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.
Ellen Karp of Ellen Karp Research/ANERCA International recalls working on a project concerning AIDS. In preparation for upcoming interviewing, she visited a pharmacy, which happened to be very busy at the time, to purchase a large number of condoms. In the aisle displaying the condoms she merrily selected a wide variety of product, placing it in her basket as other shoppers either admired her with smiles or threw her disdainful looks.
Once she reached the checkout line, again the nearby shoppers noticed what was in her basket and either smiled or sneered, as Karp, thinking of her project, told them, "busy weekend coming up."
At last she was checked through and gave the checker a personal credit card. Then, realizing that she was buying the condoms for a project, she took out a different credit card, one she used for business, and exclaimed, "No, give me that card back. Use this one. This is a business expense!"
A hush descended over Karp’s checkout line.
Jerry Mandel of The Marketing Strategy Group tells about some one-on-one interviews he was conducting with wealthy investors. A heavyset respondent was in mid-sentence when his head dropped down on the table, and he became motionless. A shocked and concemed Mandel stood up and was on his way to the phone to dial emergency medical assistance when the man raised his head and spoke up, "I’ve got this palsy that comes up every once in a while."
Mandel continued with the interview, though he admits that the respondent fared better than he did the rest of the way.
Ed Sugar of Pine Company, a Santa Monica, Calif., research firm, tells a sweet story. His mother’s maiden name was Laurel Cane. So when she got martied to Ed’s father, she became Laurel Cane Sugar. Later, Ed’s grandfather, Maurice Cane, married Ed’s grandmother on the other side, B.J., making her Mrs. Sugar Cane.
In a focus group I conducted with kids, there was a cute seven-year-old girl who would not say one word during the session, not even when we went around the room and had the girls tell their names and what kind of toys they played with. Whatever I asked, even simple questions such as whether she liked something or didn’t like it, or whether or not she would like to own the test toy, she remained silent.
Her silence was surprising to me, since after the qualification screening with her room, the recruiter spoke to the girl herself to make sure she wasn’t shy and could express herself.
After the session, when I told the hostess about the girl's silence, she explained that she’d overheard the mom talking with her daughter in the lobby prior to the session. It seems that the girl had gotten into trouble with her teacher that day at school for talking too much, and was reprimanded by her mom for this misbehavior. So, from the girl’s point of view, she was really behaving well during the group session by not opening her mouth.
Carol Davis of Davis Marketing Research tells about an interviewer who’d worked for her a long time, and always worked on taste tests. The interviewer was pouting about not being assigned to a certain project. When Davis asked why the woman was upset, the interviewer said, "You know how I like to work on taste tests."
Despite Davis’ disclaimer that no taste tests were scheduled the interviewer insisted, "Oh, yes, there’s a corn study that starts tomorrow. It’s on the schedule."
Trying to keep a straight face, Davis patiently explained that the study was for a foot corn remedy.
Ron Sellers of Ellison Research reports working on focus groups with a very tough recruit of business professionals (doctors, dentists, attorneys, etc.). They managed to recruit two attorneys for the first group. In the waiting area during rescreening, the observant hostess noticed each attorney glancing nervously at the other. The tension in the room was high. Turns out they were about to conduct focus groups with rival attorneys on a very ugly, high-profile case. One of them was paid and sent home.