Читать книгу Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries - Steve Portigal - Страница 26

In 1984, I was 23 and working for a market and social research firm in San Antonio, Texas. They sent me down to McAllen to collect voter opinions on the upcoming national elections. McAllen is a sleepy little town near the bottom tip of the state, just a few miles from the Mexican border, mainly populated with low-to-moderate income Hispanic families.

I was on my second day of door-to-door polling, asking voters their opinions on policy matters and their thoughts on the state and presidential candidates. I was getting a high rate of interview completions, with lots of useful data. After four years in market and social research, I was quite confident in my neutral, non-threatening “aw shucks, I’m just one of you” act, and its ability to deliver great results.

But my confidence was shaken when I met Maria, a shy housewife in her early 30s.

It was about 4 p.m. on a warm, dry Thursday afternoon when I knocked on the door of a modest, well-kept ranch house in a suburban section of McAllen. Maria opened the door partway. She was half-hiding behind it, sizing me up like a rabbit peering through tall grass at a coyote in the distance . . . curious, but poised to flee.

I explained that I was gathering public opinions on the upcoming elections, and after she agreed, we began the interview.

Me: “Now, thinking about (Candidate X), what comes to mind?”

Maria: “Uhh, I don’t know? Is he a good guy?”

Me (shrinking): “Well, I really don’t have any thoughts on (Candidate X). Besides, my bosses didn’t send me all this way to talk about my opinions. He wants to know your opinion.”

Maria: “I don’t know. He seems OK?”

Now, I didn’t think Maria was incapable of forming opinions. I suspect she had simply never been asked to share her thoughts about such important things. And she might never be asked again. But on this day, I was determined to make her opinion count.

Me: “Well, you’ve heard of him, maybe seen him on TV?”

Maria: “Yes.”

Me: “So, what did you think of him? Is he someone you would vote for?”

Maria: “Um . . . (pause)”

Her eyes darted across my face, scanning every crease and twitch, searching for clues. Those big rabbit eyes begged mutely for help. I stared back, apologetically. I took a few slow breaths, trying to ground us both, so she might relax into talking more naturally. Each time she hesitated, I carefully repeated the question, altering the wording and inflection to make it sound as simple and benign as possible.

Me: “Really, we’re just interested in what you think. Whatever you think is fine. Do you think you’ll vote for him, or not?”

Maria: “Uh . . . yes?” (seeing no reaction from me) “No?”

Me: “OK, that’s fine. Alright. Now, thinking about (Issue A), is that important to you? Do you think it’s good or bad?”

Maria: “Uhh . . . I think it’s good?”

The back and forth went on for several minutes. I tried to be neutral and free of any emotional expression, but my contortions only intensified the awkwardness. I was failing miserably to collect any genuine responses from Maria. A hot wave of panic washed over me. How can I get this back on track?

I quit fighting it, and fell back on connecting with Maria as a person. I began riffing on her responses, affirming and adding detail to them. While trying not to reveal my personal opinions, I offered supportive words and gestures to elevate everything she said, so that she might open up and elaborate. Eventually, her answers flowed a bit more freely.

Me: “So, what about the presidential candidates?”

Maria: “I guess I’ll vote for (presidential candidate B).”

Me: “Great! Is it because he is for (issue B)?”

Maria: “Oh, that’s good. Yeah, (B) is good for us.”

I felt I was way off book. It seemed impossible not to sway her answers. Well, at least she was talking. Finally, we got to the end. Walking back to my car, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. The hardest interview I’d ever done was over. I went out for a well-earned drink and a tragicomic debriefing with my co-workers.

Sometimes you just get a dud subject, but something about that 15-minute exchange with Maria struck a deeper chord in me. As I drove out of town, troubling questions lingered. What is the value of a skewed interview? Was this the only time I’d failed to be impartial? Or had this been happening all along, in more subtle ways? How can I ever know that the data I’m collecting is pure?

Maria taught me two important things that day.

• People make stuff up as they go along. And we can’t always see the flaws in self-reporting.

• The observer effect is unavoidable. Interviewers shade their work in unpredictable ways.

I’m as diligent as ever about delivering valuable insight through my research. But ever since that incident in McAllen, I draw my conclusions with a fuzzy border, in humble deference to flawed inputs and shadow projections, on both sides of the clipboard.