619 Interview Project

Running head: Starbucks Interview Report

Starbucks Interview Report

Yue Chen

Department of English

Purdue University

[email protected]

2101 Cumberland Ave. Apt. 5206, West Lafayette, IN, 47906

mailto:[email protected]

STARBUCKS INTERVIEW REPORT 2

Introduction

The social scene I chose to study in this semester is the Starbucks in Wabash Landing at

the corner of East State Street and Roebuck Drive, West Lafayette, Indiana. Although this small

coffee place is of similar size as the Starbucks on campus in the basement of Purdue Memorial

Union, it is different from the on-campus coffee shop that I am familiar with in terms of traffic

flow, the amount of communication, and the constitution of the customers as well as their behav-

iors.

The choice of this Starbucks was made based on my personal experiences. First, I have

been to many coffee shops in the United States, and I think coffee shops normally involve a lot

of social interactions and communication, which should provide enough information for me as a

novice researcher to go in, observe, and conduct interviews. Second, I am not a central partici-

pant in this social scene; at least, I do not think I am. Before my first observation, I had only

been to this place once. The first time I went there, I left right after I got my coffee, without pay-

ing attention to anything around me. Therefore, I am curious how this off-campus coffee shop is

similar to or different from the coffee shops I have been to before in terms of social interactions

and consumer behaviors. Third, this Starbucks is not far away from campus, which makes it con-

venient to me to research because I do not have a car and have to depend on the CityBus for

transportation. In most of the cases when I was studying this social scene, my friend dropped me

off at the entrance of the Starbucks, and I walked or took CityBus back to campus after the ob-

servations/interviews.

The Starbucks, with big glass windows on the sides (west and south) facing the streets, is

located about 0.7 miles away from campus by the Wabash River. When I entered this Starbucks,

there were sofas in a quiet conner on my right. Next to it was a long table in dark brown color


with six wooden chairs on each side. This long table sat between the main entrance and the or-

dering and pick-up counter, where all of the coffee and mild machines were situated. On the west

side of the coffee shop, there were four square tables and three high round tables. Please refer to

the Floor Plan in Appendix A.

Purpose and Focus

Before I started my interviews with people in the Starbucks, I have already observed this

social scene twice on two consecutive Sunday afternoons in February, 2014. During the observa-

tions, I noticed that some people stayed in the coffee shop to do their own readings or homework

after getting coffee, and the number of consumers who stayed in the coffee shop after getting

coffee is much larger than I expected (Please refer to my observational accounts in Appendix B).

Personally, I have never stayed in a coffee shop near campus to do my homework or readings. I

would prefer to work in my office or in the library where I am not interrupted and/or distracted

by others and am able to concentrate on my works. Additionally, I narrowed my potential inter-

viewees to students consumers because, as I noticed in my observations, the majority of people

who stayed in the coffee shop after getting coffee were college students and senior citizens. Al-

though there should be differences in behaviors and perceptions between college students and se-

nior citizens, I am not personally interested in how senior citizens perform in this social scene,

and I, as a student, would like to see how my peers interact in this environment. Therefore, I be-

come interested in how students who stay and do works in coffee shops perceive this social

scene.

To be specific, I am interested in why they come to a coffee shop to study other than qui-

eter places such as home, office, or library, what activities they do in this coffee place, whether

they are often involved in communications around them, and the rationale behind their choices.


During both interviews, I focused on my interviewees’ descriptions of what they regu-

larly do in the Starbucks and why they do things in that specific way, and I also tried to make

them reflect on specific moments or events they experienced in the Starbucks to see whether they

were aware of their reasons for the decisions or not. In order to gain more descriptive informa-

tion from my interviewees, I purposefully limited the words I say and include questions on why

they do certain things or behave in certain ways. I hope these reflective questions could make

them think about the way they do things and come up with more detailed and concrete examples.

For the specific questions I asked, please refer to the Interview Questions in Appendix C.

Contexts

In order to make this interview practice as authentic as possible, I decided to interview

two random students customers who stayed in the Starbucks after getting coffee. Both of my in-

terviewees were by themselves working on their own things when I approached them, and I did

not know neither of them before the interviews. Both interviews happened on site in the Star-

bucks because I was not able to find a more convenient and suitable place for the interviews. My

choice of the interview settings brought me some difficulties in terms of transcription, and the

challenges will be discussed in the reflection section.

The night before the first interview, I came up with ten interview questions and wrote

them down in my notebook. In order to make clear recording, I borrowed a professional recorder

from a friend in the School of Languages and Cultures. She used the recorder to record class-

room interactions for her own research last semester. According to her, the recorder works “per-

fect” because her recordings were clear, and the sound quality was great. After writing down the

interview questions, I tested the recorder with it placed in front of me and me reading each of the


questions. After the recording test, I gained a better idea of the volume and speed of my talking

in order to gain a recording of good quality.

First Interview

The first interview happened on March 28, on a sunny Friday morning. My friend

dropped me off at the entrance to the Starbucks at 8:35 in the morning, and I went into the coffee

place by myself. I was surprised to see how busy it was in the morning on a weekday. I had

never been to this coffee shop during weekdays, and I assumed that there were going to be less

people staying in the Starbucks working on their own during workdays because most of the stu-

dents consumers, I thought, should be on campus at that time. When looking around before going

to the counter to order my coffee, I noticed that there were two student-like consumers (with

backpacks by their feet and wearing Purdue hoodies) talking with each other by a high round ta-

ble next to the windows on my left and three students sitting quietly by themselves at the long ta-

ble. I was thinking about whom I should interview while ordering and waiting for my coffee.

After getting my tall-sized Mocha, I decided to interview a male wearing short dark hair,

blue jacket, and black headphones. My decision on the interviewee was made due to the follow-

ing three reasons: First of all, I did not want to interrupt the consumers who were already en-

gaged in active conversations (the two males by the high round table); second, the other two stu-

dent-looking consumers were sitting by the far end of the long table facing each other, and I was

worried that my interview with one of them may interrupt the other; third, the male I decided to

interview was quietly working on his laptop with a venti-sized drink on the table next to the lap-

top, which made him very similar to the major participants I noticed in my previous observation

study.


I sat down by the long table on the other side where he was sitting, and his seat was on

the left of the one that was directly facing me. After taking a deep breath, I approached him by

asking, “Excuse me, do you have a minute?” He took off his headphones and replied with smile,

“Yes.” I went on to introduce the project I was working on and explained to him that I would like

to interview him for about 20 minutes and that the interview would be recorded and shared with

my classmates as well as my professor. He listened quietly and agreed to participate after my ex-

planation. Before starting and recording the interview, I introduced myself to him as a first-year

PhD student in the Department of English taking a qualitative research course. My first recorded

interview started by asking him to briefly introduce himself in order to provide me with some

background knowledge. My first interviewee, Ryan Williamson, is a sociology major who just

transferred to Purdue last fall. Ryan grows up in Lafayette, Indiana, and went to different places

for education. Before coming to Purdue last August, he went to New Mexico and Texas to study

in a junior college and then a small college.

During the interview, the recorder was placed on the table between us, and the recorded

interview was transcribed afterwards. After the interview, we continued to talk about topics that

both of us were interested in, and the informal conversation lasted for about 90 minutes exclud-

ing the actual interview. I will reflect on what I learned through this interview and the transcrip-

tion later in the reflection session.

Second Interview

Initially, I planned to conduct two interviews one after the other on the same day, but I

ended up interviewing the second participant the next day after the first interview. As I men-

tioned in the contextual description of the first interview, the interviewee and I talked for about

one hour and half after the recorded interview. We were talking about sociological issues, educa-


tion problems, and language learning experiences. I was exhausted by the end of the conversa-

tion, and I was not able to get energetically engaged in another interview righter after. In addi-

tion, I needed time to reflect on what worked and what did not in the first interview, in order to

conduct the second one more productively. Therefore, I walked back to campus on Friday morn-

ing and made some changes to the wording of the interview questions.

On Saturday afternoon around 3 o’clock, my friend, who gave me a ride to the coffee

shop, and I came to the Starbucks for my second interview. After ordering and getting coffee,

we sat down by the only empty table which is one of the tall round tables by the window in the

southwest corner in the Starbucks. The Starbucks was busier than the Friday morning when I had

my first interview, and there were more communications and interactions going on with a larger

volume of background noise. My friend decided to stay in case I need a ride back to campus after

the interview. I took out my notebook to go over the interview questions myself before I started

to approach my next interviewee, when my friend, sitting in front of me facing my direction,

took out his laptop and started to watch a video of a badminton competition while waiting for

me.

This time, I chose to interview a female student because I was curious about the potential

differences in the responses from different genders. A girl sitting by herself at the high round ta-

ble between the main entrance and the table where my friend and I were siting caught my atten-

tion. Having her laptop open and a grande-sized drink on the table next to her laptop, the girl was

going through her friends’ posts on Facebook. Very similar to my first interviewee, the girl was

all by herself, and she seemed to be so engaged that the surroundings did not really influence her.

Her backpack was on the table, and she was wearing a pair of sport pants with Purdue’s logo on

them, which made me think she is a Purdue student.


I approached her in a similar way as I did to Ryan, my first interviewee, by asking if she

had a minute to talk and by explaining the purpose of my interview first. After explaining what

this interview was about and how long it was going to take, I got her consent and started the in-

terview. This time, I recorded my self-introduction and explanation of the interview, too, because

I think this information is also important and needs to be recorded. Afterwards, I asked my inter-

viewee to introduce herself, too. Christa, who is a junior in management, and I started the inter-

view process by going through each interview question on my list. During the interview, Christa

mentioned that she actually works in the Starbucks on campus in the Union, so after asking all of

the questions I prepared, I went on to ask her about her perceptions of social interactions in Star-

bucks from an employee’s perspective. I did not transcribe this interview for this specific inter-

view report, but the information will be include in the analysis report by the end of the semester.

Transcription

Chen: Okay, uh, so first of all could you just introduce yourself a little bit?

Ryan: Uh, my name is Ryan? Williamson? I am a senior? undergrad sociology major? and I am

from, Lafayette?

C: Ah. So how often do you come over here.

R: Um, probably a couple times a week. About two or three times?

C: Uh. Do you always come to this specific coffee place? or

R: En, I also go to the the Starbucks in the Union. But um yeah I tend I tend to like Starbucks.

C: Why Starbucks

R: Um, I don't know, I think they have like a reasonable price for their coffee, and I like the um I

like the taste of their coffee, and so those are basically like the things I look for in coffee. I want


I want good taste, and I want good price and if I can find these two things I'll go pretty much

anyway

C: So it's basically because of its coffee and the price. ((Ryan nodding)) How about the atmos-

phere the environment.

R: Yeah I guess I like that too it's not, too crowded here not too loud and, that's one reason I sort

of would shy away from like hanging around the union like the basement of the union cuz it's

just too crowded just too many people and I don't enjoy that. I want I want to have a little bit of

a, quiet time myself. I don't mind if there's people around but I don't be like, over stimulated by

noise and people moving and talking

C: Okay so. You do want people around but do not want too, I want to say too many interac-

tions?

R: Yeah. I just like quiet interactions because like in a place like the union there's a lot people

like just eating lunch and talking and being loud and (voicetress). That's just too much too dis-

tracting I can’t, I can't work

C: So. uh, so. Do you normally come to this coffee place to work? like work on your, projects?

or

R: Yeah I came here and do, un I'll come here and read for school or work on homework for

school or I'll just come here and read in the morning sometimes like just read books I want to

read. So yeah I I use it sort of like a way, to get away out of my house but still place I can go and

like be alone and be quiet and work on things

C: Why not staying in the house. [R: Um] or the library

R: Again, like too distracting like when I'm at home like I can watch tv I could, do a lot of other

things besides work and like in the library again like, just seems like, too many people there's


like computers like there's too much simulations for me I like things. Uh I don't know there's like

no tv there's no computer screens except my own that I'm gonna look at. Uh I don't know I guess

for some reason it's just a com place to me, where I can get a lot of work done

C: Have you ever had experiences of, coming to the Starbucks grab your coffee and leave

R: en hun I'll do that. Like I'll do that as well. I'm just like getting coffee before I go to class in

the morning I'll do that as well maybe I have to go to work I'll just get coffee and then leave and

go to work. So I do that as well, I don’t always hang around, it just depends on the day and what

I have to do

C: So, could you just give me a number how often do you think you would stay, and hang around

in the coffee shop per week

R: Uh, yeah, that'll probably be like, maybe two to three times a week. I'll probably like come

and sit down like actually just work in the coffee shop. Um the other times I do I sort of like just

grab and go. ( ) Cuz I drink coffee like everyday. So the other time of the week, I am just like

getting it and leaving. That's mainly because like I have to go somewhere, like I have to go to

class, I have to go to work, so I can't sit around and, just like work here and drink coffee. so I just

take it go to class go to work

C: So if you had a choice you would prefer to stay over here and work [R:yeah] with coffee

R: Just ( ) a couple of hours, and then go to class and then go to work something like that. Yeah,

I prefer that

C: Um, DO you have like a specific TIME preference? that you would stay over here? you al-

ways come in the morning? or

R: Oh yeah I generally. I usually, I'm kind of a morning person, so I like to get up and. So I like

to come over here and sort of drink coffee have like a little quiet time to myself before I have to


go, you know be around with a lot of people and start my day. So I enjoy that having just an hour

to something just quietly sitting and working or reading drink coffee

C: Uh, Do you and you mention, you don't always do like your homework, you sometimes read

something for fun. [R: En] Is that because of. I mean cuz I was thinking about my own experi-

ence? whenever I sit in a coffee shop? I tend to look around? to see what others are doing? do

you feel people going over here ordering coffee are kind of distracting?

R: Uh maybe slightly but. But I just use those little breaks to like sort of look around and I just

go back to my work. Cuz it's hard to stay concentrated for me for a long period of time? so just

those little distractions just enough distractions to like, get me out of my work and then I can get

right back to it. [C:okay] Uh, but like if I'm at home you know like, um my brother just wants to

talk to me, or my parents would want to talk to me. So that's like too much distraction, they take

me away from work for too long. [C:okay] Or like, in the library another it's just too much going

on. While here it's a little bit small environment, so the less people are in here, so I guess that's

why it's just like the VOLUME of people so, maybe there is just as many distractions here that

wouldn't be like a library or something but, the volume is small there's not SO many people. I

guess that's what I sort of enjoy

C: Uh, ah, have you ever like TALKED to people in a coffee shop? Like I mean have you ever

talked to random persons? Over here?

R: Um. I guess not too much be on. Just maybe like little, un like pleasant treats like greetings

stuff like that you know like, if someone walks in that I know you know I might talk to them for

a few minites and then they leave or, uh sometimes I come have coffee with friends here, so I

(may come with) someone over here and have coffee like talk again a little while then we leave.

Uh I don't talk like too much to people I don't know I guess


C: Uh, okay. And you mentioned sometimes you brought friends over here? So have you ever

like, had group discussions or had group projects [R: Never] meetings over here?

R: Never do group projects or group meetings just like one on one just like friends. And just like

having coffee and just, just talking about you know nothing in, in specific or in general. Uh, just

about wherever we seemed to talk about that day. But yeah I never had like, a group come over

here to work on project or school or anything like that

C: Where do you normally go if you have a group project like that.

R: I don't know, cuz I've only been to Purdue. This is my second semester at Purdue, so I haven't

been around for a long time I haven't had many group projects. [C: Okay] I think I may only

have like, one or two group projects. And, we usually we just meet somewhere on campus you

know some campus building and, that was sort of it. Cuz that was just easier, we were usually on

campus to begin with, so it's easier to find a place there, and go meet

C: Cuz during the observation, I did see several groups? coming over here doing group discus-

sions and working on homework? there were a lot of conversations going on about, the require-

ment for homework, the guidelines, and professors' expectation, things like that. So I was just cu-

rious if you had that kind of experience before

R: No, I haven’t. I mean I would I would definitely be up to it, I mean if I can get like people to

come over here and work, I would, definitely do it. I just haven't had that, opportunity I guess, or

like the need the need to do it yet. Cuz I just said I haven't done many group projects, so I haven't

had many opportunities

C: So where were you before you came to Purdue?


R: I go to a couple different schools. I was at a junior college in, New Mexico, and then I was at

a small college in, Lubbock, Texa before I came here. So I've been like, I've been at a couple of

different places so

C: Oh when you were over there in other places, were you still a fan of Starbucks?

R: Um, I actually I didn't really start drinking coffee until like maybe, LAST spring, so maybe

like a year ago. So I haven't been a long-time coffee-drinker by any means. Un, so, yeah I just

sort of found, that I like Starbucks coffee, and so, I just sort of like stuck with it. I just it's not I

don't bring challenges, it’s I know I liked it stick with it

C: Have you tried other coffee shops?

R: Um, a little bit, not too much. Like I've tried, uh the Greyhouse, up on Chauncey. And, just if

like another place you know they had coffee like I'll try and drink it but I don't always know

where it came from. But the Starbucks coffee is like really (old) it seems like very, flavorful

very, strong, so I got used to that so like most coffees seem like weak or (dull) in their flavor so I

just, I don't know, I can't find something that's equivalent to Starbucks, in order for you to want

to go there, and consistently drink their coffee

C: So, basically it's because of the coffee

R: Uhen, yeah. Like if they got, if they got like too expensive, I would not drink it. So like price

does affect in but, because they like, reasonable priced with everyone else, I would definitely pay

that price to get better coffee. And I would even pay like a little more to get better coffee, but

like there is a limit where I will be like, no I don't care how good is your coffee I am not paying

that price

C: And it seems that better coffee means better flavor


R:Yeah just more flavorful, and like you know flavor depends on each person I mean, it's ( ) to

say what best coffee is. There is no way to judge that. It's too subjective but, for me, I like I like

this coffee. And yeah so it tastes good to me, that's why I come here

C: Okay and okay this question may seem a little bit weird, but have you had, some like most

memorable moment or, some very unforgettable event, or things, for example you were along in

this coffee shop, and all of a sudden you know you found a very interesting article and, you were

reading it, when someone interrupt you and you felt so frustrated or something like that if you

had that kind of memorable moment? Can be good or bad? either one

R: I had like a good moment I was. Uh it's just like a week or two ago actually, I was sitting in

here, I was reading this book and, I just like start like reading really into the book. And it's about

introversion and extroversion and so, I was reading that book, and one of my professors came in.

[C: Oh] And so she started to talk to me, and I started to talk to her. I told her I was reading this

book and, she was just tell me about a research, and I told her like, maybe you should read this

book. Cuz it's sort of along the line with your research, so she's like oh yeah, I have read that

book. So we talked about that for a while, and just talk, about what she's like studying, what she's

doing with her research, and she asked what I'am doing, and when I'm graduating. And that was

really cool she gave me some other, like videos to watch like TED talks to watch on, on

YouTube be like sort of, go along with what I was reading about. So that was really cool, to sort

of like um just talk to someone, and connect to them, just because like the book I was reading.

We knew each other from another place but like, we were able to, connect with each other be-

cause something else we are interested in beyond just that class. So that was cool that was nice to

have that interaction


C: Yeah, that's cool, that sounds cool. But are you having class with her as a professor currently?

or

R: No no no we, had class, last semester, so I didn't have her class right then

C: But because of that book, you had some, further communication with her

R: Uhhum yeah, we were would like, talked about something we both, we are interested in. So

that was kind of cool. Cuz she is a, she is teaching a sociology class, and I was taking her social

statistics class last semester, and so, she is a PhD student now, and she's sort of looking at, like,

bottling reactions, sort of social, environments and like, personality types and how they react to

environment sort of along like, introversion extroversion what she's studying, so it's just kind

cool to like. You know I was interested in this topic already, because I was reading this book, so

she was there talking more about that topic, because that's what she is getting a, doctoral at the

end. So that was kind of cool you know just a cool chance to (meeting that happens)

C: But is it the only time you met a professor, or a teacher, over here?

R: Uh, yeah. I've seen like one of my teachers coming before, like get coffee and leave. But, and

his class is in a big lecture hall so, like there's no like one-on-one like, he does not know my

name. Where in her class it was much smaller setting, so she knew all of our names in class. [C:

And she still remembers.] Um, so yeah, that was kind of cool. I like I've seen that teacher, and he

just came get coffee and left, I was sitting reading and, I just saw him. And I knew who he was

but he wouldn't know who I was

C: But before that you knew her better because you kind of knew each other? and she still re-

members you. So you have that kind of. [R: uhum] Have you had other classmates? or friends

from school? coming over here? and had similar conversations for example classmates or other

friends from school had similar conversations?


R: Oh yeah I've met like, I've seen like, coworkers, that I know, coming like there were some

getting coffee and I will just be here drinking coffee and, working on something. Yeah so I got to

see them talk to them. So I had chance meeting that with with students as well. So like you

would see somebody like OH HI what You up to? and so yeah, I had the same thing, but none of

those were just like as memorable you know cuz they were just like, sort of quick, how are you,

I'm good, and then, they just leave, and I would stay [C: just like very quick greeting stuff.] Yeah

just sort like that maybe like a few minutes to catch up with them. you know no long discussions,

or long talks

C: And also how. You have mentioned a little bit already, but could you still remember? your

first impression? on this coffee place. [R: Um] When was it? And how did you feel.

R: Um, I cannot remember exactly, what my first like, experience was, when I came to this cof-

fee shop. I mean it had to be. I would guess it had to be like the summer, this last summer, be-

cause last spring I was in Texa so, I wouldn't be around this it had to be like late spring early

summer probably the first time I came in. And I probably didn't stay I probably like just picked

up coffee left went to work, or something like that. But, I just, I remember liking it, because it's

sort of, a low-key environment. You know, the light a little lower. Uh, it seems that everyone just

kind quiet doing their own work. So I guess that's my sort of it feels to be like, a relaxed place to

me you know so, I mean, I'm going to school in Purdue in the fall like I started to come over

here, and get coffee and just do homework, and read. So it's probably in the fall, that I had the

first time that I came here, and sat down, and worked, and had coffee

C: And that's because, you love the coffee from Starbucks.

R: Yeah I wanted to get coffee, and I needed a place to do to do, homework to read for school, or

just to read for my own enjoyment. And so, that was sort of I was like well, why not you know, I


had the ability to sit here and read, and I can get coffee here so, why not so, just sort of make

sense

C: But do you used to sometimes go to the Starbucks, on campus, in the Union, and get coffee

and go?

R: Yeah, I generally. Would rarely, sit like at the union at the basement and drink coffee I just

like grabbed it, before class and leave, or like in between classes and leave

C: Because there are so many people in there

R: Yeah, it's just TOO much, too much simulation over there, you know, with all those restau-

rants, just like constantly people eating lunch, eating breakfast, or meeting in groups and like, I

don't know. It's just TOO much. Too much distraction for me

C: But in the small coffee shop, in the Union, in the basement there were, places where you can

sit, right? [R: uhm] Like behind the bar, in the Starbucks.

R: Yeah, I've seen those but it's just like, it just seems like there is ALWAYS a line in that place,

cuz there are ALWAYS like twenty to thirty people on that line and it seems like I mean you

have periods when there are like two or three, but then like in fifteen minutes, it's gonna be really

busy again and just, people just get out of class, and just like going to class ,so just woke up and

heading to the first class. So yeah it just TOO many people. You never see that many people

standing in line here. Like you may see like ten to twelve, but most of them are gonna get coffee

and leave. So for a few minutes, it might be busy but it'll come back down. Where it seems like a

constant flow and a constant business in the Union, that that I don't I don't enjoy

C: And. Uh. And, I think my last question was about. My last question would be about the envi-

ronment in general. Cuz you mentioned the, the kind of low-inference place? Where you can sit


down, and enjoy yourself, do some reading and, to have coffee? Have you noticed the effects of

the music? or, the conversations going on around you? like

R: Yeah, I think I do like, I do enjoy that, having sort of, they call like a (door roll), you know

just like that little background noise. And like after a while you don't even notice it. Sometimes

the music like will distract me, like if I don't I don't like that song. I don't like the music for some

reason. But for the most part I'm enjoying the jazz music they sort of play, things that kind of

like that (melo). Songs that in (melo). So I enjoy that because that, sort of just create like a little

bit of, background music because, what it is like, incredibly quiet, almost hard to concentrate on

that environment as well. But sometimes I do want, like incredible quiet like, if I am really like

I'm trying to read something that is difficult to read, I do want a really quiet cuz I need to con-

centrate. So I may like put my headphones to sort of (drown) out, I am not listening to anything.

But I just had my headphones in so it's like, no one would bother me, for like, so I cannot hear

things so well, so I am not always listening to music when I had my headphones in a lot times

I'm just like having them in just sort of like, using them as ear plugs, just sort of like drowning

out all the noise. But sometimes I'll I'll listen to music maybe I'll put on my, my headphone just

like soft like jazz classical music just something that gives me background noise, if things are a

little distracting, in the environment. But I guess I do sort of like, having just like, little conversa-

tions going on around me, as long as it's quiet most, when it's younger people they seem to be a

little bit louder, and so maybe that's one reason why the union is too loud to much that's just too

much. If everyone are just quietly speaking to each other that wouldn't be so bad, but that's usu-

ally not the case. And, so yeah I guess a lot of facts of why, I enjoy this smaller, more layback,

setting


C: And, I think that's all of the questions I planed to ask, and thank you so much. [R: you're wel-

come.] So, if you would give a grade, to this coffee place, from one to ten. One for the worst?

And ten for the best? How would you grade this place.

R: Um, I'll probably go, maybe like an eight. Yeah probably eight. I don't know, because it's hard

to give a rating of ten, because like you know, it's hard to ( ) be perfect or, how much grades you

wanted, but it's very good, yeah I really like coming here so this is usually my main, place where

I go, and, try read or work. Yeah I give it a very good grade

C: How about the two points.

R: Um, maybe. Like slightly bigger? Like slightly more places to sit. I think that might help.

AND, maybe just like, always play sort of like, quiet like jazz blue or like classical music cuz

sometimes it's different it's not always that, but I would enjoy just having that music all the time.

Because I like that music, I find it enjoyable when I'm reading doing work to have that like the

background. And, you know it'll never be perfect there is always like people coming like loud

and talkative so like, I mean you can't stop this sort of people coming to a place or so. So yeah

just little things like that it could be perfect for me, but like it's hard like ever, have a perfect en-

vironment for yourself

C: And it can never be perfect for everybody

R: So yeah, I mean there are just these LITTLE things, cuz I mean not everyone likes that sort of

music so like you need to have different different music for everybody. Uh so yeah just like

those little things like that that's all

C: That's it. [R: Okay] Thank you very much.

R: You are very welcome. Good luck with your project.

C: Thank you


Reflection

After conducting the two interviews, I finally understand why we joked about making the

oranges squeeze themselves when we talked about interview techniques during class. Interview

studies are definitely easier said than done. I really enjoyed the interview practice activities we

did during class which provided me with a basic understanding of how to apply the interview

techniques through a hands-on experience, and also I started to practice transcription on my own.

During this project, I practiced some of the interview techniques we went over during class,

came across some challenges, and tried my best to produce a report that contains all of the neces-

sary information. In this reflection section, I am going to discuss the challenges I had in complet-

ing this interview project and what I learned in terms of interview techniques.

First of all, the oranges never squeeze themselves. Deciding what I would like to know

about and designing questions that can make my interviewees provide useful information were

the first a couple of challenges I had in this project. Since I conducted the interview study with

people I did not know and in a situation where we could not stay for too long to get to know each

other before we started the interview, the questions I came up with became essential to whether I

could get all of the information I was looking for. Without a closely established rapport, I had

also to make sure my questions were not too personal or aggressive.

Even before designing the specific interview questions, I spent more than a week decid-

ing the theme/topic of my interviews. During that week, I re-read my observation accounts for

several times and tried to recall interesting things that happened during my observations. Eventu-

ally, I decided to focus on the major participants I identified in my observation, the ones who

stayed in the coffee shop after getting coffee and did their own works. I think this group of peo-


ple demonstrate different attitudes towards and perceptions of coffee shops, or to be exact, the

Starbucks in Wabash Landing, compared to my own attitude and perception.

After deciding my focus and purpose of interview and the characteristics of my potential

interviewees, I faced another challenge that is how I can in twenty minutes make them talk about

the information I was looking for. Obviously, the oranges do not squeeze themselves, so I had to

come up with ways to approach them and to guide them throughout the interviews. It took me

quite a while to find a way, which is both comfortable to me and workable for this project, to ap-

proach my potential interviewees. During this process, I consulted with interview reports that

were published, book chapters on how to conduct interviews, and my peers who already con-

ducted their interviews. Finally, I had that step-by-step method to ask for my potential intervie-

wees’ participation.

Another thing I did to make the “squeezing” process more productive is to pilot my inter-

view questions. The night before my first interview, I piloted the questions I came up with with

one of my friends who does not know anything about qualitative research or the field of applied

linguistics at all. I asked him to pretend as my interviewee who I met in Starbucks, and I prac-

ticed the way that I was going to ask for participation and the questions I was going to ask. This

pilot practice was very helpful because I, from this hands-on experience, realized how a question

may or may not work and gained feedback from my friend before I started the actual interviews.

I am not sure how much orange juice I have had, but I think the process/results are not as bad as I

thought.

Second, it is better to be over-prepared than the opposite. During the in-class interview

practice with our peers, I prepared five questions but only went through two in about ten min-

utes. Therefore, when I designed questions for my interview studies, I did some math and planed


ten questions initially and eventually had 11 for the second interview. Even after the pilot inter-

view I did with my friend, I thought 10 questions were enough for a twenty-minute interview.

However, I was surprised to see how poorly-prepared I was when I started my first interview.

The interviewee, Ryan, answered each of my questions briefly and kept repeating himself to-

wards the middle of the interview. After he asked the fist three questions, I realized that I needed

to ask more follow-up questions; otherwise, he would be able to finish answering all of the ques-

tions I prepared within 10 minutes. That was a really frustrating moment when I found I was not

well-prepared in terms of what other questions I could ask. I did not have time to write down any

notes as I planed to do during the interview because I was busy thinking about his answers and

coming up with follow-up questions.

After the first interview, I came back to my office and spent about an hour sitting quietly

and reflecting on what went well and what did not. In order to be better prepared for the next in-

terview, I listened to the recording of my first interview and identified other follow-up questions

that I could have asked to gain more comprehensive insight. In addition, I added one more ques-

tion (Question #11) to my question list. I came up with this question during my first interview

when I was trying to wrap up, and I thought that question on the interviewee’s general rating of

the Starbucks was interesting. I would like to know how different people may answer it differ-

ently even though they have similar behavior patterns, which is staying in the Starbucks to do

their own works.

I think my second interview went better than the first one in terms of the preparation be-

forehand. I was aware that there may be moments when I had to come up with additional follow-

up questions, and I knew I should always ask for examples or clarification whenever it is neces-


sary. What is more, I definitely felt more comfortable and confident the second time I went to

approach my potential interviewee.

The third lesson I learned is that whatever decision a researcher makes, he/she should be

responsible for the potential obstacles along with the decisions. In completing this interview

project, there are several moments when I, as a novice researcher, had to make vital decisions,

such as decisions on the selection of interviewees, on interview settings, on themes/topics, and

ways to conduct the interview. One important thing I learned from this process is that the re-

searcher has to be reasonable and careful when making decisions since some of the decisions

may lead to very serious results. I would like to reflect on two decisions I made and discuss what

I learned from each of them.

The first challenging decision I made was about the selection of interviewees. I decided

to interview two random students consumers in the Starbucks because I would like to limit the

potential bias I might have if I interview my friends or people whom I know. However, several

days before the interview, I became really nervous since I am not good at approaching strangers

to ask for help or even talking to people I do not know. Some of my friends suggested that I in-

terview someone I am friends with because almost everyone goes to coffee shops (not necessar-

ily the one I am studying), and my friends offered to say that they can just “pretend” to be my in-

terviewees who go to the Starbucks even though they have never been there. After consulting

with multiple sources, I still kept my original decision to interview two people I do not know. I

did not interview any people I know or any of my friends for two reasons. First of all, I do not

know anyone who would really stay in that specific Starbucks for a while, at least one hour or so,

to work on their own projects or homework. Secondly, I do want to experience how this type of

interview research works and want to challenge myself to approach strangers.


I actually benefited from this decision to interview random persons because during this

process, I learned how to approach potential interviewees, how to explain my study in a concise

language, and how to make them comfortable helping me. These skills, I think, are important for

researchers who conduct studies involving human participants. In addition, by interviewing the

authentic participants in the Starbucks, I am able to gain a better understanding of why people do

certain things in a way that is different from the way I do them. Hopefully, the information I

gathered will help me with analyzing the patterns and writing the final analysis report.

Another vital decision I made was on the setting of the interviews. Before going to the

first interview, I thought the coffee shop was quiet enough for my recording because I did not

notice too much noise during my previous two observations. However, both times when I did my

interviews, the Starbucks was noisy. I was not able to ask my interviewees to go to another place

where it is quiet enough for the recording purpose because I do not have a car and I do not know

any nearby places that are quieter than Starbucks. What I did was to put the recorder closer to the

interviewee since I could remember most of the things I said. Also, I asked for clarification dur-

ing the interview whenever I feel my interviewee mumbled or said things in a relatively low

voice.

The decision on recording in such a noisy environment made me spend much more time

transcribing the interview because I had to listen to it for multiple times to decide the closest

sound the interviewee made. This was not what I expected, and it led to the next lesson I learned

from this practice.

The forth lesson I learned from this interview practice is that transcription takes time.

When I did the short transcription practice after we discussed the transcription methods, I spent

about 40 minutes transcribing that four-minute long clip, so for my own interview practice, I


originally planned to finish transcribing in four hours. However, things do not always happen the

way we expect. Due to the low quality of my recording, the time I spent on transcription in-

creased dramatically. I had to stay up late for two nights consistently in order to finish the tran-

scription on time. There were also times when I was not able to hear my interviewee’s voice be-

cause of the noise made by the coffee machine, and also times when I was not able to distinguish

the sounds my interviewee articulated due to the background noise.

To be honest, I do not know how I am able to do it differently for the next time since I

still do not have a car nor do I know any quiet places nearby. Maybe I would ask to see if the

person was willing to meet with me some time later on campus in a quieter place, and to see if

we could find a time/location that meets the busy schedule of us both. I am also going to talk

with my classmates and see how they chose the settings of their interviews and how they asked

their interviewees to meet outside of the social scene.

In general, I benefited from the both the interview practice and the transcription practice

although I still have a long way to go in terms of producing high-quality transcriptions. Even af-

ter practicing the transcription skills during class and for my own interview, I am still not confi-

dent in transcribing, especially in using the punctuations for intonations. However, something I

do know is that practice makes progress. I think more practice would prepare me for more accu-

rate and fluent transcription practices in the future.


Appen-

dix A

Floor

Plan


Appendix B

Observation Accounts

Observation Account #1

My first observation in the Starbuck in the Wabash Landing at the corner of East State

Street and Roebuck Drive happened on a sunny afternoon. The Starbucks is located about 0.7

miles away from campus by the Wabash River. My friend dropped me off at the main entrance

of the Starbucks around 1:30pm. I opened the entry door with a big glass and a metal square han-

dle and entered the coffee shop. Carrying my backpack, I went directly to the ordering counter,

and there were two people waiting in line. I stood behind a girl in bright yellow jacket carrying a

dark brown backpack with silver rivet decorations on her right shoulder. While waiting, I looked

at the menu hanging on the wall up in front of me, and trying to decide what I wanted to drink.

The girl barista with dark curling hair greeted me with a big smile, “Hi, what do you want?” I

paused for one moment and said, “Could I have a grande Mocha?” “Yes, sure, it’s gonna be

$3.53,” the barista replied without looking at me when she was typing on the cashier machine in

front of her. I handed her my credit card, and after swiping my card, she asked me, looking into

my eyes, “Do you want your receipt?” “No, thanks,” I replied with a smile on my face. “Okay,

have a good day then,” the barista smiled back to me and turned around to the counter behind her

and put both of her hands on the dark red coffee machine.

I moved to my left and stood by the pick-up counter waiting for my coffee while looking

around the place. This was not a big coffee shop, but it seemed to be a very friendly one with

slow and relaxing music going on all the time and baristas wearing big smiles when they talk to

customers. After I got my Mocha with a nice smell of dark chocolate, I went to the long table be-


hind me and sat down near one end of a long table facing the counter, where I could have a good

view of the coffee shop as a whole.

In this rectangular coffee place, with the order place and pick-up counter on the long side

in the back area by the wall facing the outside (Refer to Figure One for the Floor Plan), the

cashier was in front of me, and I could easily read the menu hanging up front on the wall above

the ordering counter. Between the table where I sat and the counter, there were four brown bam-

boo baskets sitting on the floor with coffee products and mugs in them for sale. Prices were writ-

ten in red brown color chalk on boards sitting on top of the products. The dark brown wooden ta-

ble where I sat was the longest table in the shop with six chairs on each side. The place where I

sat for the first observation was marked as “1” on the floor plan. By the wall on my right, there

were two shelves with mugs and tumblers of various sizes and shapes and coffee products of dif-

ferent flavors, waiting for people to take them home. There was a hiding corner on my right,

where there were four cozy leather sofas in light brown, and it was the quietest area in the coffee

shop. On my left, there were three round-shape high tables and one smaller rectangular table

with three chairs on each side situated by the big windows. The coffee shop was not really busy

or noisy when I settled down by the long table. The two baristas were chatting behind the order-

ing counter while cleaning the coffee machines. The sun shined through the big windows on the

wall and made this small shop so warm on this early spring afternoon.

While looking around in the relaxing music of Things That Stop Your Dreaming, I felt

that somebody was staring at me. I turned my head to my right and saw the old man with grey

hair and light blue shirt on the sofa was looking at me with eyebrows slightly wrinkled. He had

been sitting there reading newspapers since I cam in. Right after I smiled to him, he lowered his

head and re-focused on the newspaper he was reading without reacting to my smile.


When my watch read 1:51pm, an old man came in through the main door. He threw a

stack of newspaper on the table where I was sitting. I raised my head and looked at him when I

heard the sound of “pa” caused by the newspapers touching the table. He was standing right in

front of me greeting the girl barista and ordering coffee. I could not hear what exactly they were

saying, but from the unusually big smile on the barista’s face, I assumed that the old man said

something really nice to her. Wearing grey hair, dark brown jacket, and a plaid scarf, the old man

reached his left hand in his back pocket in his jeans and paused for a few seconds before he took

out his dark brown wallet. After ordering his coffee, the old man staggered to the long table

where I was sitting, picked up the newspaper he dropped on the table earlier, and walked halt-

ingly to the sofas where the old man with light blue shirt was sitting. He put the newspapers in

one of the sofas facing the old man in light blue shirt and moved one of the chairs by the long ta-

ble to the side of the sofa where his newspapers were situated. In a stumbling move, he went to

the pick-up counter, took his drink, and trembled back to his sofa. After taking off his jacket and

scarf and putting them on the chair he just brought, the old man opened the newspaper he

brought in and started to read quietly.

Just in a few seconds, the door was opened again, and a middle-aged woman, wearing a

red sweater, blue jeans, and a dark blue hat, came in and joined the old man wearing dark brown

jacket, after ordering something to drink. After the lady sat down in one of the other sofas, they

said something in short sentences to each other, which made me wonder if they knew each other.

However, since they were still several feet away from me, I could not hear what they said to each

other.

While I was observing the old man and the middle-aged woman closely, two young

ladies came in one after the other. They did not talk to anybody except the girl barista. While


waiting to order and waiting for their coffee to be done, they were totally engaged on their own

cellphones with their fingers swiping and touching on the screens consistently. Immediately after

they got their coffee and left, two girls came in from the front door while talking to each other,

followed by another two young ladies. The coffee shop, all of a sudden, became noisy. The first

two ladies came right to the other end of the table where I was sitting, sat down facing each

other, took off their backpacks, and put them on the table. They took out their laptops from their

backpack and started to chat with their laptop closed. They did not go to order anything until

around 5 minutes later. The two young ladies who came in after them sat by the other side of the

long table to my left with both of them facing my direction. Similar to the other two girls, they

did not go to order anything right after they came in. Instead, they started to talk about one of the

assignments after one of the girls took out and opened her laptop. Given the noise at that time in

the Starbucks, I could not hear what exactly they were saying, but some of the words I heard in-

cluded “assignment” “it’s hard” and “Okay, I see.”

Around 2pm, a young girl in black winter jacket came in, greeting both baristas and the

old man sitting in the sofa reading newspapers, the one who was already there when I came in.

She did not sit down or order anything; instead, she went directly to the back of the counter. At

that moment, I knew she must be one of the employees here. The boy barista who was working

when I came in started to talk to this young girl when she came out to the front and put on her

working shirt. After a short talk, the boy barista went to the back room and came out with his

own clothes about 5 minutes later. Whistling as he passed the only customer who was waiting to

order, the boy barista walked out of the shop through the front door with a smiling facial expres-

sion. It seemed that he had a good shift today.


Between 2pm and 2:15pm, it seemed to be the low-traffic time in the Starbucks. How-

ever, the baristas seemed to be busy, even though there were no customers ordering anything or

waiting in line during that time. The baristas wiped on the counters where the coffee machines

were sitting, and it seemed that they were cleaning the coffee off the counter, where the coffee

machines were located. After that, they started cleaning the cream machines by making them run

with seemingly clear water. The noise of the coffee machines, the sounds of customers talking by

tables, and the relaxing music in the background entangled together with the strong smell of cof-

fee in the coffee shop.The girl barista also re-arranged the bakery showcase by the ordering

counter. She moved the treats around and wiped out the food residues on the shelves.

When the girl barista was carrying a big white box, going to the room in the back, a

group of 6 youngsters, who seemed to be Purdue students, came in talking in loud voices accom-

panied by big laughters. Three of they were wearing Purdue hoodies, and one had a Purdue key-

chain on her keys. All of them had ice-cream with them when they walked towards the long table

where I was sitting. Two of the girls sat down with each on one side of the table and started to

gossip when the other youngsters went to order their drinks. They were looking at the menu

hanging up on the wall while talking about possible options with each other. The girl barista

greeted them with a big smile, “Hi, what can I get for you today?” “Well, I am gonna have a

tall… wait a minute…a tall latte, please…well, actually a grande latte, thanks,” the boy was try-

ing to make up his mind when ordering his coffee, but the barista kept wearing the nice smile

when he changed his mind a couple of times. It took about 6 minutes for all of the four young

people to decide and order, and some of them changed their minds multiple times when talking

to the barista. It seemed that the barista was used to this situation or well trained because she did

not show any frustrating or annoyed expressions on her face during the whole time. Wearing a


very professional and seemingly sincere smile, she greeted everybody and took their orders one

after the other.

After all of the four young people joined the other two girls and sat down by the long ta-

ble, they started to share their weekend plans with each other. They were sitting by the middle of

the long table, about two seats away from me, so I could not hear what exactly they were talking

about with the background music and the noise from the coffee machine. However, from the

words I could occasionally catch, such as “Let’s” “every week” “Sure” “weekend” “Saturday,” I

assumed that they were talking about plans to hang out during weekends. Sometimes, it was one

of them talking, and all of the rest were listening quietly while having ice-cream and coffee; and

sometimes, they all jumped in to talk and laughed together with their bodies moving back and

forth. They did not leave until all of them finished their ice-creams. After they walked out of the

front door while chatting to each other, the coffee shop seemed to be much quieter. I looked at

my watch to take notes of the time, and it was already 2: 38pm. How time flies. When packing

my notebooks and pen, I looked around and found that the old man in light blue shirt sitting in

the sofa in the corner was looking at me again. I smiled at him as I did earlier, and this time he

smiled back but just for a really short moment, after which he lowered his head and had his eyes

on the newspaper again.

Observation Account #2

My second observation at the Starbucks in Wabash Landing also happened on a sunny af-

ternoon. When I first entered the shop, I looked around, trying to find a good spot for my obser-

vation, and I found that this time the Starbucks was much busier with more people sitting by

those tables, compared with the previous time when I had my first observation here. This time, I


sat by the other end of the long table where I sat last time. Although I was still facing the baristas

and the counters, as soon as I sat down, I noticed something I did not see last time.

Next to the side entrance on my left, there was a narrow hallway through which you

could go to the restrooms at the back of the counter. On the wall next to the entrance to the hall-

way, there was a blackboard, with “Wabash Landing Connections” written in white at the top of

it. At the bottom of the blackboard, there were five flyers sticked to it, but from where I was sit-

ting, I could not read the letters on the flyers. By the wall where the blackboard was, there was a

square table, where a guy wearing sunglasses was sitting quietly. I noticed him immediately be-

cause he was the only one I saw who wore dark sunglasses in a coffee shop. Wearing a black

sweater cap, a dark grey jacket, a pairs of black pants, and dark brown boots, the man had both

of his hands moving fast on the keyboard of the laptop in front of him. The case of the laptop is

also black. On the table where he sat, a silver middle-sized thermo and a Starbucks iced drink

were sitting next to each other in front of the laptop.

When I was wondering what the guy wearing sunglasses was doing, an old man caught

my attention when he trembled to the ordering counter to ask for refill. When he was talking to

the barista, I could only see his back. He was wearing a demi blue shirt and a pair of loose jeans

of the same color. His left hand was holding the white mug and putting it on the counter, while

his right hand was reaching into his back pocket. At this time, a young man in green T-shirt

rushed into the Starbucks and stood between me and the old man, looking at the menu above

him. I could not see the old man any more, so I switched my attention again.

I turned my head to my left to the small tables on the left side of the coffee shop. Along

the big windows, there are three tall round tables. By the table, which is the furthest from me,

next to the side entrance, a girl in red jacket, with straight blonde hair was sitting quietly by her-


self. She had a laptop with red case open in front of her and a tall sized drink on the table on the

left side of the laptop.

When I was looking at the girl in red, the young man wearing green t-shirt settled himself

by one of the tall tables in the corner next to the girl’s table, after he got his coffee. Once he sat

down, he did not seem as hurried as he was when he rushed into the shop. He took out his cell-

phone from his back pocket, and held it with both of his hands. His fingers were moving quickly

on the screen at one time, but just after a few seconds, he raised his head and looked outside

through the big windows on his left. There was a red car passing by, and the man’s head was

turning with the car with his eyes focused on the car.

By the last high table in the corner by the main entrance, there were two young people

talking to each other. The young man in a red hoodie was facing me and talking in a very low

voice to the girl facing him, with his head lowered almost touching the table. I could not hear

anything they were taking about. The only thing I can see about the girl was her white-black

stripe shirt and her well-plaited braid on her back.

Partially surrounded by the tall tables were two square tables, both of which have the

same dark brown wooden color as the one I was sitting by. An old guy with wrinkles on his face

and hands was sitting by the farther square table facing my direction. He has some newspapers

on the table and a silver colored thermo bottle in front of the newspapers. With his left hand

touching his forehand, the old man used his right hand to pick up the corner of one page of the

newspaper, flipped it over, and then used both of his hands holding the newspaper to continue

reading. On the square table that is closer to me, two young girls with blonde hair were sitting

facing each other. Both of them had notebooks and books open in front of them on the table. The

girl in light yellow hoodie facing my direction had her laptop open, and both of them were look-


ing at the screen when I looked at them. “This presentation should…” those were the only words

I heard from them when the girl facing me was pointing at the screen.

The business was slow around 1:30pm, when a guy with slightly grey hair came in and

looked around before he went to order things. He was wearing a black jacket with big chucks of

blue square decorations on it. It did not take long for him to order, and when he was waiting for

his order, he came to my direction and sat down on the other side of the long table on the left to

the seat right facing me. He pulled out the chair and sat down. When one of the barista said

something which I did not catch, he stood up and went to the pick-up counter. After he got his

coffee and muffin, he came back to his seat, took off his jacket and grey hat. He put the hat on

the table and the jacket on the chair. I looked at him when he was tearing apart the bag of the

muffin and tearing off the paper cup of the cake. He was holding the muffin with his left hand,

and used his right hand to break off the muffin. After having a piece of muffin, he used his right

hand to pick up the coffee cup and sipped some coffee. This continued until he almost finished

all of his muffin. He wrapped the last piece of muffin with the napkin and went t the trash bin

next to the counter, and threw it into the trash bin. When he came back to the long table, he

smiled at me, put on his jacket, took his coffee, and left from the front door.

Right after he left, a group of four Asian looking girls came in, and as soon as they

started talking to each other, I knew they are Chinese because they were talking in Mandarin

Chinese. A girl in red hat, fashion boots, and dark blue coat went to the counter to order, while

all of the other three girls were standing about three feet away from me, talking in Chinese. I

could not hear what exactly they were talking about because all of them were using very high-

pitched voices. The only words I caught were “ ” 午饭 (lunch) and “ ” 周末 (weekend). When the

girl wearing read hat was waiting for her order, three Asian-looking boys came in together and


greeted those three Chinese girls who were waiting in Chinese. However, they did not stay long

enough for me to observe. All of them left right after the girl wearing red hat got her drink, but I

did hear the girl saying, “ ” 不好意思，让你们等这么久 (I am sorry for making you wait for me

for so long) in Chinese when they passed me.

It was around 1:40pm, when a young lady with dark colored skin sat on the other side of

my table facing me. She put her iced drink on the table, took off her backpack, put it on the table,

and sat down. She was wearing a pink Purdue hoodie, and a very shining earring on her right ear.

I could not see if she was wearing anything on her left ear. The hard covered book “Computer in

the Medical Office” was the first thing she took out from her backpack, followed by a tablet with

red feather case and her cellphone. She first opened the tablet, set it on the table, plugged the red

headphones into the tablet, and put them on. Then she opened her book to Chapter 7 and took out

two pieces of notebook papers from her backpack. The first several things she wrote down on

one piece of paper were her name and date on the top right, “Chapter 7” on top left, and number

one to eighteen from left to right with space in between and six number on each line. Then she

left the papers aside and went back to the book. She was looking at the page where there was a

bolded “Chapter Seven Review” on top of it and switched to another page further back with

words of much smaller font size that I could not see clearly. She switched between those two

pages multiple times before she finally picked up her blue pen and wrote down the letter “I” after

the number 3. The music she was listening to was very loud because I could occasionally hear

some sounds from her headphones. Her phone vibrated when she was looking at one of the pages

in her book, and she picked up her phone, swiped on the screen with one of her fingers, and

looked at the screen with a smile. She put down her phone on the table, looked around the coffee

shop, and went back to her work. After finishing all of the questions on the first piece of paper,


she took out the other piece of paper and started to re-write all of the answers in a very neat way

on the second piece. When she finished, she took her iced drink, looked at the big window be-

hind me for a while, stirred her drink with the straw, and took a gulp of it. She folded the first

piece of paper with original answers and put it between two random pages in the book. With her

book still open on Chapter Seven, she had her eyes on her tablet with fingers touching the screen

quickly.

On the other end of the long table sat three young people, with one girl with pony tail sit-

ting on my side and the boy and the other girl with curling blonde hair on the other side. I did not

pay attention to them because they were a little far away from me until the boy clapped the table

to make some drum beats and when the big laughter came out. The boy and the girl next to him

both had their laptops open and have several folders and notebooks open on the keyboards. The

two were whispering and giggling with each other, but I could not hear anything they were say-

ing. The girl on my side focused her eyes on her phone with her left hand holding the phone and

right hand swiping on the screen. She did not respond to her peers’ laughters or giggling at all. It

was about 2:00pm when the girl with pony tail raised her head and started to pack her books and

notebooks in front of her. They three then started to talk, but the only words I caught were, “pro-

fessor” “presentation” and “onion.”


Appendix C

Interview Questions

1. How often do you come to this Starbucks?

2. What time do you normally come? Why?

3. What do you normally do here in this Starbucks?

4. Why do you choose to come to this specific Starbucks?

5. Why do you choose to stay after getting coffee?

6. How is the environment in this Starbucks different from that in other coffee shops, in the li-

brary, or at home?

7. How do you feel about the music and background noise?

8. What was your first impression on this coffee place?

9. Do you often talk to people in this Starbucks?

10. What is the most memorable moment you had in this Starbucks?

11. How would you rate this Starbucks from 1 to 10, with one meaning the worst and ten the

best?

619 Interview Project

Documents

Transcript of 619 Interview Project