Individual Project III
Campus Ethnography
Ethnographies serve as a research method in which you are able to immerse yourself in the environment of the culture or people group you are studying. Through this on-campus ethnography, I was able to observe the typical atmosphere of a populated common area of campus located by the mail room in Moench Hall in preparation for my professional ethnography at Boston Scientific.
Objective & Process
The goal of this project was to conduct an ethnography in preparation for my professional engineering ethnography at Boston Scientific. The process involved observation of the common area in Moench Hall by the mail room between class periods. I also conducted an interview of one of the students in the area in an attempt to get a better understanding of the atmosphere of the vicinity.
Observation
To prevent looking suspicious I changed my position and view of the area frequently by walking through the adjacent hallways to the area, pretending to check my mailbox, lingering by the trash cans for a few minutes, and even seeking higher ground on the stairwell leading up to professor’s offices where I took this picture. I watched from each new position for several minutes before heading down to interview a student named Ben. In this picture, Ben is in the far left corner sitting by himself and seemingly looking the most productive. The interview and observation process as a whole took roughly 30 minutes.
Interview
In this section, I've listed the questions I asked the student I interviewed as well as his answers.
Do you come in the commons area a lot to study or hangout?
Answer: I typically come here between classes to look over notes and do homework with guys in my fraternity. A lot of people meet to go over projects or presentations here since it’s not exactly quiet enough for test studying.
What’s it typically like crowd wise when you come in here? Is it loud/quiet?
Answer: It’s pretty busy and never quiet. Each area [of the commons] is claimed by a frat on campus so there’s always guys hanging out here. It won’t always be loud but there’s always conversations happening.
What are people typically doing in this area?
Answer: Guys are doing anything from studying to sleeping. I wouldn’t call it a study spot for that reason.
Reflection
Constant small chatter between groups was occurring while working​
Most people working had headphones in ​
A student was napping on one of the couches​
Lots of people were relaxing in the area​
Some students were eating​
There was a lot of traffic passing through the area from the adjacent hallways​
The space was occupied by almost 100% males