OBSERVATIONAL ONLY STUDY
You will conduct a short observational only study designed to answer a research question
in social psychology. This assignment will be only observation with no interaction between
you and the participants.
For example: You might wish to spend a few hours observing children in a kindergarten or
special day class, and keep track of how many can sit still and follow instructions. This can
be charted and your paper can discuss the possibility of ADHD with children who are out of
their chair, moving about the room, and not listening.
Perhaps you are interested in gender and the toys young children choose to play with. Might
small boys pick up a doll, or a little girl play with a dump truck. Unless children are told
specific toys are for boys and girls, you might observe they enjoy playing with them or
perhaps not.
Another idea is to spend a few hours at your local mall observing how many people you see
who are glued to their cell phones and rarely look up. Chart your findings, and discuss the
latest research for distraction using cell phones. What might you observe?
Please pick a topic which you can observe and research your findings. This can be something
you are passionate about, want to learn more about, and find productive or not to society. It
does need to be observational and a social problem.
Submit a five-page paper with a title page, body of assignment with introduction, statement
of problem; description of the observational investigation, discussion, analysis, and findings.
A strong conclusion will tie your paper together. Be sure to include at least two primary
resources with supportive APA citations which will match your reference page.
