One of the guys was playing a game on his phone, but the rest of the phone uses were to answer text messages. The conversation had nothing to do with their phones. Group 2 of all males checked their phones about every two minutes and thirteen seconds per person. Each guy checked their phones about two and three-quarters times in five minutes. This group had four guys. The conversation fluctuated between topics related and not related to their phones. Group 3 of all guys did not check their phones once while they were seated in the cafeteria. This group had two guys. They had continuous conversation the whole time also. Group 4 of all guys checked their phones about once every two minutes. Each guy checked his phone about two and a half times in the five minutes. This group contained two guys. They did not have much conversation because they were focused on their prolonged phone usage. Group 1 of mixed genders checked their phones about once every two minutes and fifty seconds. Or each person checked their phone about 1.75 times in five minutes. This group consisted of one female and three males. The girl checked her phone the most often, probably answering texts, but the guys had more prolonged phone …show more content…
A future study might observe groups longer to get more reliable data and observe larger groups. There is a possibility that the data is skewed due to how few people were studied and how brief they were watched. A future study could also branch into comparing phone usage based on age or location. My study did not take age into account which could have more variation between groups. I learned through this project that unbiased observation takes practice. I found myself watching more closely with the groups of all females because the stereotype which suggests they would use their phones more. People are also not constant. The time of day, day of week, or even the weather could have effected that results. My ethnocentric ideas prevented me from equally watching all types of groups equally in the beginning of my observations. After a few minutes I had to start over because I felt my data was much too unreliable. Ethnocentric bias also most likely made an impact on what I assumed each person was doing on their phones when they checked. More groups could have been observed at longer intervals to improve my results. To continue this experiment, I would take another day in the same location around that same time of day so that I could have more concrete data to work