Editor’s note: "War Stories" is a regular feature in which Art Shulman, president of Shulman Research, Van Nuys, Calif., presents humorous stories of life in the research trenches.
Some time ago I was doing in-depth interviews at consumer electronic stores, asking salespeople about their reaction to my client’s product, a small hand-held item. A salesperson I was interviewing removed the store’s product sample from a glass case, and as she showed it to me, the plastic piece in the back covering the battery case came off, just as my own had done many times at home and in the office. After the interview was completed, I took the sample we’d been discussing and placed it in my briefcase, assuming it was mine. After all, the back piece had detached. It was only as I was almost out the door when the salesperson noticed what had happened and called out to me.
When she told me that I had her product sample, I wondered if I’d be the first person in the history of market research to be arrested for shoplifting while performing their duty.
Of course, when it was all over I had a story to tell my client - that he had a quality control problem with the plastic piece covering the battery case.
Lon Zimmerman of The Research & Planning Group tells about in-depth interviews he was conducting on a catalogue of merchandise for new moms. Toward the end of the interview, Zimmerman was referring to his notes when he noticed one of the new moms begin to breast feed her baby. Zimmerman says he didn’t know where to look. Whether he looked her in the eye or just focused on his notes, he felt uncomfortable. Of course, behind the mirror he could hear the howling of his clients.
I wonder if, after the interview was completed, his clients complimented Zimmerman on a good interview, telling him that he had really milked that respondent for information.
Usually, it’s clients who complain about the recruiting for groups, insisting that someone doesn’t belong in the group. However, Laird Brown of US West recalls being in the viewing room observing a focus group of small business owners. The door to the observation room suddenly burst open and a large and unpleasant looking man strode forward and started pounding on the one-way glass, shouting, "Get her out of there! Don’t you tell them anything about my business!"
The respondents turned toward the mirror, which Brown was afraid the man would shatter. Shortly, the hostess went into the respondent room and escorted one of the women out of the group. Apparently they had recruited the office manager in place of the business owner, and the owner was none too pleased about it.
Linda Suskin of Brittain Associates is a qualitative researcher with a distinct South African (often mistaken as British) accent. While conducting an in-depth interview on the subject of foundations and charitable giving, Suskin asked an open-end question on donating to the arts, to which her wealthy respondent, a resident of Cleveland, replied huffily, "As a benevolent philanthropist to organizations in need, why on earth should I donate monies to the local yacht (pronounced ’y’art’) club?"
Sometimes a researcher’s questions result in a different kind of misunderstanding. Mike Exinger of Clearwater Research reports doing a survey on computer peripherals where respondents were asked about computer types, printers and software. When one office manager was asked, "Do you have Windows?" she replied, "No, we’re in the basement!"