patterns I'm suppose to see at public place such as Walmart? FOr sociology proj.?

1.It's a good idea, before you begin your observational research,

-to have some specific questions ready, and perhaps a chart that will help you mark your observations in response to those questions

-to decide who to observe .. the customers/ or the customers and the workers/ or the customers the workers and the supervisors?

1.1 to do this you will need to work out the practical indicators of the other terms ie the abstract concepts of 'gender' 'class' 'ethnicity'

ie how will you decide on the categories to use?

M/F for gender probably but then what categories for 'class' or for 'ethnicity'

1.2. then you need to use your common sense to choose these indicators

eg gender is fairly straighforward but what about class and ethnicity?how will you decide on the ethnicity and class of the customers, the workers and supervisors?

1.3 what other variables will you choose

eg do you want to find out whether men or women buy different products/spend more time shopping/take care of the children whilst they are shopping/relate to the workers in different ways/

shop at different times of the day/shop singly, or in family groups, or in friendship groups?

What other kinds of patterns of behaviour or attitude might you be interested in?

eg whether there are ethnicity,class or gender differences between workers and supervisor, what kinds of transport the different customers use?

Use what interests you most about the people you live with - use your own personal interests to create your research questions.

Child molesters hang out in the toy section of wal mart, looking for kids who are there without their parents. Stressed mothers buying groceries while children beg for a quarter and the husband does nothing to help his wife. Elderly people walking laps for exercise and to be around people so they won't be so lonely. College kids with carts full of alcohol for a party on the weekend. All class shop lift at walmart. I never noticed ethnic things at walmart, poor people are poor people no matter their ethnic back ground. I do notice people in the grocery section debating on whether they can afford to buy things, like a couple debating if they could afford a bag of potato chips. You see a lot of that these days. Stressed mothers who promise to buy their kids a toy if the child stops crying and then dumping the toy when the child isn't looking. Senior citizens shoplift more than teenagers because they are on a fixed income. If teenagers shop lift, it is jewelry and clothes and accessories, older people tend to steal things they need to live on. Impatient people in the pharmacy section waiting forever for prescriptions.