Primary Research: Qualitative Research (Observation & Evaluation)

This task consists of 5 teenagers and myself in Banstead visiting 4 different locations and involved within a 'Controlled Observation' to gather information regarding interests and just general comments on the locations.

5 Teenagers:

- Becky Williams

- Leah Pearsson

- Bow Wright

- Jaimie Richardson

- Jasmine Berg

4 Locations:

- Lavender Fields
- The Woolpack
- Caffe Italia
- Banstead Park

Here is the information in which I gathered from conducting a Controlled Observation,(To enlarge the picture simply click on it):

Controlled Observation Evaluation:

Before conducting the activities alongside the candidates I was observing which leaflets were being picked up from a far and the most picked up leaflet was 'The Woolpack' this shows me that teenagers in the Banstead area could be interested in drinking rather then committing to activities with their friends.

So why did I conduct a controlled observation?

- I conducted a controlled observed simply to be able to identify and discuss teenagers views and opinions on the social activities appeals to teenagers who live in Banstead. I felt that doing a controlled observation other observations such as naturalist would be easier as it discovers the participants reactions to the four activities in which we visited. I feel that if I were to use another form of observations the candidates/ participants wouldn't of wanted to view leaflets which were on display, the way in which I did it I felt was a quicker and easier way of gathering information in a short period of time. Conducting a controlled observation was generally easier for as I was able to approach the participants and overall trigger a conversation with them to talk about the activities. I felt this was a good way of being able to identify facial expressions and basically a more evaluated response in terms of what they actually thought Banstead offers them. 

If I were to conduct another controlled observation I would definitely add more columns to be able to gather other important aspects such as gender, if they were unsure of the activity/ never been there before this would give a more detailed response to whether teenagers are actually aware of any activities in which Banstead offers. Another good idea would be to get the candidates to instead tally whether they were interested or non interested but to instead rank it from 1 to 5 in terms of 1 being poor and 5 being great. This would definitely give a wider and more broad detail to whether they actually liked the activity. 

The strengths of my controlled observation would be that I was able to provide the participants in which I approached with the questions in which I produced myself. This therefore benefiting the fact that the participants would be giving their exact thoughts on each individual activity in a short period of time, which overall saved time and helped with the research. 

The weaknesses of conducting this observation would be that not many observations/ responses were gathered, I could have gathered more. Also if I were to have an equal number of males/ females participating within the activities the responses would be a tad more accurate/ less bias. This therefore allowing a specific link towards the responses on individual locations. 

To enlarge image, simply click on it:

From my bar graph I can see that the participants are mostly interested in places such as The Woolpack, Caffe Italia and The Lavender Fields, whereas with the uninterested section I am able to see that they were mostly disappointed with Banstead Park as well as Lavender Fields and Caffe Italia. From these respondents it suggests that The Woolpack is the most common which then suggests that the age group of my participants which were 17-19 year olds prefer restaurants and bars over outside activites. 

With the research in which I have conducted I will is relevant to helping with the production of my documentary as it enables me to research more into different interests which are also relevant as it would be interests in activities between younger and older teenagers or something along the lines. However, a restriction to doing this would be that younger teenagers may not want to participate within outdoor activities whereas even if they were interested in going to restaurants and bars they wouldn't be allowed in due to being too young. Younger teenagers would also be restricted in the way that they might not be able to afford to take part in the different activities due to expenses. I feel if this were to happen it would help my documentary in the way I could find out alternative teenagers and what they do while they are not visiting these attractions, as well as increase the amount of information relating to why Banstead is not an ideal location for teenagers in Banstead to socialise.