duration of each repetition from the coach, suggested the participants in the gym were not prepared for what ever they were practicing for. Customer 10, the guy in a yellow shirt, was likely dating the girl he was sitting at the table with judging from their body language and his apparent willingness to get anything she wanted from the bagel stand.