Evaluating Controlled Observation

Evaluating Controlled Observation

I conducted a controlled observation to monitor attitudes and reveal truths about what social activities do young people do in Banstead. I chose this method over natural /participant observations because I found that doing the controlled observation method was a lot easier to perform to this sort of research. Natural observation would have been difficult because it would’ve required me to monitor the people in their natural habitat, so that means having to go to the activities that they were going to and would’ve been difficult to keep an eye on them at all times. Another reason why I didn’t choose natural observation is that some people may not feel comfortable with a new person in the group which could make this experiment fail. Participant observation again would’ve been difficult to do because it would have again required me to get involved in what they were doing and would’ve been difficult to monitor them in that observation. 

I looked at existing experiments to come up with my own controlled observation so the experiment I looked at was the “marshmallow test”. It was developed by psychologist Walter Michel back in the 1960’s, the experiment was about studying pre-schoolers’ and the ability to delay gratification. The children were left in a room alone with a single marshmallow left in front of them and if they could refrain from eating that marshmallow the researcher would come back in the room to give the child two marshmallows. Overall this experiment helped me with my own experiment and gave me the idea of giving something physical to see how they would react to the material.

My table that I created for this controlled observation was fairly reliable. I think this because maybe I could’ve changed the wording slightly and maybe put different columns in to make the research go further, for example maybe change the column of “sarcastic remarks” to something different to help make the experiment go further. 

In order to make this research more valid, I could add an extra person to the observation which could reduce biasness which could make the research more valid and reliable. Another way to make the research more valid is to add more measurements to the table so then you won’t be grouping behaviours together.

The strengths of my observation was that I had a range of leaflets placed on the table for people to look at so I could do my observation as successful as possible. I had a range of different people who took a look at the leaflets and they reacted in all different ways which made my experiment very successful. The weaknesses of my observation are that maybe my table could’ve been updated more with more emotions and reactions towards the leaflets.

I found from my results that not many people found the leaflets very appealing to them but some people found them more appealing than others as they found the leaflets more appealing which made it very equal in what I found.

This is one of the tables in which I marked on one of the participants:

Rating out of 5 (1 being low and 5 being high)	Interest in Activity	Not interested in Activity	Looking at the leaflet and throwing it back down straight away	Laugh	Comments on the leaflet	Sarcastic Remarks
1				ü		ü
2			ü		ü
3		ü
4	ü
5

This table shows that the participant was intrigued about the leaflets and took it very seriously as they was showing that they was interested in the activities shown. 

In conclusion this research has forwarded my documentary because the results I found was very useful because it shows a range of views on what sort of activities there are in Banstead and some people found the leaflets very boring whereas some people found it very interesting and this research will definitely put forward my documentary.

Bibliography

Marshmallow Test: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/books/the-marshmallow-test-understanding-self-control-and-how-to-master-it-by-walter-mischel/2015716.article

Interview about Banstead

Questions and answers to the questionnaire and analysis

	Person 1	Person 2	Person 3	Person 4	Person 5	Person 6	Person 7	Person 8	Person 9	Person 10
Question 1: Do you live in Banstead or near it?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Question 2: Are you between the ages 13-19?	16	17	17	16	17	17	17	17	16	16
Question 3: Are you male or female?	Male	Female	Male	Male	Male	Male	Female	Female	Male	Female
Question 4: Which local attractions would you go to?	Café Italia	Café Italia	The Woolpack	The Woolpack	Café Italia	Café Italia	The Woolpack	The Woolpack	The Woolpack	The Lavender Fields
Question 5: What would you rate Banstead out of 5? (5 being the highest 1 being the lowest)	3	2	3	3	2	1	3	1	1	2
Question 6: Do you travel outside of Banstead to enjoy socialising time?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Question 7: How often do you travel outside of Banstead for social activity?	Weekly	Daily	Monthly	Weekly	Weekly	Weekly	Monthly	Rarely	Weekly	Weekly
Question 8: How much do you think it would cost a family to go to the cinema in Kingston?	£40	£50	£50	£30	£50	£30	£30	$40	£40	£40
Question 9: Have the lack of activities got you involved with criminal activities?	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No

I produced a questionnaire to give out to teenagers living in Banstead for research for my documentary.

90% of the people from my survey live in Banstead and 100% of them are all teenagers which can really help my research for my documentary because it gives a clear insight on what teenagers like to do in Banstead. 60% of the people asked are males and the other 40% are female.

The majority of people chose The Woolpack as a local attraction they would go to in Banstead as it would attract them there the most. This is very important to my research about teenagers in Banstead because it gives me a clear indication of where older teenagers would go on their nights out. Café Italia was another popular choice because café Italia is a café during the day and in the evenings it is a night club which could attract the younger people for a good night out which again is very significant to my research because it shows what type of attraction would attract the teenagers.

   

My results show that there isn’t a lot of activities to do in Banstead because there was a range of results for question 5, four people said 3 out of 5, 3 people said 2 out of 5 and 1 out of 5 which shows a range of results and shows that Banstead does not have a lot of attractions for the younger years.

Overall the answers to this questionnaire are really useful about my research about teenagers in Banstead because it gives a clear indication that Banstead has its fair share of attractions but isn’t really for the younger teenagers as it is more for the 18 to 19 year olds.

Primary Research - Quantitative Research

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1p1nIJmLCHitJ9qYcRTh0Z4b-6F4Y2xZNtue654YyD-U/viewform

Production Research

Resources and Costs

e.g. personnel, talent, finance, suppliers, facilities, locations, logistic support.


Personnel

Bluefin TV offer a range of two man crews from a range of £900 to £1300, but with these two man crews they come with their own camera equipment which would also save money on the budget. This would be significant to my documentary because it isn't a big budget documentary and two camera men would be perfect for the job and because they include their own high quality cameras it saves money. 

http://www.bluefintv.com/broadcast-camera-crew-hire/ 

Talent

I have found a professional voice over actor and charges £10 per hour, but as this is a very low budget which makes it a challenge to find someone within the budget given. I would implement this to my documentary because I would like a voice over actor and show images of the place the actor is talking about which could make this documentary feel more professional. 

http://www.peopleperhour.com/hourlie/record-your-professional-voiceover-british-male-voice-over-within-24-hours/104857?ref=listings&addons=343481,343482,343483&quantity=10 

Finance

Locations - Go on Google maps and research areas we would use for my documentary and discuss why.

"Logistical film production"

Viability

The product I am producing is financially viable because all the equipment we need is loaned to us by the school so we are having not to spend any money on equipment.

I have the necessary skills to undertake the production because I know from my research what my target audience wants from this documentary.

The only help and support I will need for this project is a crew to help me to capture what Banstead is really like from a teenagers perspective.

I would have enough time to produce the product because I would have 2-3 weeks to film the product. 

Secondary Research- Qualitative Research (Trip Advisor)

I went onto trip advisor to see what attractions there are in Banstead, but it came up with 3 attractions they are:

• The lavender fields
• The Woolpack
• Cafe Italia

The lavender fields isn't somewhere teenagers would go for a local attraction as there is not a lot of things you can do there so for my documentary it wouldn't be very useful and would just make the attraction boring and not relevant. The Woolpack and Cafe Italia could possibly relate to the older teenagers such as 18 year olds as the Woolpack is a pub and involves alcohol which would attract the teenagers but Cafe Italia is a cafe during the day time and turns into a club at night which could again attract the 18 year old's for a great night out, these two attractions would be beneficial to my documentary because from the reviews they seem positive about the attractions which could attract more people to go to these locations for a good night out. 

Secondary Research - Quantitative Research

Secondary Research – Quantitative Research

In this essay I am going to evaluate the quantitative research I have undertaken on website hits, readership circulation, ticket prices and radio circulation of teenagers living in Banstead.

My first subject is about the demographic profile of the area of Banstead. As seen from the image below we can see that the Epsom Guardian is the local newspaper for Banstead and also they circulate 2463 copies. The total population is also 15+ which is very significant to my research because it shows a clear indication of how many teenagers are living in Banstead and also how many of the newspapers gets circulated into the area.

Another key factor about teenagers in Banstead is about the ticket prices in Kingston which is local to Banstead. This is very important because the image below was taken from a national newspaper The Daily Mail. It says tickets has risen 26% and that prices in London and the south ticket prices are more than £13. This is significant because the average ticket price is £6.53 and it is signficantly more to view them in the local area of Banstead. This is very important to my research about teenagers in Banstead because how are teenagers meant to afford these such high ticket prices when their local cinema is Kingston and the ticket price is more than £13 and a family of four set back over £50, that’s including popcorn and travel.

Preston Ward suggests that a minibus service should be introduced to take people to the cinema to experience the new facilities, but this would not be accomplished because there is 23% of children under the age of 16 living in poverty and will not be able to afford the prices of their local cinema which is based in Kingston because their adult ticket is £12 which is the highest in the country.

 

Here is an extract from the news article about the soaring ticket prices in Kingston cinema,

“The latest figures from the Cinema Exhibitors’ Association put the average cinema ticket in the UK at £6.53, however families in London and the south face much higher prices.

The average ticket price has increased by more than 26 per cent since 2007 at the same time as incomes in working households have fallen by 6.4 per cent.

Researchers at the accountants Deloitte found even families with a household income of more than £55,000 are rationing their trips to the cinema.

In a year in which British films and talent were recognised at many award ceremonies, 27 out of 73 constituencies in London had no cinema. This finding has led to suggestions that poorer people are less well served by the cinema industry.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2634415/Families-priced-cinemas-ticket-prices-soar-26-2007.html#ixzz3zwsirv9e

This article is very important because it says a household income of more than £55,000 are rationing their trips to the cinema because they prices are too high which is significant to my research about teenagers living in Banstead.

This image at the bottom is explaining about teenagers in Banstead and Reigate who are carers and who suffer problems at home. 14% of Reigate and Banstead suffer with housing problems which is fairly high and is significant to my documentary on teenagers in Banstead. Having problems at home can create a lot of stress for teenagers from having that at home so it would be interesting to document it as it is affecting it. I would include this in my documentary because household problems create a massive impact on teenagers and can cause a lot of stress. Another important statistic from this research is 26% for domestic abuse and 26% of a teenagers are carers for a parent with a mental health problem. Domestic abuse can really affect a teenager who witnesses this form of abuse and can cause emotional problems for them. Finally teenagers who are carers for a parent with a mental health issue. This is very significant because this can stop teenagers who are meant to be in school not going because they are having to look after their parent or guardian because of their mental health issue. This would be very interesting in my documentary because it will give an insight into how some people are living in Banstead and Reigate.

Below is a Facebook page about Banstead and the local events that are happening. I feel that this is very important research because it shows what events are happening in Banstead and what teenagers can interact with.