Observation Study Proposals

Observation Study Proposals

MBA6137

Unit 4

Professor Thomas Steinhagen

Shernise Mitchell

September 29th 2015

You wish to analyze the pedestrian traffic that passes a given store in a major shopping center. You are interested in determining how many shoppers pass by this store, and you would like to classify these shopper on barrios relevant dimensions. Any information you secure should be obtainable from observation alone.

A) What other information might you find useful to observe?

B) How would you divide what information to collect?

C) Devise the operational definitions you would need.

D) What would you say in your instructions to the observers you plan to use?

E) How might you sample this shopper traffic?

A) Some of the standard information items that would be noted as sex, age, whether alone or with other adults or children, time of day, day of the week, and weather conditions. Evidence of shopping activity, apparent income, race, apparent social class, and many other items might also be included, depending on the objectives of study.

B) The study objectives would be a major determinant of what to observe. There would also be a number of variables that one might want to use as modifying or control variables.

C) These would depend on the variables used, but student should have no problem establishing reasonable operational definitions.

D) Generally the instructions should tell the observer how to act and what to do. In addition, how to sample when to conduct the observations, any special instructions as to what to observe and how to adapt to conditions which might occur.

E) There will be a time sampling such as 15 minutes or every hour, with the particular 15 minute segment being chosen originally by a random method. The observer may also be instructed to choose every fourth person passing a given point on the sidewalk.

References

Capella University (Ed.). (2011). MBA6137 – Primary data collection. New York, NY:...