I don't want to say much about this just yet. I got the invitation last night, and immediately assumed it was a scam - but a follow-up email to the research company resulted in a second invitation call today. (And a third one, since I was across town photographing a rainbow when the first call came through this afternoon.)
I'm excited about this for several reasons. One is the fact that there is a promise of financial compensation for my participation, which led me to believe this was a scam in the first place. Then there is the fact that physicist Richard Feynman (who, I must add, helped to build the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as part of the Manhattan Project) participated in a focus group once, as recounted in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! And there is the fact that I am an experience junkie, or "Activity Slut" as a friend once called me: I'll tag along for anything, as long as it doesn't violate my moral or ethical standards or involve too much effort on my part. Plus, it will give me something to blog about. (And I can blog about the experience. I asked.)
So. Next Thursday is the group. Next Friday evening I may be traveling, and I will be out of town all weekend, but I may be able to blog from the place where I'm going. So I may miss a few days of blogging, unless I can get Gort to tell me how to pre-schedule blog publications. I'll be seeing him this weekend, so maybe I'll get to ask him then!
The narcissistic primarily autobiographical blog of the pseudonymous d.b. echo
It's easy. Just change the time stamp before you hit the publish button.
ReplyDeleteFocus groups are fun! The freaky thing is they have that wall of two-way glass. (At least at the one I did). and you KNOW there are people on the other side.
ReplyDeletePretend you are Hank Hill when he did the one for his beloved lawn mower. Do you know what your product is?
MaryRuth, I believe it's actually going to be political in nature. The research group conductiong it also does political polling, so I think the topic may have to do with issues of concern to likely voters.
ReplyDeleteI never saw that King of the Hill episode. Truth be told, I lost patience with that show about a decade ago. Though I do deeply love the episode about workplace accomodations, when one worker demands a larger workspace due to his priapism. (Hank doesn't know what that means.)