Prompt: In this journal assignment, observe and reflect on how you might use research to approach exploring issues.
Before you begin the journal assignment,find a public place in which you feel safe and comfortable, and spend 20 to 30 minutes watching individuals and/or groups of people.
Clear your mind and allow your thoughts to move from person to person or group to group, focusing on whatever draws your attention. Use the following critical elements and questions to help guide your observations.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
Describe what details you noticed when observing individuals or groups. Give several examples of what stood out for you during your observation.
Did you tend to notice objective or subjective “data”?
To what degree were you curious about objective data, such as numbers of men or women, age, gender, etc.?
Did you tend to focus on what was going on with people in relation to others?
Based on your personal understanding of quantitative and qualitative approaches, assess a research methodology that might be a natural fit for the data
you collected. Was your data more aligned with quantitative or qualitative data?
Explain how the research methodology you chose for your examples applies to your personal interests.
Did you tend to gravitate toward objective factors that may reflect relationships and differences between and among groups (quantitative), or did you tend to want to understand the subjective context or lived experience of what you were observing (qualitative)? Provide examples with your explanation.
