Course Materials
Assignment #3 (required): OBSERVING ATTENTION AND MEMORY EXERCISE
In this assignment you'll observe one person while watching television and see how your observations are similar to and different from the attention and memory phenomena discussed in class and in the course readings. Here's what to do:
- Select a person with
whom you have normal occasion to watch television (on any screen from an ipod to home theater); this can be a
friend, family member, etc. Ask this person for
permission to first observe him/her while watching television
for a half hour and then ask a few questions (tell
him/her as little as necessary about what you're looking
for).
- Select
a half hour period of time when you both are free. Select a program to
record (you can use part of a longer program, e.g., half of a one hour
episode of a drama series, if needed) and watch the program on your own
before the time you've arranged to observe the other person watching.
In your preview viewing identify key plot, perceptual (e.g., loud
noises, strong emotions, etc.), and other elements of content and form within the program
that you can ask the viewer about after you view the recording
together; write these questions down.
- Before the observation session ask the
viewer to "watch TV as you normally do, including ignoring the TV or even
leaving the room." Being as inconspicuous as possible,
observe the viewer. How much of
the time does he/she 'watch' (stay in the room)? How much of the time does
he/she actually look at the screen? How long do the looks last? Is there
evidence of attentional inertia (do they look, and not look for long periods or
constantly switch between looking and not looking)? Which elements in the program
(form and/or content) seem to compel the viewer's attention? Be as systematic
and accurate as possible in your observations and write
them down during the viewing (and immediately afterwards) so that you can refer to them later.
- Immediately following the observation
session ask the viewer to recall as much as possible about the program and
write these things down (i.e., conduct a 'free recall test'
of their memory). Then ask the memory questions that you developed earlier
about specific elements within the program (see #2 above). Next,
ask how intensely the
viewer felt she was concentrating her attention on
the program on a scale of 1="not at all"
to 10 ="complete and focused attention." And
ask any other questions you think might be relevant about the
person's viewing habits (there are lots of choices here
so be creative). Write down all of the viewer's answers.
- After you've gathered all of
your data, write an approximately 3 page (typed,
double-spaced) paper describing the experience and what
you've found. Use these section headings to organize your presentation:
Section 1. The person observed
Including: How old is the person? What is their sex? How if at all are they related to you? What are they like? What are their media use habits? What else about them might be important to know?
Section 2. The observation process
Including: How hard was it to get them to agree to be observed? How did you select the program to have her watch? Was it difficult to observe inconspicuously?
Section 3. Attention results
Including answers to the attention questions in #3 above
Section 4. Memory results
Including answers to the memory questions in #4 above, as well as: How much did the viewer recall in the free recall test? How many of your specific memory questions did the viewer answer accurately? Was there evidence of primacy and/or recency effects (in which the first and last parts of the program were better remembered)? What types of things were better remembered?
Section 5. Analysis and conclusions
Including: How might the person's interests and motivations on the one hand, and characteristics of the program on the other, have affected the results? To what extent can you generalize your results to other viewing by this person? How about to the viewing of other people? What are the limitations of this type of data-gathering? What do you think you learned from this exercise?
If you have ANY questions or need help, please feel free to ask. Good luck!