Whats Happening?

Hello fellow readers and welcome back to my blog!

This week we are once again looking at our peers’ blogs, so what is cooking for this week, I will tell you…

As everyone knows, Halloween is right around the corner, so what does that mean? I means finding the perfect costume, and getting in shape!! Every girl has been trying to get her body in the perfect shape to fit that costume she desires.  Kevin's Blog caught my eye because it talks bout different weight loss supplements used in a qualitative research. Normally most guys use theses supplements, but I thought this post was eye opening in general to the target audience of weight loss and getting in shape.. especially since it is Halloween season!

Another blog that caught my eye was Alexis's  ,one o f the reasoning being was the fact that her main focus was towards fashion. I love the fashion industry, but I also understand how competitive it can be. There are certain stereotypes that are given to women in fashion, such as the fact that most models have to me a size zero to two in order to be successful. An aspect that I loved about this blog was how it addressed the various cultures and races in their statistics. This made it very interesting to follow, and expanded the target audience as a whole.

Qualitative Research

Want to know what the buzz is this week? I will tell you… Qualitative research.  

This has been a main topic we have been discussing in class for the past week. It is the type of research that deals with rougher, less refined results that need to be organized. Something that is essential to know about qualitative studies is that they do not provide specific answers to questions, but instead gain explanations and narrative stories.

So, if you are looking for specific and direct answers try again! For example,  to answer the question how many students take public relations research, you would use quantitative research by giving a survey to students. To find out how the students actually feel about the class it would make sense to use the ever popular qualitative method of conducting a focus group. Focus groups are the most common qualitative research method, but there are many others methods public relations researches use.

A method that I learned about while doing my presentation was ethnographic research. This was a form of qualitative research that I had never heard of before.. It consists of studying human behavior in its most natural context which involves observation of their behavior in a physical setting. This method really interests me because the person is fully committing themselves to this study. This  website explains how to go about this particular research method. It is a great source to learn how to document everything correctly and it is a useful guide in general when dealing with ethnographic research.

To me though..this is a textbook type reference which is good, but for a college student,  what  can they relate to?

MTV!

An example I used in my presentation was MTV’s new hit series World Of Jenks . I think this show is a phenomenal example because one.. its an MTV show so therefore almost all of college students if they haven’t seen it, have heard of it, so it is easy to relate school work to. He physically puts himself into different environments each week to try and observe and understand the culture. Jenks interacts with people that range from homeless, to star rappers.

The question that I would propose to you is… would you let Jenks spend a week with you conducting ethnographic research?

I Spy With My Little Eye..............

There are so many things that people can learn just by looking at each other.  Facebook is the prime example of this, because these days we can learn virtually anything about someone by their page. From  how they dress ,who they date,  and how much they drink… facebook tells it all. While we are sitting there creeping on people via facebook, this is a form of doing unobtrusive research. We are observing what other people are doing via internet, without them knowing we are doing so.

What do other people think about unobtrusive research? Lets take a look at some  class mates blogs…

Going along with the connection I just made about facebook Steph's Blog relates very well to what I was just referring to about facebook. I really like the connection that she made to celebrities, and the quote she took from Kim Kardashian coincides well with the point she was making.

 Another person’s blog that caught my eye was Roberta's Blog . Being a girl, naturally fashion is something that I am very interested in. I liked the point that she Roberta made about how people get paid in the fashion industry to simply observe what others are wearing. So this made me think.. I could be getting paid for waiting on the shuttle line at school, and making fashion comments on what not to wear to toads! This blog was catchy, and definitely appealed to me, and I think the target audience she was trying to reach.

All in all its interesting to see the different ideas that people come up with in regards to unobtrusive research.

Unobtrusive Research

Ever feel like someone is watching you? Most celebrities experience these types of feelings constantly due to the paparazzi. Take Lindsay Lohan for example, we are constantly getting updates  every time her bracelet zaps her letting us now when she is sweating and it there is alchold in it. These constant updates are from tabloids and paparazzi.

The question is, how is it that paparazzi and other reporters/ researchers are able to figure out such information, without the people realizing? I’ll tell you… it is called unobtrusive research.  This type of research involves observing a subject without them knowing. Truly trying to pick up on their posture, clothing, shoes, accessories, and hand gestures.

When conducting unobtrusive research, it may sometimes be tedious, and seem like you’re basically creeping on the person that you are trying to do research on. This is why a popular form of unobtrusive research is the candid camera.  A hidden camera allows for observation to be conducted of people, in their most natural setting. A camera allows for observation of a variety of people and their actions in premeditated social situations. This is why reality television is so popular. We can put a bunch of guidos in a house, add a lot of hair gel and alcohol, and BAM you have situation.

People right at home conducting unobtrusive research just by noticing how these characters react with each other. Sam and Ron are the couple of the epic Jersey Shore show.  Trying to keep up with their relationship is a challenge in itself. But by conducing unobtrusive researching we are observing the meaning behind each behavior. If they say one thing do they really mean it or is it just the enunciation of how their saying it.? All of these questions any many more can be answered my simply observing someone.

So  next time you are watching a reality show, or just simply walking around the mall, take at the people surrounding you, and see what you are able to determine. It can be something as simple as watching people walk through doors....