Reflection on Field notes

In the second floor of the student center there are three different sections to sit. In those three sections each of them have five chairs with an ottoman in the middle. I always choose to sit in the second section. Where I sit, I face the staircase and observe the students who use the stairs and the elevator. But I still pay attention to the other sections around me.

In my head I was expected to see people actually studying instead of being distracted. I soon later found out that, it was false because not all students actually study. It is very interesting to see the different things they do when they have free time. In those days that I spent my time upstairs in the student center it was noon and it was not common hour. There were barely any student in sight and there was so many empty seats.

However when I went to the student during common hour, it was crowed and no seats were available. Luckily I sat next to a girl who was constantly on her laptop and being distracted. While in common hour many students where hanging out with friends in groups. Either they went up there to meet up someone or just sit and waste time.

In another occasion I decided to go to the student center around two o’clock and again not many students around there. Some of the questions that came up was “Do the majority of the students have morning or afternoon classes?” Is common hour a time where individual students hangout? Why there are groups of students in the student center during common hour compare to the regular days? Does culture or race have to do anything with this? There were so many questions to ask but no answers, yet.

While I was observing I notice that in order to get an accurate response to these questions I would need to do some kind of interview or survey.  I want to do a survey to see if there is any specific race/culture that rather be in the student center. My answers to this questions have to be accurate and strong in order for me to find a pattern. Having some much time in between my classes makes me realize that I should go up there and record the different times students tend to be there compare to the other days.

-Angelica M.