Assignment 3b: Observational Approaches (5%)
UPDATED [2021/10/19]
You will work in groups of 2 people. You have been tasked with conducting an observational study that explores a particular phenomena in everyday society. This particular study uses a design ethnography approach. You will review the background of the study, including the context and the research problems, the specific data collection methods used, and the analysis procedures to follow. Then you’ll complete the study, albeit in a limited form.
Materials:
- The introduction, related work, and study methods sections of a paper describing your observational study – (Word file, PDF file)
- Example images / data of the areas being observed:
Tasks:
1. Observe and collect data for two bulletin boards. Focus on people’s behaviours and how they interact with the bulletin boards (and surrounding area). Capture high resolution images of the bulletin boards. Count the number of postings on each bulletin board and label each post in terms of what type of post it is. The original study generated post categories organically through an open coding process, however, you will use the following set of categories based on that analysis. For each bulletin board, count how many postings fit in each category. The categories are:
- Personal ad
- Cultural
- Social/political/env.
- Recreational
- Health/well-being
- Business
- Fundraiser drive
- Educational
- Administrative
- Maintenance
- Government-related
- Work/employment
Details of what comprises each category are in the above paper.
2. Observe the setting around the bulletin board including the location, the people around it, and people’s activities. Take observational notes of what you see. I suggest spending 30 to 60 minutes by the bulletin board observing.
3. Write a short results section for your findings (max one page) where you answer these questions. Each question should be answered in its own subsection and include a one paragraph answer, plus descriptions of data that provide evidence for your answer.
- What types of postings are made on public bulletin boards? How many postings were found in each category?
- What makes a posting inviting? (e.g., why do you want to interact with it?)
- What makes a bulletin board inviting? (e.g., what draws your attention to it and makes it feel like a place where you can look at and post items?)
- What makes an environment inviting for posting on a bulletin board? (e.g., what type of environment (surroundings) makes you comfortable in interacting with a bulletin board?)
4. Write a short discussion section for your findings where you list out 3 to 5 implications that your results point to for the design of digital bulletin boards. That is, if a person was going to design a digital bulletin board, what lessons can be drawn from your study to suggest how the digital bulletin board should be designed? Focus on interaction mechanisms more than features (although features can inform interactions). Your discussion section should be no more than 1 page. For each implication, you should give rationale for choosing it based on your analysis (based on your observations!).
5. Write a short conclusion providing the main contribution of the work, and suggestions for future work.
6. Include images of the bulletin boards you observed as part of an appendix along with all of your observational notes. We want to see depth and rigour in your observations, which means a LOT of notes about what you see.
Submission:
Create a paper that contains the write-ups from above. You should use the same format as the start of the paper, which is given above. Submit a paper copy in class.
Assignments over the word/page limit will receive a penalty of 10% or only be graded up to the word/page limit, at the discretion of the instructor.
Grading:
You will receive a recommendation of Poor, Satisfactory, Good, or Excellent on the below aspects. This is meant to provide an overall impression of each section of your document but does not map directly to a final grade. For example, just because you get all “Good" ratings does not mean you automatically get a ‘B’. The evaluator will base your final grade on the overall quality of your submission, taking into account all of the below listed sections where some may be emphasized more than others.
- Data Collection
- Is there depth and detail of data collection?
- Are there lots of notes (handwritten or typed)?
- Are there lots of pictures of the boards and the environment?
- Results
- Does it describe the types of postings and how many were observed in each category?
- Does it describe details on the geographic relevance and contextual relevance of content?
- Does it describe details on the physical and aesthetic attributes of postings and bulletin boards that might invite different degrees of engagement/interaction in terms of location, context, and architectural setting?
- Discussion
- Does it concisely describe what the results mean?
- Does it describe 3-5 implications for designers of digital bulletin boards?
- Are the interpretations reasonable given the data? Do they match the data?
- Are limitations discussed?
- Conclusion
- Is it concise and to the point?
- Does it summarize the situation you are studying and why?
- Does it offer the key take-aways from the study?
- Writing Quality
- Is the document written at a high quality as expected at the graduate university level?
- Are there spelling, grammar, or formatting mistakes?
- Is the writing interesting and engaging?