Participant-Observation: Gender and Relationship essay
The observation was conducted in the public place, the park. The time of the observation was three hours from 11.00 am to 2.00 pm. The observation focused on men and women to uncover specificities of their gender relations as well as individual behaviour of participants of the study.
At first, I observed a group of five men communicating and interacting with each other. The men were trying to play football. Four men were trying to play in two teams, while the fifth performed the function of a referee.
Next, I observed a couple. The man was holding the woman with his arm. They walking through the park hand in hand and talking all the time, looking at each other and once they kissed as they parted.
Then, I observed another couple, where the man was mainly talking and leading the woman somewhere helping her to climb over the small hill and leading her holding her arm, while the woman followed him hastily. The couple seemed to be in a hurry and disappeared soon.
After that I observed a group of three women. They were sitting on the grass and chattering all the time. Their conversation was very emotional since I could clearly here exclamations, laughter and I observed vivid mimic and gestures.
Then, I observed one more couple. At first the man and the woman hugged and walked throughout the park with the man’s hand around the woman’s waist. They kissed several times.
After that I observed a group of two men and a woman. They wore formal clothing and were quite reserved. They kept distance between each other, while talking and walking down the park. As they parted, they shake their hands and parted.
Finally, at the end of the observation, I noticed an elderly man sitting on the bench in the park and reading a newspaper. The man was rather unemotional and seemed to be totally engaged in reading. He crossed his legs, leaned his head and was reading attentively, paying little, if any, attention to what was going on around him.
Analysis
The observation aimed at the revelation of gender relationship, including the relationship between men and women, men and men, and women and women. The observation has revealed substantial difficulties in the behaviour and relations between representatives of different genders. In such a way, the observation of subjects revealed the fact that gender does influence behaviour patterns of individuals (Goffman, 1963). At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that the gender determines not only the behaviour of an individual but the gender of individuals one interacts with also does matter and influences behaviour patterns (Berry, 2011).
Physical location, where the observation took place was selected randomly but the major criterion for the location selected for the current observation was the publicity. This is why the observation was conducted in a park. The park was a public place, where the observation could be conducted publicly, in the natural environment and subjects’ privacy was not offended (Liamputtong, 2013). Participants of the observation were men and women of different age. The focus of the current observation was on adult men and women of different age and ethnicity. Their social, educational or professional background was irrelevant for the current research. The park is used for recreational purposes mainly, practicing sports and spending free time. The observation was conducted from 11.00 am to 1 pm. Within two hours seventeen subjects were observed, among which ten were men and seven were women.
The subjects of the study represented different social groups and were of different age. The age of participants and their social background was identified approximately judging from their appearance. There were seven young men between 21 and 35 years of age. Two men in their 40s and one man was over 60. As for women, they were of different age. Four women were between 21 and 35 years of age; two women were in their 40s – 50s, and one woman was over 60. The observed population represented different ethnic and racial groups.
In the course of the observation, the communication and interaction between individuals were observed. The observation involved the communication and interaction between men and women, between men solely, and between women solely. In such a way, the observation was supposed to reveal gender differences in the behaviour of participants of the study. The non-verbal communication was a particularly important part of the observation to reveal the behaviour and messages participants of the communication attempts to convey to each other using the non-verbal communication (Goffman, 1971). I observed seventeen participants and attempted to identify behaviour patterns which were repetitive for the participants. In other words, I recorded behaviour patterns of all participants of the observation and compared them. After that I identified similarities in their behaviour and communication style to describe them as distinct features of participants of the study. The next step was the comparison of male and female behaviour patterns in the course of gender interaction, i.e. when participants of the study interacted and communicated with each other (Wolcott, 2012). In such a way, I attempted to identify differences in gender relationship.
The interaction between people varied. There were, at least, three couples, probably spouses, two couples were in their early thirties and one couple in their forties. The couples manifested their relations through hugs and holding each other arms, emotional conversation and occasional kisses. There was a group of men and a group of women. The group of men consisted of five persons and a group of women consisted of three. There was also a group consisting of two men of different age and a woman wearing highly formal clothing. These two groups were communicating emotionally with each other. They were wearing casual clothing. This is why I concluded they were friends, who were spending their free time in the park. A group of men tried playing football, while a group of women was chattering. This is why I concluded that they were likely to be colleagues having a break during their work day.
However, my assumptions concerning relations between participants, which I have observed, are grounded on my personal judgments and the analysis of their appearance and interaction. In fact, I made conclusion on their relations on the ground of my interpretation of their interaction, which though may be biased and inaccurate, especially taking into consideration the fact that I have no factual information on the background of the observed participants.
In order to avoid biased opinion and interpretation of relationship between participants, I have shifted the focus toward specific models of behaviour of men and women to distinguish possible gender differences in their interaction and communication.
Observed participants behaved in a different way depending on the group, where they were in. Couples manifested their feelings and emotions openly, while men tended to the dominant behaviour, taking the arms of their girlfriends first, making kisses first, or helping them to climb or stand up. Respectively, women in couples manifested respective submissive models of behaviour following the lead of men. The same-sex groups observed revealed certain differences in male and female behaviour. The male same-sex group was involved in physical activities mainly since they were trying to play football. In contrast, the female same-sex group was more inclined to chattering and verbal communication rather than physical activities since the women were mainly sitting and chatting with each other. The cross-gender group observed, which consisted of two men and a woman, manifested equal relations mainly since each group member was speaking for practically the same amount of time. They did not manifest any sign of subordination that makes it possible to presuppose that they were colleagues or, anyway, hold the similar social standing.
In such a way, the observation of the participants in the park has revealed several noteworthy facts about gender relations. First, men and women in the same-sex group definitely manifest different models of behaviour. Males are more inclined to physical activities, while females are more inclined to the verbal communication. Therefore, men prefer the physical interaction to the verbal communication, while women, on the contrary, prefer the verbal communication to the physical activity.
Furthermore, the cross-gender communication can have different manifestations depending on the background and relations between individuals. In couples, i.e. individuals that are likely to have intimate relationships, apply different models of behaviour and perform different gender roles compared to cross-gender interaction in groups with rather formal relations. For instance, men tended to dominate in the couples that means that men take the lead in close, intimate relationships, while women tend to be submissive. On the contrary there is no clear subordinate, when men and women are not involved in close relationships but, on the contrary, maintain quite formal relations. In such a case, they tend to communicate with each other as equals. Moreover, there is no or minimal physical interaction such as touches during the interaction and such physical interaction occurs out of social necessity, i.e. because of the existing social norms and traditions. For instance, the observed group consisting of two men and a woman parted at the end of the observation and they shook hands before they parted. Such physical interaction was actually the most significant physical interaction, which though was determined by social norms and standards of behaviour rather than by their gender roles or gender-related specificities of their behaviour.
Finally, the observation of the elderly man revealed the individual male behaviour, which was characterized by the lack of emotions and attempts of socialization. The man was fully concentrated on reading the newspaper that reveals the high level of prioritizing certain activities in the male behaviour.
Thus, the observation has revealed considerable differences in the behaviour, interaction and communication between men and women depending on their gender and the gender-related setting of their interaction. They behave and communicate in different ways depending on their social group, where they are in at the moment. This means that men and women in male-female couples behave in different ways compared to men and women in male and female groups respectively. This is why gender is likely to influence the behaviour, interaction and communication of individuals, while the gender background of social group, where the individuals are in, is also important.
