Peer Blogs--Part 2

Unobtrusive research can be conducted many ways.  Last week, I focused on secondary research and social forums and how they can be used for research in the field of sports public relations.  This week, our assignment was to read classmates’ blogs and comment on the content in them.  I just realized that I am conducting unobtrusive research because I’m reading what they wrote, writing about it in this blog, and they won’t know about it until after it published onto the site. Interesting.

After reviewing the blogs, I came across Jenn's Blog which interested me because it was about my hometown football team, the New England Patriots.  Year ago the Patriots could've been considered a dynasty.  Some may have wondered how it was all possible and, as Jenn pointed out in her blog, the Patriots were accused, and found guilty, of cheating.  The team had video tapped the defensive calls of the New York Jets.  The example that Jenn presented for unobtrusive research was the fact that the Patriots were tapping the Jets without a form on consent.  I knew that hidden cameras could be used for unobtrusive research and usually a scenario, like a game show, requires consent to use the footage.  I like how she was able to tie the tapping situation involving the Patriots and the Jets to ethics as well.  The Patriots cheated using unobtrusive research and that could be seen as one of the drawbacks of the method, using it as an unfair advantage to get oneself ahead.

I also enjoyed Steph's Blog because she was able to find an example of unobtrusive research that happened right on campus.  Her example came from the school newspaper and the article discussed how someone's wardrobe is a possible indicator of where they're from.  The author walked from one end of campus and back and sat in the dining hall to people watch.  The findings were consistent with what was worn and where people were from.  I thought that this was interesting because of the fact that this could be happening everyday and no one would notice.

Unobtrusive research can be conducted in many ways and tied to many situations.  However, research ethics should be followed at all times and the results should not be used to put someone at an unfair advantage over competition.