ASSSIGNMENT #1, SIMPLE RESEARCH
THE CAFETERIA AT OAKTON
Research Information
1. Type of Research - This first project requires you to do some field work. Social
scientists gather much of their data from this method. You should begin by looking over
Chapter 1 in your textbook and reviewing research methods. Next, look at Chapter 2 for
some background information. Are you being asked to do a case study, a survey, a
naturalistic observation, a correlation, or an experiment?
2. Intuition and Common Sense – You probably already have a “sense of what you might
find, but intuition is not research, it is simply an opinion made up of feelings, ideas, and
experience. Be aware of how “hindsight bias” may affect the way you view the people
and how they behave in the environment.
3. The Scientific Attitude – Have you approached this project with hard-headed curiosity
and skepticism? Regardless of your expectations, were you open to whatever you
found?
Observation in the Cafeteria
The goal of this assignment is to evaluate the behavior of students (and/or
faculty/administrators/staff) in the Oakton Cafeteria. This environment provides a rich
source of interesting behavior to study.
Follow these simple directions
1. Go to the Oakton cafeteria during lunchtime. Sit quietly and observe people in
the cafeteria. What are they doing? What catches your eye?
2. Identify the type of research you are using.
3. How are you insuring that your investigation is scientific not just an intuitive
reaction?
4. Select a type of behavior you would like to record. (i.e. who eats together, how
people behave toward each other, what behaviors are unusual or particularly
interesting, what do these behaviors tell you about college students or college
faculty? What can you learn from quietly sitting and observing for an hour? What
sort of cultural differences might you observe? What sort of manners do people
display? What sort of interactions do the people have among their group or other
groups?)
5. Select a particular group or people as your focus.
6. Maintain confidentiality (do not use names in your paper), but explain to anyone
who asks that you are working on a psychology project.
7. Record your observations carefully.
Here are some additional suggested observations. You will probably come up with
something much more creative.
Where do people sit?
What do they eat?
How much do they eat?
How much do they eat of what they take on their plate?
How much do they spend?
