Tuesday’s lecture wrote down the opening handshake. Today you check the specification against the building.
Before the lab#
Bring a phone or a notebook. Nothing to read in advance; the lecture is enough.
If a corridor at ten past the hour is the wrong kind of day for you, tell Tamsin at the start. The edge-of-the-room version logs only the openings you overhear from a seat by the door, and counts the same.
Run sheet#
Times below run from the 14:05 start; finish at 14:55.
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 0:00–0:07 | Set up the log: A/B, words, reply type, closed, branched or unclear. Practise on example A below. |
| 0:07–0:27 | Capture, in pairs or from the seat by the door. Log openings you take part in or overhear in public. Record the place and time window even if none occur. |
| 0:27–0:37 | Pool the logs. Tally reply types; keep unclear cases in their own column. Label practice examples separately and exclude them from the observed totals. |
| 0:37–0:46 | Choose an observed branch, or use example B. What happened just before it? Compare with example C: which new observation would settle the unclear case? |
| 0:46–0:50 | Write one limit of the sample and one branch signal to check again. Keep your own log and a copy of the pooled tally. |
Prepared examples#
These are fictional practice data, not observations to put in the Field Journal.
| Example | Exchange | What can be logged |
|---|---|---|
| A | Two acquaintances keep walking. A: “How are you?” B: “Not bad, you?” A: “Good.” | A neutral token, a returned request, then closure. |
| B | A stops beside B. A: “How are you?” B: “Fine.” A: “No, how are you actually?” B: “Worried about Friday.” A: “Want to sit down?” | A second question precedes a status report and an offer to continue. |
| C | At a closed lift door, A: “How are you?” B: “Surviving.” The lift arrives and both enter. | The words are known; whether either wanted a longer conversation is not. |
If no real opening or branch occurs, say so and use the examples for the classification practice. An empty log is a result. Inventing a busy corridor is not an observation method.
Rules for logging people#
Write down words, not people. No names, no descriptions of anyone’s appearance, no audio recording. “Two students by the lift” is the most detail a log needs. The course studies a protocol, not the people running it; they didn’t agree to be in this lab.
What leaves the room#
Your log and a copy of the pooled tally. If the lecture’s branch signals didn’t hold up, record where they failed.
Keep the log. Next week it becomes your first field note.