[nabs-l] Seeking Opinions on Blind Research Techniques

[Elizabeth Mohnke]

Hello All,

I hope everyone is off to a good start to the beginning of a new semester. I would like to participate in a service learning project for an anthropology class I am taking this semester, and I am wondering if anyone has any tips or advice on conducting participant observational research for social science classes.

The research includes twelve visits observing a first grader during lunch at a local elementary school. We are then asked to propose a specific research topic related to behavior and food, and write a paper based on our observations along with some scholarly resources.

I have never conducted participant observational research before, so I am not completely sure how I would be able to do this as a blind student. Since observing other people includes both visual and non-visual aspects of the environment and the people in it, what would be the best way for me to be able to obtain the visual aspects of the environment and the people in it as a blind student while conducting my research?

Some suggested specific topics for the research paper include food waste, peer pressure related to food choices, socialization during eating periods, physical movement during eating periods, gender differences, influence of authority over food choices, aesthetic presentation of food and its relationship to food choices, and marketing related to food choices.

If anyone knows how I could successfully conduct a participant observational research project as a blind student, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you. However, please note there is also a more traditional research paper assignment for any student who does not wish to complete the service learning project. So this research project is simply an option that I would like to be able to do if I can figure out a way to be able to do it as a blind student.

Thanks,
Elizabeth