Ethnographic report on observations of public behavior

Update March 19, 2020: This writing assignment has been changed and has new instructions. See Tell me a story...: An analysis of qualitative data on this site and on the class Canvas site.

At the end of our module on fieldwork and ethnographic analysis, we want you to experiment with using the techniques of qualitative observation and description that ethnographers use. You will make your own observation of other people's behavior in public (e.g. at the store, on the bus, on the sidewalk, in the library, etc.) and then write a description and analysis of a public setting as a social institution in which people play specific roles. During the second module, we will provide more guidance on how to choose your own field site, how to make notes, and how to develop an ethnographic description and analysis of your observations. There will also be further instructions on Canvas. Your report will take the form of an essay in which you draw a conclusion about what the patterns you observe tell you about the setting as an element of a larger cultural system.