I have to observe a public place for 2 hours and I'm going to pick a coffee shop (Tim Hortons) but I need a research question like:

"what kinds of people order a donut with their coffee"

anyone have a better idea?

This post was edited by spartacus123 on Sep 30 2013 10:50am

Maybe you should bring a scale and weigh every customer. Then you can see how their weight is correlated with their order.

LOL

I'm not allowed to interact with the customers

Sit near the counter, and record what types of coffee people order.

That's a good idea I'll try and sit close by

Age vs Order, Are younger people ordering healthier options vs older people

How about this one, for each person who orders something: sort them into 2 categories.

Category A: Those customers who have their payment method in hand before they are told the price of their purchase.
Category B: Those customers who do not have their payment method in hand before they are told the price of the purchase.

Also deiced ahead of time how you will classify all the possible "gray areas" you can think of. Perhaps it would be good to go to a totally different kind of business and see what possible gray areas you will have to deal with ahead of time so you can make a comprehensive list. For example:

Woman fumbles through her purse while placing order but fails to actual retrieve cash (or you can't tell if she has it in hand because her hand is in her purse) before the total is told to her. Does this go into category A or B?

This post was edited by Azrad on Sep 30 2013 01:17pm