Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Unobtrusive Research: Keeping it Natural

     As we learned in class unobtrusive research is a method of studying social behavior without the research actually affecting it.  The researcher is not required to intrude in the research context.  This method is very helpful because it forces the respondents to act in a natural way.  Sometimes they alter their behavior because they know they are being studied.  For example, when it comes to the topic of fast food, respondents may be too ashamed to admit on a survey that they eat fast food 2 to 3 times a week.  However, unobtrusive research does not require the researcher to directly ask them.  In this case the researcher could study the respondents in a non-direct way. 
     One type of unobtrusive research is content analysis.  Content analysis can be used a lot in the fast food industry.  Suppose a company wants to compare the number of times McDonald’s is said in a commercial to the number of times the word Wendy’s is heard in a commercial. Researchers could study this by simple content analysis.  All they have to do is record how many times they hear each word by listening to the audio.  For example, in this commercial, Wendy’s is said four times throughout.  In the McDonald’s commercial, McDonald’s is said twice.  By recording this data, the researcher has now used content analysis to get the results needed. 
    As I was looking for articles that could represent unobtrusive research that has been done in the past concerning fast food industries I came across a study done that tested if dietary restraint scales affected caloric intake at a fast food place.  The researcher went to a popular chain and recorded the types of different foods available.  The menu ranged from low fat salads and fruit drinks to French fries and double cheeseburgers.  The researchers saw that it was possible for participants to consume low-calorie meals if they wanted to.  After each patron was done eating the researcher recorded the types of wrappers that were left on each tray.  The data was collected during breakfast, lunch and dinner.  After the data was collected it was proven that calorie restraint scales do not affect the caloric intake.  For example, most people still consumed the high calorie unhealthy meals rather than the healthy ones.  This is an example of unobtrusive research because the patrons weren’t aware that the food that they were about to eat would be recorded for a study.  If they had known then they may have made a different decision that altered their behavior.  

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