Ethnographic observation of ‘Lunch Practices in NUS’
The ethnographic observation is done in the Deck in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.It was 12 noon and there was a really long queue at the Yong Tau Foo store. There are several interactions that are taking place in among the students and adults that are queuing for the store.There are clear differences in the interactions of the individuals queuing for food and the students together as a group.
Field note #1
For the students who are queuing for food together as a group, even though the people in front and behind are standing in a line, they tend to stand in a cluster or in forms of a circle or semicircle. Even for students who are queuing in groups of two, they stand side by side instead of in a line. The formation of the way they are standing is more convenient for them to interact together.
Field note #2
Students and adults who are queuing for food individually follows social conventions and stands in a line. They do not interact with each other but with their phones. Almost 80% who are seemingly queuing alone are interacting with their smartphones.
Field note #3
Another observation about students and adults queuing in a group is that their interactions do influence each other. While in front of the stall and choosing food items for their laksa and yong tau foo, a group of girls was comparing which food items they picked and recommending each other which items to pick and which to not pick.
There are other observations I have noticed in the canteen while the groups of students are eating.
Field notes #4
There are students occupying tables that are larger than the people in the group, and for groups of twos and threes sitting in tables of four or six, they tend to sit opposite each other than to sit next to each other. Seemingly it facilitates their conversations better than sitting next to each other. There were group of three students sitting in a table of four, the student with an empty space opposite him participated lesser in the conversation than both of the other students.
Field notes #5
For individuals eating alone in the canteen, they occupy a single table of four by themselves. There were single students looking for places to sit to have their meal, but they refuse to sit with unoccupied seats with students already there.