Choose a public place such as the Cairns Esplanade, the Townsville Strand or other public
places such as a coffee shop, shopping mall, sporting event where people can be
studied in a ‘natural’ setting. Observe the social patterns over the course of 1-2 hours
of fieldwork. By social patterns, I mean issues to do with gender, age, class, ethnicity.

For example, what sort of people use mp3 players? what sort of people walk/run by
themselves?, do people walk in groups or by themselves?, what sort of clothing are they
wearing (work, leisure, etc)? In terms of recording information and ideas, please stay ‘low
tech’ by avoiding electronic recording devices such as ipods, cameras, voice recorders
but use ‘pen and paper’. There are two reasons I ask you to stay low tech; to maintain a
low-key presence, to develop and appreciate your short term memory and to appreciate
that good ideas come from anywhere. Please note: that in no instance should you actually talk to anyone as this is purely an observational style of qualitative research.
Refer to the online lecture on unobtrusive research as well as the readings for more details. This is probably the one occasion where you are not required to read widely but you must cite a minimum of 4 references which relate to this form of data collection. In many ways this exercise is an exercise in discovery. A core assumption of grounded theory is that immersion in the field untainted by too much literature frees the mind to observe new patterns of social life. By all means ‘look’ at other ethnographies but you are not required to produce a ‘literature review’.
Setting Out the Task
The task consists of 4 headings which you need to use in your assignment:
1. Title of Study
2. Context of the Study: A description of your site, time visited, weather conditions, what you observed in terms of different people, individuals, groups , ages etc.
3. Analysis : In this section address issues about what sense you made of what you saw. For example perhaps the ways people dress are indicators of their activities or socio-economic status. Issues around age, class, gender and ethnicity are worth commenting on here.
4. Strengths and Limitations of this Approach: Using some at least 4 references discuss what you consider to be the limitations of this approach as well as its strengths for data gathering. Relate it to your experiences in the field.