Final Summary/Reaction

After doing this experiment and receiving all of my data, I have realized that although we may not realize it ageism is very common in this day in age. In our malls, restaurants, and public places people will discriminate others based on their age. Whether you are a teen or an elderly person you may be taken less seriously or seen as incompetent. A majority of people judge others based on age and in turn that affects how they are treated. Many people may not realize this but ageism occurs all around us. I did not even notice it until I stopped and took the time to observe it.

Revised Plan

My plan for my research project is still the same. I have already been two restaurants and observed if any ageism occured, and I still plan to go to more. I also plan to go to a mall to observe different stores and stands and see how they treat various age groups differently. I have recorded some of my observations so far and have noticed that employees tend to treat teenagers a lot differently than adults and seem to not take them seriously or they tend to keep a closer eye on them. This has just been the beginning of my observation and I still need to get more information. When I complete my observations I then plan to put all of my data onto a Powerpoint or possibly a Prezi.

Research Strategy

My method is to do a naturalistic observation. My startegy is to go to public places and observe how different age groups are treated. I plan to go to a mall and enter many different stores to see if teens are treated differently than adults or if elderly are treated differently in different places. I also plan to go to restaurants and see how different age groups are treated there. I will record my observations and see how often ageism occurs. I plan to find out how frequent ageism really occurs in places that many people often go.