Allen Mooneyhan

 Qualitative Research and Evaluation

 Mini-Project
Observation

 Dr. David Holman

 Arkansas State University

 February 16, 2001

Table of Contents 

 Field Notes for Observation #1 (Indian Mall)
Began:  7:00 P.M. 01-30-01  |  Ended:  7:30 P.M. 01-30-01

Music playing softly in background
People talking (multiple conversations)
Different music coming from different shops
People walking slowly (& quietly)
Shops were mostly empty
Some people carrying bags
Most people are in groups or pairs
People look into shops as they pass by
People are walking up and down (both directions in each isle)
Some people move from one shop to the next
Others move past several shops before going to a shop
Some appear to be walking without looking at the shops
Most are dressed "comfortably" (not formally)
Some people meet others they appear to know and begin talking
Some people walk strait to a particular place (appearing to know where they are going)
Others will back up and go another direction (as if unsure of where they are going)
Those working in shops are walking around moving clothes to their items.
They are watching the entrances to the shops in which they are working
Some are leaning on clothes racks
Some have clothes that indicate they have just come from another activity (soccer uniform)
Some of the workers have name tags
Some of the shoppers are talking on cell phones
There are more women than men (appear)
Most are not wearing bright colored clothing

Data from field notes for observation #1

      Upon entering Indian mall, I found that the environment was inviting to customers.  The temperature was warm but not hot.  It was evident that attention was given to maintaining a comfortable temperature.  The walking area of the mall smelled like food.  The smells of various foods were drifting down the walkway from the food court.  Through the center of the walkway there were sections of benches or walls as well as small shopping stands.  Everything was clean and tidy.  An attempt had been made to establish an atmosphere that was aesthetically pleasing.  For example, the floor had a rough pattern of cut tile that matched the benches in the center as well as the decor around.  Additionally, plants and trees were planted in the center among the walkways.

    Soft music was playing in the background.  The music wasn't noticeable upon entering the mall.  However, upon concentration of the environment, I began to hear it.  Additionally, other areas were playing music that seemed to compete with the background noise.  The different music didn't conflict as I walked through the mall because as one became louder another would fade away.  Another contributor to the background was the noise  of multiple conversations between different groups of people.  These conversations sounded muffled as people were talking quietly and other background noises were competing with each of them.  Therefore specific dialogues could not be made out.  

    Most of the shops were empty of customers.  Most of the customers were walking slowly down the walkways.  Those who were walking down the walkways were traveling in both directions on both sides.  There was no cultural norm that prompted people to "keep to the right side".  Most people would look into the shops as they passed them.  However, some went into the shops while others passed by them without entering.  Of those who entered shops, most didn't enter every shop but chose shops to enter in what appeared to be a sporadic way.  For example, one person entered a shop and the left that shop and walked leisurely toward the center of the mall before returning to the same side of the mall to enter another shop further down the walkway.

    I found no pattern as to the makeup of those in the mall in terms of whether they were in groups, pairs, or alone.  There seemed to be relatively equal occurrences of these.  of both those alone and those who were accompanied by someone else, there were examples of people who would meet others that they appeared to know and began talking with them.

    Most of the shoppers seemed to be dressed comfortably.  Many were in sweats and very few were dressed formally.  (Is this due to the "time of day" which they were observed?)  Some of thee people appeared to have a sense of purpose in their actions and in the way they traveled from one place to another.  For example, they walked strait to the place they visited and appeared to conduct their business and leave.  Others didn't seem to have a specific plan or purpose for being where they were.  For example, one woman with several teenagers with her was walking down the walkway when, all of a sudden, she turned around abruptly, and crossed to the other walkway.  She then proceeded to go another direction.  

    There were several people working in the shops.  Usually, there were more than one working in each shop.  (Is this for security reasons?)  These shop employees were walking around the shops moving clothing and other items around.  Some of them were working on building displays of products.  These displays were in a central location in the shop or near the entrance of the shop.  Usually, there was an employee watching the entrance to the shop and when someone came into the shop an employee would be available for assistance.  Some of the employees were leaning on clothes racks.  (Does this indicate they had been there for a while and were tired?)  some of the workers have name tags on.  These name tags were shinny and exhibited the employee's name clearly.  The shops had displays that held products at the center or where the entrance was with prices displayed on large signs in the middle of the merchandise.  Most of these signs had the words "Sale" as well as the prices for products exhibited.  Other racks were placed throughout the store which did not have large signs displaying the prices.  The pieces of merchandise on these racks had price tags hanging from them.  There is a "web presence" even in this physical setting.  For example, there were web addresses on the doors of the shops with slogans such as "footlocker.com  Always Open."  There were no "open" hours on the doors to show shoppers when the shops would be opening and closing.  (Is this because the mall has operation hours and the stores must adhere to the malls hours?)  There were carts that some had procured which hold children that were being pushed around throughout the mall.  Some people were pushing children in strollers.

    Some of the employees were wearing clothing that indicated they had just come from another activity.  For example, there was a girl who walked into the mall with some friends who was wearing what appeared to be a soccer uniform.  She had the soccer style shirt and shorts and also had soccer style socks on. One of the girls who was with this girl had a cell phone and was talking with her.

    There appear to be more woman than men at the mall and most are not wearing bright colored clothing.  (Is this because of the season- "Winter")   Some of the customers were carrying bags and some were not. (Were there those who weren't shopping?).  Being curious as to whether people were generally there to shop or whether they were there to walk and look, I was prompted to attempt to determine how many appeared to carry some kind of purse or wallet.  I looked at this as a possible help in determining if there were those who had no intent in purchasing from the various shops.  I was surprised to find that, of the sample I looked at, most of the women and all of the men appeared to be carrying either a purse or a wallet.  Fifteen out of seventeen women were carrying purses and eight out of eight men had what appeared to be a wallet in their pocket.

Foci for observation #2

After observing "the mall" during my first observation, I analyzed my data to determine how I could focus my observations.  I found several interesting potential foci.  These were how the employee interacted with customers and their work, how people conglomerated in terms of going to the mall together or in different size groups, and  whether people went to the mall to shop or as a social occasion.  I decided to return to the mall with my focus limited to "the employee" in a shop called Gap Kids.  I focused on this employee because I could see an employee working and had a view of customers entering and leaving the shop.  Furthermore, I was somewhat hidden from the employee be posters and signs in the windows of the store.  This allowed me to remain unseen by the employee during my observation.

During my first observation I realized that employees kept looking at the entrance and I wondered if they were watching the customers as well as the entrances to the shops.  During the second observation, I have documented multiple instances that support this speculation.  For example, the employee that I observed worked with a specific rack while folding clothing.  Furthermore, when a customer would enter the shop she would adjust herself so that she could see that customer or the exit to the shop.

Field Notes for observation #2 (Indian Mall)
Began:  7:00 P.M. 02-06-01  |  Ended:  7:30 P.M. 02-06-01

GapKids
Lady with headset arranging clothing (side room).  Lady looks at entrance periodically.  She is taking clothing from bottom shelf refolding them (neater) and putting them on top shelf.

Lady walks into shop and she looks up but doesn't approach.  Smiles and says hello.  She carries clothing to other side of rack and is facing customer.  She is watching the customer.  She straightens the rack she is standing at (Do these clothes need straightening or is she trying to look busy?).

Another lady comes into store and she looks at her and smiles and says hello.  Lady walks past her and she turns and begins straightening again.  Employee seems to be preoccupied with straightening wall display.

Another customer comes by and employee comes to side of rack across from customer.  Then customer walks out without bag and employee walks to other side of rack where she can see the door.  Another customer walks out of store and employee remains in position where she can see door.  She doesn't appear to be watching customer.

There is clothing lying on the floor beside employee but she doesn't bend down to pick it up and put away.  Employee drops another piece of clothing onto the floor and continues to fold.  She ten drops another piece of clothing onto the floor.

Not dressed in a uniform.

Another customer walks out of the store and employee greets her.  Customer says "thank you".

Customer asks for help- then employee walks over to table where customers are and begins looking for something and talking to customers.  Employee then leaves customers at table and goes back to rack against wall and folds clothing.  She then looks around the floor for something and turns and leaves the room.

She is talking to someone in back of store it appears she knows.  A young girl walks into this part of the store and she walks quickly back to the rack she had been folding at.  Employee watches girl walk back to the corner.  Another customer is looking at clothing across the room and she is watching that customer.

Another employee who also has a headset on walks into the room looks at the girl and turns and leaves.  A customer comes in and walks behind the employee looking at clothing.  Employee continues to fold clothing and doesn't look up at the customer.  Employee turns to the rack the customer is looking at but doesn't say anything.  Employee needs to get around customer to get to other side of her and says something and smiles as she moves around her.  Employee begins folding clothing that are on floor.  Two customers leave store (both with packages) and she doesn't look up (Are employees more skeptical of people who do not have packages?).

Employee then puts clothing that were on floor back on rack.  Customer walks in and she continues to clean up the floor.  She turns and looks at the racks as if she is concerned with how they look.  She then walks out of the room leaving customers there alone.

Presentation of field notes #2 ("Story")

I entered the mall with the intention of looking at how the employees responded to customers.  I sat outside of a shop called Gap Kids.  I was looking at one entrance to a room at the shop in which there was one employee working.  The employee inside the entrance was a woman wearing a headset who appeared to be arranging clothing.  She was not wearing a uniform.  Instead, she had on black pants and a black sweater.  This employee looked at the entrance periodically while she was arranging and rearranging clothing.  She was taking articles of clothing from a bottom shelf and refolding them and putting them neatly on the top shelf.

A female customer walked into the shop.  The employee looked up at her but didn't approach her.  The employee then smiled and said "hello."  The employee carried clothing to the other side of the rack so that she was now facing the customer as she worked.  She was now watching the customer while she straightened the rack.  I am not sure if the clothing needed straightened or if the employee was simply trying to look busy.

Another lady came into the store.  The employee looked at her, smiled, and said "hello."  The lady walked past her, and the employee turned and began straightening again at the same rack.  The employee then turned to a wall display where she seemed to be preoccupied with rearranging clothing.

Another customer walked by the rack, and the employee moved to the side of a clothing rack across from the customer.  The customer then walked out of the store without a bag and the employee walked to the other side of the rack to where she could see the door.

Another customer walked out of the store and the employee remained in a position where she could see the door.  She appeared to be busy working with articles of clothing and did not look as if she was watching anyone or anything except the clothing she was working with.

There was a pair of pants lying on the floor beside the employee, but she did not bend down to pick them up and put them away (Is this because she is interested in remaining in a position where she can see the entrance to the shop?).  The employee began refolding clothing that appeared to have already been folded adequately and continued this for several minutes.  The employee then dropped another article of clothing onto the floor and continued to fold for a few more minutes.  The employee again dropped an article of clothing to the floor on top of the previous two and continued to work at the top of the rack.

Another customer walked out of the store and the employee greeted her.  The customer said "thank you" and left the store.  Two customers walked into the store and began looking at products on a table in the center of the room.  One of the customers said something to the employee.  The employee walked over to the table where the customers were and began looking for something while talking with the customers.  The employee then left the customers at the table and went back to the rack against the wall and resumed folding clothing.

The employee next moved around the floor looking for something and turned and left the room.  She walked to the back of the store and began talking with someone she appeared to know.  A young girl walked into the store at the entrance to the shop and the employee walked quickly back to the rack where she had been folding clothing before.  The employee watched the girl walk back to the corner of the room.   Another customer came into the room and began looking at clothing at the wall opposite where the employee was standing.  The employee was watching this customer.

Another employee who also was wearing a headset and street clothes walked into the room, looked at the employee, and turned and left.  Another customer came into the shop and walked behind the employee looking at clothing on the wall.  The employee continued to fold clothing and did not look up at the customer.  The employee turned to the rack the customer was looking at but did not say anything.  The employee needed to get around the customer to the other side of the rack.  She said something to the customer and smiled as she moved around her.

The employee began folding clothing that was on the floor.  The employee did not look up as two customers, both carrying bags, walked out of the store.  The employee then put the clothes that were on the floor back onto the rack.  Two more customers walked into the shop, and the employee continued to clean up the floor.  The employee began to leave the room, then turned to look at the racks as if she was concerned with how they looked.  She then walked out of the room leaving customers there alone.

A third observation

If I were to do a third observation, I would try to refine the focus of the second.  For example, I would look for evidence that would support or refute my speculation that employees watch the entrance and exits of the stores while attempting to appear not to.  This would probably involved getting closer to the employee, which might lead to greater difficulties with being invisible.  However, if I could get into better position so that I could actually see the eyes of the employee when customers walked into and out of the shop, I may be able to make additional determinations as to what the motives of the employee are.

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