Exercise 2

1.   Choose a suitable topic — observation of behaviour in public settings ( as further examples --  who gets to talk in class? Who gets served in bars? What sort of people get talked to in supermarket queues?)

2.   Begin to think of a suitable schedule:

• time intervals
  
• units of observation -- individuals?
  

3.   Operationalise other variables: ( see discussion on questionnaire exercises)

• how could you devise a reliable observable indication of age? Class? Sociability? Marital status?
  
• types of talk or behaviour (e.g on-task, opening gambits, invitations, commands etc)
• what training might be need to ensure inter-coder reliability?
  

4.   Devise a working schedule and invent techniques (e.g to record data unobtrusively, keep records of time, deal with ambiguities etc)