Update On My Somewhat Creepy People Watching

As of right now my plan is the same as stated in my last post. I will still be using the method of natural observation by secretly watching how both employees and shoppers interact based on race. I will take notes on my phone, however I will now be bringing along a friend who will help me point out certain responses so I do not look like a creepy girl all by herself watching people. I realized that by being by myself I would look more out of place and I do not want to cause any attention to myself during the experiment. My friend will be the same age and the same race as me, so she will have little to no effect on the results of the experiment. I expect that employees will not treat customer's differently based on race, since their job is to be polite to everyone. However, this idea may just be me being optimistic. I hope that there will be no drastic change based on race to support the idea that racism towards Black-Americans is becoming less frequent. 

Strategy

By using the method of naturalistic observation, I plan to observe Black-Americans in the Willow brook Mall. With the holiday season coming up, the malls are sure to be packed with people. By going to the mall at the popular time of late afternoon-night time, there will surely be enough people to unknowingly participate in this experiment.

When in a clothing store, (these will vary so the experiment will not be obvious) I will pretend to be shopping when in reality I will be watching how the worker in the front of the store greets each incoming customer. I will take notes on my phone of how the worker acts toward two different Black-American customers as well as two different White-American customers (including myself). I will spend as much time as I need in this store to record information on the way the four different customers are greeted.

I will then move on to another store and observe the way that employees assist customers based on their race. I will once again take notes on my phone and record my findings when once again observing two different Black-American customers as well as two different White-American customers (including myself). I will look for a change in attitude (such as being more or less patient), tone of voice, or a change in body language. 

Research Method

For the topic of Racism Against Black-Americans, I've chosen the sociological research method of naturalistic observation. I feel that this will be the best way for me to achieve unadulterated information about my topic.  I will be going to a clothing store to see how employees interact with customers. I plan to observe whether or not employees treat customers differently based on the customer's race. Will employees treat a black customer differently if they think no one is watching them? With the possibility of a differing greeting or lack of assistance due to race, I became very interested in doing this research.