Views from the Hills by R. E. Stevens, GENESIS II (The Second Beginning) E-Mail views@aol.com

There's nothing like a good first-hand experience.

A few Fridays ago while waiting for my wife in the mall, I was approached by a young lady about participating in a research project. After answering a few questions (honestly), I passed the eligibility requirements. The interviewer stated that if I would participate in a 15-minute test, she would give me seven dollars. I asked why it said 30 minutes on the outline and she had told me 15? She told me she was a fast reader and it would only take 15 minutes. I agreed to participate. The interviewer could not read as well as my ten-year-old grandson.

After answering a short series of questions about what types of vitamins I took and how often, I was shown a large card (approximately 10 x 28 inches) with the names of ten companies and the products they made (some companies multiple brands) and the basis for each product (abbreviated concepts). Four of the brands had paragraph concepts while the remaining ones had one-liner concepts. (I wonder which brands were really the focus of the test?) I was then asked which ones I would be most likely to purchase.

Next I was again shown a large card with 10 brands where each brand had between 2 and 8 versions. For each version there was a copy of the ingredient label which I was to read. Following the reading I was asked which brand and version I would be most likely to purchase. (I wonder if I was supposed to look for all the subtle differences among the hundreds of numbers in the labels?) There is no way this step could be effectively achieved in less than 45 minutes.

Next I was shown sequentially two 10 x 28 inch cards listing 10 manufacturers, each with products addressing between 2 and 8 physical deficiencies, symptoms, or problems. After reading these, I was asked which ones I would purchase and use daily.

Finally we reached the background questions about me and my family, those responses that are used for comparison purposes only. It took a rushed 40 minutes to complete.

I believe this was one of those tests where the sponsor had a million questions and did not know how to prioritize the work and tried to answer everything in one study. The thinking was probably, "After all, it doesn't cost much more to ask a lot of questions." Maybe the only cost in this study was quality and validity. As a good friend would always say, "You can ask any question you want and you will get an answer but there may be no relationship whatsoever between the question and the answer."

I cringe at the thought that someone out there is taking the numbers derived from that test and making major corporate decisions. Writers and sponsors should at least conduct a few pilot interviews themselves before turning studies over for field work.


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