Textual Analysis Of A Coffee Shop

I went to The Coffee Loft on a Sunday afternoon (from 1:30-2:30), opting to stay in the downstairs section of the café so that I could watch conversations between the barista and patrons and have a better view as to who walked in; the Loft seems like a calm place with small yet interesting passing conversations to listen to. The question I had in mind was as to whether or not more student-age or older patrons came into the café for any purpose – coffee and lunch, to study, etc.

The general appearance of the patrons of the coffee loft were pretty homogenous – everyone tended to match the general indie aesthetic of café. There was at least two New College kids I recognized walking into the café—one of which was one of my RAs, actually. A lot

Fifteen students came into the café, whereas only one individual identifying as anything other than a student came in. I considered recording gender for analysis as well, but after some further thought, I’ve decided that any data I collected on that could be considered incorrect due to gender non-conformance being more common in this area than in most places – at least one person entered the café that I actually know, and they are a non-conforming individual. Regardless of their demographic, people came in with usually one of two purposes: to get their coffee/food and leave, or to go upstairs to enjoy their food and do work individually. Only two groups broke this trend, one stayed downstairs to study, and the other went upstairs for what seemed to be a small date – I had only gone upstairs for a moment on consideration that maybe I should put in some time up there, but decided that it was a bad idea because it already kind of seemed like I was following these people that were probably on a date. I’m not particularly

I was capable of gathering a good amount of information about the café just from hanging around long enough, but I do admit that I did feel kind of creepy for not interacting much. The whole experience just makes participant observation seem more plausible for research – my limited interaction with the barista almost made me feel bad for serving as little more than a wallflower. If I ever return for another strange observation-based reason, or even if I get particularly bored, I’ll probably return to the Loft to talk to the barista. I’d probably feel comfortable enough engaging in a bigger conversation with him and regulars if anyone is inclined. That would probably make my presence more meshed and lead to more comfort for everyone involved. From a social angle, it was probably much less successful – nobody likes an eavesdropper, and judging my probable conspicuousness, I probably came off as exactly that. As prior mentioned – this really just shows more of the upsides to actually participating in observation (beyond that of drawing a giraffe). I may have gotten a suiting amount of information from just sitting and absorbing my surroundings, but I’m sure now that interactions would’ve given me a much more enriching