QRCA Views Magazine, Spring 2016

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48 QRCA VIEWS SPRING 2016
Melissa DeLuca was conducting
groups about the health benefits associat-
ed with various products. One particular
respondent looked like the comedian
Gallagher (the one who smashes water-
melons with a sledgehammer on stage).
The Gallagher look-alike apparently
was quite confident with his appearance
and his body because, throughout the
group, he continually commented about
“being the fitness buff that I am …” These
remarks elicited eye rolls from the other
respondents and laughter from the back
room clients. Then in mid-group this
respondent whipped out a comb from his
back pocket, swaggered up to within
inches of the one-way mirror, and started
to comb his Gallagher-like hair. As roars
of laughter could be heard coming
through the wall, Melissa asked the
respondent to return to his seat, after
which she dashed to the back room to
have the clients try to keep it down. The
clients had been laughing so hard they all
were literally wiping tears from their eyes.
Later in this group, the clients could
not shake the mood and sent a note in to
Melissa asking if she was going to get
Gallagher’s phone number for the night.
At that point, Melissa became the one
having a hard time containing herself!
Daniel Berkal was conducting ethnog-
raphies in rural Tennessee that included
home visits. Daniel and his research part-
ner headed toward their next interview,
passing a series of progressively less hab-
itable dwellings. Mansions turned to
houses turned to apartments turned to
mobile homes turned to barely standing
structures. They finally arrived at the
address, a dilapidated trailer in the mid-
dle of a swamp. The door opened, and
out stepped exactly the kind of person
you would expect to find in such a place.
They went inside, and the interview went
smoothly at first…questions are answered
and all is well. As the respondent started
getting more comfortable with the research
team, he suddenly asked, “Do y’all want to
see my arsenal?” As Daniel and his col-
league hesitated to reply, the respondent
exclaimed, “Lemme show you! It’s down-
stairs!” As they walked to the front door,
Daniel tried to figure out what “downstairs”
referred to in this one-story trailer.
The respondent took them around the
back and showed them a dug-out area
under the trailer. He opened the hatch door,
and inside was literally an arsenal of mili-
tary-grade weapons. Assault rifles. Things
that looked like land mines. Daniel and his
colleague’s faces went blank with fear. The
respondent started mumbling about how
“it’s all for RAHOWA,” which meant noth-
ing to the research team. Daniel searched
the word on his mobile device and discov-
ered the respondent was referring to “Racial
Holy War.” So here stood Daniel and his
videographer, one Jewish and the other
African American, thinking this was not
going to turn out well. They made some
quick excuse and left as fast as possible.
Some time ago, margarine was making
inroads against butter, even gaining a sig-
nificant share of the last stronghold of
butter—the baking market. Mark Lovell
had a margarine brand client that was
seeing this trend even in Quebec, and,
sensing an opportunity to put butter
away for good, they asked Mark to con-
duct focus groups among “serious bak-
ers” who insisted on using butter. These
were respondents who simply ignored
the warnings about saturated fats and
instead valued taste and texture above all.
In one group was a respondent with a
thick accent whom the clients ended up
referring to as “Momma Russia.” She
spoke with authority and was very influ-
ential in the group. She baked for her five
children every week, she claimed. She
derided the brands of margarine on dis-
play as “garbage” and all but hugged the
packs of butter. She began informing the
other respondents when to use salted and
unsalted butter, and on and on.
Then came the moment when the client’s
margarine brand was revealed, and the
respondents were told which cookies and
muffins had been made with it. Momma
Russia picked up their product, unwrapped
it with a frown, and smelled it. She
scratched out a smidgeon with her finger-
nail and tasted it. The back roomers held
their breath. Momma Russia smiled as if
she were changing her opinions. “Please tell
us what you’re thinking,” Mark asked.
“I think yes, I can use this,” came the
reply. Mark was pleased—a positive
insight was about to be revealed for the
clients. Mark encouraged her to elaborate.
“Yes, tomorrow I use it to grease my
pans,” she explained.
Mark received a very brief “thank you”
from the margarine’s Marketing Director
as he turned for the exit.
Dorrie Paynter had a first recently—it
was a one-on-one interview with a well-
dressed and poised 23-year old woman.
At 7:00 pm, partway into the 45-minute
interview, a little alarm started beeping.
The respondent quickly said, “Oh, excuse
me, I have to take my birth control pill.”
Upon which she got up, walked over to
her purse, and did! Dorrie wondered if
this young woman could have found a
slightly more convenient, less intrusive
time to schedule her medication. Of
course the all-male clients in the back
room got a big laugh out of this one!
And finally one from me: I once was
moderating a focus group of men who
were all screened to have selected a partic-
ular radio station in a large southern city
as their favorite. The room was a broad
mix of guys, including one construction
worker in a Cat Tractor cap who looked
and sounded a lot like Jeff Foxworthy.
At one point in the group, I began to
explore the topic of the disc jockeys on the
respondents’ favorite radio station. Before
opening the topic to discussion I asked
participants to raise their hand if they
could remember the name of the morning
show host on their favorite station.
Cat Tractor Guy was the only one in
the room who raised his hand (a strong
indication why the station’s ratings had
been slipping). The other respondents
looked at each other sheepishly, finding it
a little embarrassing they could not think
of the name of the deejay on their own
favorite station. As the construction
worker held up his hand, he looked
around the room in disbelief and then
announced at the top of his voice, “Damn
y’all! I do drugs, and I know that one!”
The screaming and laughter took a
while to diminish—and that was just
from the clients in the back room.
We hope you find these stories amus-
ing as well as enlightening. Qualitative
research is, by its nature, unpredictable,
and a good QRC is nimble and
quick-minded not only to steer clear of
the “potholes” but also to turn these
unpredictable moments into insights for
the clients. Sometimes, though, a blooper
or funny moment is simply unavoidable,
and that’s when we all get a brief break
from the hard work of qualitative
research and indulge in a good laugh!
Memorable Respondents CONT INUED