ETHNOGRAPHY

Submitted by:

Bello, Rafael
Sison, Vic
Lim, Charmin
Pantino, Rina
Tamina, Kat
Tan, Denice

(Group 2 - C39)

Submitted to:

Mr. Ramon felipe sarmiento

June 21, 2010






INTRODUCTION:
Bookstores are filled with different kinds of people with one common passion,
and that is the love for books or rather, reading. Having an interest on books is a good
thing because it enhances a persons knowledge and views on certain things. With so
many genres to choose from to fit our interest, we are far from being bored when we are
in a room filled with books. Reading also gives us the permission to imagine things we
are not really capable of doing. It makes us more creative with the way we use our
imagination when we are reading a book. In short, reading makes a persons life
colorful.
A bookstore is an interesting place to be in. With many different kinds of people
in one place, we are bound to find what we are looking for in a bookstore. One can
actually base a persons personality with the book that person reads. If a person reads
Pride and Prejudice we can say that he or she is a fan of the classics. There are so
many things a researcher can see when he is in a books store; how some people read,
the type of books most people commonly like reading, and how long it take them to
finish the book that they are reading. Just by observing a person, we can learn so many
things about him or her especially when he is in an environment that gives us some
specific details.
Our research was conducted in Powerbooks Bookstore in Trinoma. We have
chosen this particular bookstore because it is one of the most famous bookstores here
in the Philippines. Many people actually spend their time going to this bookstore to buy
books or read them inside the bookstore. And because of chairs, sofas and carpeted
floors in this bookstore, different kinds of people come here to read and kill some of the
time they have.
OBSERVATIONS:
Rafael Bello
CHILDREN AND TEENAGE SECTION
In my place, I already saw children who are seating and reading their own books
without paying it.
Girl around 14-18 years old came by to my section and looking in the shelves full
of manga. Then she looks again to the shelves but I think shes been tired and
decided to have a rest on a chair.
She stood up and got the Manga book named deathnote
After she scanned it, she returned it to the bookshelf

A young girl and boy looked at the young adults shelves.
Then they went to the other shelves, shelves full of Manga stories and went to
the other section (ART and ARCHITECTURE SECTION)

A teenager beside me was reading a book. After a few minutes, he rested and
looked to his side. He then continued reading, but suddenly, he stood up and sat
on the chairs beside us.
A kid was walking around and looking for books. Then he suddenly stopped and
got the picture book and read it in the comfy floor. After finishing the book, he
suddenly walked again and again to look for a book until I didnt see him
anymore.

A young girl who got a book near me. She scanned it and returned the book to its
shelf and looked again for a book, but this time with her little sister.
A lady who is around twenty to thirty years old was reading a childrens book
named I spy fun house, a book of future riddles. She sat on the floor and read it
but she finished it quickly and returned the book. Subsequent to that she went to
the other section.
Another lady who comes in the section who was talking to someone on her
IPHONE. In addition to that, she is in the loudspeaker. She went to the corner
while talking. She didnt even bother to be sensitive to her environment.


To simplify my observation there are around 20+ people who came to my
section. As the time goes by, more people came to the bookstore.
Vic Sison
1. Male 20-30 years old
a. What I saw
i. Wearing black jacket, slightly bald.
ii. Looking at the art section.
iii. Looks at the top shelf 2-3 feet away
iv. Picks a book and scans it fast for 10-15 seconds.
v. He returns the book then stretches and steps back.
vi. Looks at the bottom shelf.
vii. Puts hands inside his pockets and looks at the shelf on the
opposite side.
viii. Squats down and grabs a book. Scans the book for 5-10 seconds.
ix. He stands and stretches.
x. He looks at books covers. He touches chin(thinking).
xi. He picks another book and grabs it,
xii. He walks away fast. And sits on a round couch. Beside other
people.
xiii. Scans through pagesreads some.(15-20 mins)
xiv. Read some pages for a period of time. Slips his finger in one page
and scans fast again.
xv. He pauses in one page and reads it.
b. Reading position.
i. Arms on his lap. The book over his arms.
ii. Flips the page with his left hand at the bottom right corner of the
right page.


2. Male 17-20 years old
a. What I saw
i. Arms crossed.
ii. Stands on one leg.
iii. Laid back.
iv. Looks for books 2-3 feet away.
v. Checks books on the shelf from right to left and top to bottom.
vi. He scans at shelf for more than a minute and didnt find an
interesting book and walks away.
3. Male 20-25 years old
a. What I saw
i. Wearing earphones.
ii. Stands -1 feet away.
iii. Scans and looks for a magazine in the magazine stand.
iv. Picks a magazine and scans it for 1-5 mins.
v. Returns the magazine and looks at the other magazines (like
looking for another)
vi. Slips gently the magazine he scanned with his right hand.
vii. Walks out the bookstore fast.
4. Male 40-50 years old
a. What I saw
i. Looking for a book about 2 feet away in the New Age section.
ii. Holding a folder
iii. He gets a book and read the back cover.
iv. Then he flips to the front cover and then views the back again.
v. Then he flips finally to the front cover. He scans it fast and returns
the book.
vi. He gets another book.
vii. He scans the back for a while and then returns it.
viii. He looks at the shelf and tilts his head to his right. And slightly
facing right while tilting.
ix. Bends a little more and then he gets a book.
x. He breathes deeply (sighs)
xi. He steps back.
xii. Reads/scans the book holding it with his left hand. Then he returns
it.
xiii. Looks for another book and tilts again.
xiv. Points and touches a book but does not take it out the shelf.
5. Male 18-23
a. What I saw
i. Guy just walking by power books. He is wearing glasses.
ii. Looks at the display window of the book store.(while walking)
iii. Continues walking and enters the store smoothly.
iv. Walks straight his path.
v. Looks around. And enters a row(isle). Classics section.
vi. Walks slowly and grabs and scans a book fast. Returns it.
vii. Walks slowly again and spots super hero magazines.
viii. It gets his interest and gets the magazine nearest him or the one he
could reach easily. He scans it fast. Returns it.
ix. Walks to another direction (left). Looking at something at eye level.
But he stops and turned around then walks towards the exit.
6. Male 20-30 years old
a. What I saw
i. Wearing Red shirt. Looks very simple.
ii. Reading a book.
iii. Book rests on his right lap and holds it with his right hand and turns
it with his left hand. He closes the book with left.
iv. Rests his arms for a while. Right hand over the book and left hand
on the left lap.
v. Rests cheek on the left hand and elbow on the lap. Observes other
people passing.
vi. He gets up and walks slowly. Grabbing firmly on his previous book.
He looks at books just scanning them.
vii. Stares at the Business Shelf. Top to Bottom. 2-3 feet away.
viii. His right hand is disabled.
ix. Puts his previous book on the shelf with his left hand. And gets
another book from the shelf.
x. He scans the book and returns it. Flips pages with his left hand only
holding the book with his right. He gets his previous book from the
shelf.
General observations
Hear: quite and only plastic bags and the sound of the cashier was audible.
They lift their feet while walking because the floor was wood or
woodesque.
Feel: Cold and comfy. Relaxing.

Charmin Lim
Phillipine Publication Section:

1. Couple
A. Man
19-23 years of age
Wearing sweater, shorts and flats. With a sling bag
Hands on his hips when browsing for books
B. Woman
18-22 years of age
Wearing black shirt, pants, rubber shoes, holding a jacket and a sling bag

Both are talking while browsing for books, walks slowly while touching hands,
flirting and laughing softly

2. Couple
A. Man
23-28
White shirt, jeans, rubber shoes and sling bag
B. Woman
20-25
Green shirt, cream skirt, slippers
Handkerchief on her face

Both are talking and laughing softly, holding hands while walking

3. Woman
17-21
Brown shirt, shorts, slippers, sling bag\
An envelope was tucked between her hips and left hand. Her right one was
used for holding the book.
Immediately turns the book to read the back cover
Talks with a friend while walking

4. Man
19-25
Black shirt with collar, jeans, rubber shoes
Reading a book while texting
Sitting on a chair. Drops the book when texting and vice versa.
Uses his mobile phone more than reading a book

5. Man
30-36
Faded jeans, light blue shirt and leather shoes
Has reading glasses
Reads a big photography book
Holds book with his left hand and turns the pages with his right hand
The book is on his stomach level, crouches when reading the book.

6. Man
20-25
Red shirt, army shorts, slippers, sling bag
Listening to music while browsing for books
Uses left hand to hold a book and the right to text.
Walking while texting

7. Man
25-30
Black shirt with collar, jeans, rubber shoes, sling bag
Taps his right feet when browsing for books

8. Woman
20-23
White shirt, jeans, with jacket, sling bag, slippers and dangling earrings
Pinches her nose while walking
Holds the ends of her jacket when browsing for books
Noisy when walking

Customer Service Section:

1. Siblings
a) Boy
4-7
Shorts, gray shirt, rubber, wearing white socks
Slumped on the black couch in front of the television while watching the
eclipse trailer
b) Girl
8-10
Blue shirt, white shorts, white sandal, sling bag
Sitting on the couch watching eclipse trailer

After watching the trailer, they went browsing for books.
Talks loudly in English
The girl browse for girls children books while her brother follows her behind,
flapping his arms and stomping his feet


2. Girl
14-16
Blue shirt, jeans, white sandal, backpack
The backpack on her lap, used as a pillow while sitting on the edge of the black
couch
The left hand is holding the book and the right is for texting

3. Couple
a) Boy
21-25
Black shirt with collar, cargo pants, rubber shoes and umbrella on his lap
Waits for his girlfriend on the black couch
b) Girl
21-23
Blue shirt, jeans, white sandal, black hand bag
Holds the book on her right hand when walking towards her boyfriend
Talking softly, reading while glancing at the movie trailer

4. Girl
20-24
Pink shirt, jeans, slippers, green shoulder bag, hair is in a bun
Asking for a book at the counter,
The clerk flips the book before giving the book to her

New Age Section

1. Clerks
Talking loudly, just dilly dallying, laughing loudly
Two girls standing near the stairs, a boy clerk leaning on the rails
The boy talks in soft voice while the girls are talking loudly about their love life

2. Four friends
23-28
3 sitting on the black couch, two boys and one girls, listening to the one talking
Uses English when conversing
One Chinese boy is standing in front of them, talking loudly with some hand
gestures
One earphone is on his right ear while the left one is left dangling








Rina Pantino
(CHILDRENS SECTION)
Mother and her child reading together
Two young boys roamed around for about twenty minutes just to find the perfect
books to read
Adults start occupying childrens section
Child reading alone starts to doze off
Teenage couple go by the young adult corner, look at some novels and go away
Child who fell asleep earlier woke up, started to read again
Two noisy guys arrived and scanned the young adults corner
Woman in a middle of a phone call, in loudspeaker, arrives and searches for
books in the young adults section, other readers look irritated by her noise
Security guard walks by the childrens section, tells adults who are not
accompanying kids to go to another section to read
Young girl arrived, searched for a book and read it for awhile, then returned it to
the book rack
A mother, with her child busy reading, got bored and started taking pictures of
herself
Woman in her 30s arrived, scanned the young adults section and said she didnt
like anything in there


Kat Tamina



Denice Tan
FICTION/ROMANCE/MAGAZINE/BEST SELLER/COUNTER area
1. People often get opened books and read them so that they dont need to buy it.
2. Some people just chill here and use their cell phone.
3. When people hear the sound of the TV, they lift their heads up and watch right
away.
4. Some people only pass by the bookshelves.
5. Kids go to the section with art materials or the kids section.
6. More women are in the romance section.
7. Older men read newspaper and older women read magazines.
8. Young adults read pocket books.
9. They dont just browse the book; they read every line of it. (but they dont really
finish the whole book)
10. 1 out of 10 people bought something from power books before leaving.
11. The first thing that people do when seeing books is looking at the cover then
reading the back part or the summary of the book.
12. A lot of people get attracted with the cover of the books.
13. Boys are more interested in science fiction and fantasy and girls with fiction or
literature.
14. People stay in power books for quite a while but only a few of them really buy
books because theyve already read them.
15. Young men adults read more about comics.
16. It is really quiet inside.
17. There are 2 boys, whos not really interested in reading books, are noisy and
keep laughing but the people around them dont really mind.

SUMMARIES:
Rafael Bello
We all know that one of the special places people go to in a certain mall is a
bookstore. A bookstore consists of magazines, pens, notebooks, organizers and
sometimes, school supplies; but one thing that it emphasizes is the book itself.
Our group chose PowerBooks in Trinoma as an observatory place. We want to
know how people interact with books, what kind of genre they want, what mannerisms
and behaviour they have inside a peaceful place. We split our group individually by
section. In that short amount of time we discovered things that people intend to do.
I, as one of the observers, went to a specific section and observed. I decided to
observe in the children and young adult section. The people in the children section are
in a greater number than that of other sections because the childrens section has a
comfortable floor for the children to read. In addition, the section provides a unique chair
where a reader can lie down while reading his book. Meanwhile, in front of the children
section, there are three shelves and another four shelves on the right side that contain
young adult books.
As the time goes by, many people started to enter my area of observation. One
instant, I focused on a girl around fourteen to eighteen years old who stands in front of
the first shelf Children section. She looked at the Manga books seriously; then after a
few seconds, she held a certain manga named Deathnote, read the synopsis at the
back of the book and returned it. After returning it, she walks away and goes to the
other section. Subsequent to that, I tried to observe another person and it was a young
boy around seven to eleven years old, who was walking around and looking for a book.
Suddenly he stopped and picked a picture book and read it on the floor. After reading it,
he started walking again and looked for something.
I conclude that there are no extraordinary things that you can see in a bookstore.
A simple routine that I observed is that people look for a book, hold it and read the
synopsis; then buy the book or read it inside that store. Another observation is that
people go in the store to sit and relax, not even looking for a book. They only sit and
play with their phones or gadgets.

Vic Sison
The group has decided to observe the behavior of people in a bookstore setting.
Specifically the group chose power books- a fairly spacious bookstore located in
TriNoma. During my observations I have observed six people who are all males. I
observed for more than an hour during the early hours. The setting is a place where
people would look or find for books of their need and interest. They also have chairs,
couches, and places to rest and read. The setting is also available to the public.
Generally the place was quiet and peaceful; the only sound you could hear is the
cashier noise. It was not hot or too cold, the temperature was just cool and right. There
are comfy places where people could sit and read. There were a variety of genres and
categories to choose from. You could grab a book and read it. There werent a lot of
people inside but a lot come and go.
People have different tastes for books but there are similarities in how they look
for books. As I have observed they usually stand back at around two to three feet away
from the shelves. Usually they start at eye level looking for books. When they also find
their book of interest they scan it for only a few seconds, and if they like it they would
read thoroughly and flip some more of the pages.
The most obvious differences are the books of choice. Some looks for
magazines and some for arts also some for business and some just for leisure. When I
observed there are people who just coincidently passed by and decided to take a fast
look and then they leave. Some people are really trying to find a special book that gets
their interest, and when they finally found it they would keep it and read it page to page.
Also there are differences in how they read a book, from page flipping to sitting position,
you can also recognize the differences in how they would look down a shelf because
some would bend their knees and some would tilt their heads and waist.

The bookstore was a good setting to study human behavior, it is interesting and
you would understand a lot about different behaviors. There were continues and
random actions happening. Generally all my observations are based from what I saw,
hear, and feel. I saw random people entering the store and looking for a book in their
own manner. I heard quiet footsteps and the cashier noise only, because of the quiet
air. Lastly I felt cozy and relax inside the bookstore because of the nice temperature and
good convenience of their couches.

Charmin Lim
We went to PowerBooks in Trinoma Mall to do some observing. Different kinds of
people come and go in a bookstore seeing as it was a place for them to unwind and do
the things that makes them happy. For this, we can freely observe the things they do,
and their natural behavior when residing in a bookstore. The bookstore was totally
packed with lots of people ranging from kids to adult, people who are totally different but
parallel in one thing, passion of reading books.
Even though books are just collection of papers with printed letters, just by
observing what books they get and read reveals a part of their personality. Like this man
reading at a photography book, looking at the pictures intensely, scrutinizing every
detail of it, this tells that he has some passion for photography, he likes art. He is
cautious of every detail in something he sees.

Another example is that people are sitting on the black couch, watching the trailer
eclipse. A teenager was glancing at it while reading some kind of pocketbook and
texting now and then; this shows that she likes stuffs that deal with romance. Probably
the girl longs for the boy she likes since she was more on texting than reading the book.
Also a couple was flirting while sitting on chair, talking and laughing softly while glancing
at the trailer. They possibly will watch the movie since it is a genre of romance and
maybe simply because they just want to have time for each other in a way to show how
they really feel.
The clerks who are supposed to be the one who are quiet turn out to be the
opposite. They talk and laugh loudly, blabbing about their personal love life and all.
Ignoring or maybe not noticing all the people looking at them since they were so loud.
Possibly they have nothing to do and were bored since no one was asking for their help,
but still, they should be the one to impose peacefulness in the room.
Looking at the big picture here, we may not notice it but almost all people walks
lightly and slowly as to maybe not to disturb the people reading books in comfort. They
also laugh and talk softly, like it was an unwritten rule for everyone. But when they are
walking up or down the stairs, it was very noisy for they unintentionally bounce and in
effect the stairs creak for it was made only in wood. Also another exception is that,
when they are at the cashier, paying for books, they walk, talk and laugh really loud.
Perhaps they thought that no one would hear them since the sound of the cash register
was deafening. When looking for books in the shelves, they stand a bit far from the
shelves and keep their eyes only on the books.
Observations like these can truly help a person to know whats happening in his
environment. You get to know a part of the personality of the person standing beside
you. What type of books he wants and what other things he do while reading it. You get
to know what people around you do, and you also get to read some books, books that
doesnt only give you knowledge, but also brings us contentment in simple ways.

Rina Pantino
Our group decided to do our ethnography project inside a bookstore wherein a lot of
people hang out. I chose to examine the childrens section since I thought it would be
interesting to see the behaviour of youngsters within its vicinity. Ive discovered a lot of
incidences as I vigilantly observed human behaviour in the childrens section.
First, I found out that, contrary to popular belief that children only play around in
this place, kids actually take time to pick a book they would enjoy reading. In fact, I
came across two boys roaming around the childrens corner for about twenty minutes
because they couldnt find the perfect volume. They checked each book rack carefully
just so they could spot what they wanted.
Second, even if theres a policy that adults, except for those who are with kids,
arent allowed to stay long at the childrens section, they still linger for an extensive
period. Maybe this is because of the fact that the childrens section provides a warm
atmosphere conducive for reading, which satisfies a lot of bookstore visitors.
Unfortunately, there are times when people who hang out at the childrens corner only
stay there because they could have their rest and doze off.
Lastly, I became aware of the actuality that majority of the people who go inside
bookstores, dont really buy the paperbacks that they look at. Instead, they just read
them inside the bookstore to pass time or scan the books from cover to cover and then
return them back.
By doing this ethnography, our group was able to identify certain human
behaviours that occur in quiet, public places like an ordinary bookstore.

Kat Tamina
While entering the bookstore, we noticed that it is filled with different kinds of
people. There are children, teenagers and of course, adults. The children are of course
in the childrens area where story books are located. Some of these children are with
their parents, just like the girl in pink sitting a few feet away. Her mother was telling her
something about picking out a book about princesses, fairy tales. While in the far left, a
boy about the age of 8 or 10 is lying in the bean shaped seat reading a book about how
to play chess. It seems that his parents left him so he could read because there are no
signs of his parents anywhere. Then there was a boy looking through the comics
section with his father. His father was telling him to pick a book already so they could go
already. And some, some children were just roaming around, making noises around the
bookstore.
Teenagers were a common sight in a bookstore. They either buy books just for
reading or buy magazines to update themselves about the happenings in the life of the
celebrities. The girl looking through the young adults section was holding a copy of
Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer. She is about 16 or maybe 17 years old. Another was the
group of teenagers who walked in the bookstore. They were laughing loudly while
browsing the different sections of books. They finally stopped in front of the magazine
rack and started browsing some magazines. They are about 15- 16 years old. Lastly, a
teenage girl was sitting crossed legged in the floor in front of a bookshelf. She was
reading quietly and minding her own business as some of the people make noises.
Most of the people in the bookstore are adults that are aged 20 and above. At the
center of the bookstore, sitting in the big, round seat, were two men. The one was
reading comics while the other was reading the newspaper. They were both quiet while
reading. Another was a woman, maybe at her early 30s, roaming around the bookstore
but not exactly picking a book and reading it. Then there were a group of women,
maybe in their early twenties, looking through the magazines and Eclipse book by
Stephanie Meyer. The magazine that they are looking at is Candy with Taylor Lautner
as the cover. They were squealing as they held the magazine and the book. And lastly,
there was a man reading at the corner of the bookstore. He was holding a thick book as
he read it quietly.
So many different kinds of people are found in the bookstore. With the different
kinds of interest of these people, one is bound to find what he is looking for.

Denice Tan
We arrived at Powerbooks at around twelve noon, since the mall opened for about two
hours ago, there arent much people yet. In Powerbooks, you can open the book so theres a
tendency that people will just read the book there and wont buy it anymore.
The place is cool and quiet so people like to chill in this place. There are sofas to sit on
and read books. The books are arranged by genre for the people to find their books easily. The
people going there are more classy type. When people read books, they concentrate, keep
silent and live in their own world.
When people read opened books, they dont only browse the book but they read it page
by page until they get tired or feel bored. Women like reading romance books, fiction books or
literature and magazines. Men like comic books, science fictions, fantasy and older men reads
newspapers. Young adults or teens like pocket books. Kids go to the section with art stuff or the
kids section. Before they read the book, they look first at the cover then the short summary at
the back.
Since power books prices are a little expensive than other book stores, people just
browse the books and dont buy it unless they really want or need it. One out of ten people buy
things from power books.
I observed how the people look at books, what type of books interests a particular
generation.
CONCLUSION:
PowerBooks is one of the biggest bookstores in the Philippines. They are more
focused in books rather than other stuffs, like school supplies for example. In a
bookstore, there are no extraordinary things that we can see if we observe. As we
started observing at around eleven oclock in the morning, there was not a great number
of people around inside the bookstore, but as the time goes by, many people started to
enter the bookstore. We realized that there are only simple routines that people intend
to do inside PowerBooks: first, they go inside the bookstore to look for either a specific
book/newspaper or any books that can match their taste, and then read the synopsis.
After reading the synopsis, they look for another book, read the book inside the store or
buy the book. The second one is that people intend to go to the bookstore just for
relaxation. Also, we discovered that the number of people who visit the bookstore for
relaxation is greater than the number of people who actually buy the books sold inside
the store.