Non-Participant Research Essay

Non-Participant Observation

The MoA (Mall of America) is the largest shopping mall in the United States located at the Bloomington, Minnesota. The Mall is opened in 1992 and receives more than 40 million visitors annually, which is the largest number of visitors that any Mall has ever received globally. However, 80% of the visitors are from the Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio, Dakota, and Canada.

Objective of this paper is to carry out the non-participant observation of the Mall of America. The paper uses several variables such as layout space, decor arrangement of furniture as well as the feel of the Mall to carry out the non-participant observation.

As a research, I employ overt non-participant observation to collect data for the research purpose. The strategy used is that I visit the Mall of American with the goal of observing the activities, events and interactions of the people in the Mall to gain a direct understanding of the phenomenon in the natural context. As a non-participant, I do not directly participate in the activities, however, I only watch and record the activities and events as they happen in their natural environment. (Liu, & Maitlis, 2010).

Results

Description of the Setting of the Mall of America

Based on my direct observation of the Mall, its layout consists of the 4.2 million square feet of entertainment and retail space making the MOA the biggest attraction in the world. I also saw the fountain of pool used to attract the visitors; however, the huge aquatic zoo is the most fascinating views of the MOA containing more than 3,000 living sea creatures.The Mall also uses the skylights and various form of ingenuous light to illuminate the space.

From the results of my observation, the Mall has approximately 452,000 m2 (4,870,000 sq ft). Moreover, the retail space is approximately 230,000 m2 (2,500,000 sq ft), and the local visitors contain the 60% of the visitors coming to the MOA. Essentially, the Mall has a rectangular floor plan and contains more than 530 stores arranged along the pedestrian walkways. From the feeling of the stores, the individual store has the heating system that makes the visitors to be comfortable during the winter. In the summer, the management put on the air-conditioner to enhance shopping experience of the visitors. Essentially, the Mall has over 520 specialty stores and the management uses the IKEA furniture to arrange the place. However, the Mall consists of four different zones and each of the zones has different decorative styles to enhance the visitors' shopping experience.

What I Saw

I observe that the big layout makes many visitors facing challenges to find their way. Typically, many of the new visitors are unable to find their way out upon entering the Mall because I observe that some visitors end up asking for their way out from the information desk staff or customer service agents. During my non-participant observation, I saw Will Smith, a popular….....