The popular War Stories column, which presents humorous tales of life in the research trenches, is compiled by Art Shulman, president of Shulman Research in Van Nuys, Calif. If you want to share your own outlandish or otherwise entertaining experiences of research gone just-slightly awry, submit your own War Story today!
Researchers often desire respondents in the same room to disagree with each other. Diane Trotta, of Trotta/Hansen, reports an occasion where this occurred to an extreme. She was conducting in-home interviews about tofu. With her were three Japanese clients. They were there to watch the head of household cook her favorite recipe using the tofu they brought with them.
The respondent cooked her tofu, but then the woman’s 10-year-old daughter came in and insisted on cooking her favorite dish using the tofu. When the daughter started to cook, the mom told her to do it differently. The daughter became angry with the mom, and the situation devolved into a shouting match. The clients observed the verbal battle, wondering if this was typical American family behavior.
Turns out the clients loved what the kid made, but not what the mom made! So the clients ultimately modified their cooking instructions to accommodate the procedures the 10-year-old followed.