Assignment: Sociological Observation of Your Zip Code

What is your zip code area like? You probably can answer this question without having done any research based on the ordinary observation you have done while living there. In the first lab you did some investigation of the area using statistics and maps from the census bureau and other sources. In this assignment you will continue your study of your zip code area by exploring it on your own and writing your own report combining results from your observation and statistical information.

Before beginning your observation, review Babbie's section on human inquiry in chapter one. For this assignment you want to observe your zip code through a conscious sociological observation, rather than through ordinary human observation. That is, try to avoid selective observation, over generalization and the other errors of ordinary human inquiry.

Spend at least one hour walking around your zip code. Make sure that you visit several places along the boundary, including those that are farthest apart. You will want to bring a notebook with you, and you may want to bring a camera. Some things you might want to look for are:

• Different areas--with their own identities, populations, land uses--within the zip code;
• Evidence of the presence of specific ethnic or racial groups;
• The presence of people of different ages;
• The presence of any of the segments listed by PRIZM NE or any other segmentation system you looked at;
• The built environment (What kinds of buildings and open spaces are there? What condition are they in? What kinds of uses (residential, retail, industry)? ;
• Anything about our themes for the semester (such as schools, religious institutions, facilities for the elderly, health care resources, services for immigrants, types of families and workplaces).

Write a brief report on what you learned about your zip code, combining your personal observations and the information from the census bureau and other sources.  In your report you should reflect on the usefulness of the different kinds of data that you use (such as the census and direct observation) and any differences

You may want to explore maps of various characteristics for your zip code on American Fact Finder (make sure you click on “more” to get a longer list). (Note: if you zoom on one of these maps you can get a good map of the zip code boundaries). Also explore some of the other tables that give detailed information on ethnicity, housing patterns and other topics. You may also want to visit the  NYC government homepage website for more data and locations of places of interest (enter your address), the Dept. of City Planning Neighborhood Maps and Zoning Maps. NYPIRG (NY Public Interest Research Group) has some very interesting maps that can be done at the zip code level, including possible toxic sites, social service agencies, and property use maps.

You do not need to include every statistic in the report, but rather select the ones that you feel are most useful for describing your zip code area (and these might be very different than those that are useful for other areas). Feel free to include selected tables, maps, photographs and drawings to enhance the writing (but not to substitute for it). Be sure to provide citations for any tables, maps or statistics that you use.

Although it would be possible to spend the whole semester doing this project, this assignment is intended to be done in just a week and to have a brief write up (most likely 3-5 pages). There are three main motivations for this assignment:

• to start off the semester with some sociological writing;
• to have you to practice looking at the world using sociological eyes;
• and to have you do some research using both existing data and your own direct, qualitative observation.

A strong paper will not just be descriptive, but will be organized around one or two key points. That is, have a thesis and use evidence to support it.

Make sure that the response has an introduction and a conclusion and that each paragraph has a topic sentence. The response should be proof read for grammar and spelling. Make sure to include the actual zip code on the title page along with your name and section number.