This ethnographic research project involves investigation of your own neighborhood or one you are interested in researching. Your research paper will consist of the observations, photographs, and inquiries you will make regarding your selected neighborhood. Your project and subsequent paper will consist of the following:
Part I. Identification & Description of the Neighborhood you selected
Walk around your neighborhood (or one you selected to research) and record what you see, including taking some photographs. Write down your observations. For example, are there a lot of stores or more residential buildings? Are there mainly single-family dwellings, multi-family units, high-rise buildings? Is the neighborhood clean? Any obvious litter? Do you see any graffiti?
What is shopping like? Describe the types of retail establishments you see—clothing stores, music stores, hardware stores, etc. Note if there aren’t any. Are the streets crowded? Traffic congestion?
What are the characteristics of people who live and/or work there? Is the area culturally diverse? If so, what major ethnic or racial groups are represented? If it is not diverse, what is the dominant population? Do you recognize languages being spoken? Are people mainly speaking English or another language or languages?
What type of access do residents of this neighborhood have to public transportation, libraries, parks, playgrounds, houses of worship (churches, mosques, and synagogues), and schools?
What is the range of socio-economic status of the people who live in this neighborhood? For example, mainly working class families? Middle income singles, lower income residents, upper income households? Are there a lot of children or not very many? Is there evidence of any homeless in the area? If yes, approximately how many? A lot, few, or none? Is there police presence?
How would you assess the quality of life in this neighborhood? Good? Very good, not so good? Why is it good or not so good? If this is your neighborhood, do you like living here? Why or why not? What made you move here or have you always lived in this neighborhood? Would you move if you could? Why or why not? If you do want to move, where would you want to move to? Continue taking photos.
What access do residents have to shop for groceries? Are there a lot of food stores or only a few? What is the quality of the grocery stores?
Part II. Evaluation of Two Places where Neighborhood Residents Shop for Food.
At this point you will enter two different stores where people buy food. Walk to the produce aisle and record what you see. What does the produce look like? What does the lettuce look like? Is it wilted or fresh-looking? If you were shopping for food would you buy any items here? Why or why not? Record the price of the lettuce after you note its type and quality (e.g. Romaine, Boston, Iceberg, etc.)
Now walk over to the dairy section and look at the yogurt. Pick up a few from the front and back and check the expiration date. Are any passed the expiration date? If yes, how many days passed? Record the brand and type of yogurt you just picked up and note the price.
Lastly, walk over to the meat section and look at the ground beef. What does it look like? What is its color? Is it fresh looking? Record the fat content of the ground beef and note its price per pound and expiration date.
Do the same for grocery store number two but in a different part of the neighborhood. If possible, take pictures of the food or grocery stores, in addition to other neighborhood shots.

Part III. Interview of Two Longtime Neighborhood Residents
You will interview two residents, preferably people who have lived in this neighborhood a long time. You will ask them some questions about what the neighborhood was like 10, 15, 20 or more years ago. Did they like it better then or now? Record reasons why. How is it different or the same compared to an earlier time period? What was the population characteristics of the neighborhood (age, race, ethnicity, etc.) back then? How do they compare to the neighborhood now? How do these two individuals view the quality of life in this neighborhood? Record how their views compare with yours.
Part IV. Writing the Paper
Now you will put together all the pieces of your ethnographic study. You will write about your neighborhood observations, photographs you took, interviews of the neighborhood residents, visits to the grocery stores, store item prices, and all that you learned about this neighborhood. From all the material you obtained, you will write a 4-5 page typewritten, double-spaced paper. Include your photos at the end.
Part V. Reflection
The last part of this research assignment consists of your reflection, e.g. your assessment of the assignment, things that stood out while conducting your interviews and making observations, what you learned about the photographs you took, historical information, landmarks, and anything else you would like to add to the remainder of your paper. Your reflection should be about 1-2 additional pages.
You will briefly present an overview of your ethnographic research to your fellow students using the photographs you took as a guide. The presentation should be around 5 minutes. In addition to your photographs, you can use any multimedia resource (Power Point, digital story, video, etc.), although this is not a requirement.