Assessment Activity Questions (Business Research Course) - Respect Writer

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Truly effective research is more likely to result when a research supplier works collaboratively

with its client throughout the research process. However, not all clients are trained in research

methodology, and some come from backgrounds other than marketing. The supplier needs

to understand the client's background in order to effectively develop the collaboration. We

rejoin Henry and Associates as Jason Henry strives to profile the research knowledge, if any,

of his client's representative—Myra Wines—the individual with whom he will be working on the

MindWriter CompleteCare laptop servicing assessment project.

"Myra, have you had any experience with research

suppliers?" asks Jason.

"Some. Actually, I worked for one of your

competitors for a short time after college, on a project

with the U.S. Army. That project helped me decide that

research wasn't my life's work—not that it wasn't and

isn't an important field and an important part of my

new responsibilities."

"No need to apologize. Some of us have what it

takes and others don't."

"Actually, there wasn't anything missing in my

ability to observe data, or build rapport with study

participants, or find insights," shares Myra. "The project

made all the papers; you probably read about it."

"Refresh my memory."

"The death rate near one Army munitions testing

area was unexplainably high. Local activists were

trying to shut it down, fearing it was an environmental

hazard. The Army had a vested interest in keeping it

open. Besides, it didn't think the civilian deaths had

anything to do with the firing range. U.S. Senator Sly

forced the Army to investigate. Since the Army thought

it had a public relations job on its hands, my firm was a

logical choice; PR campaigns were a specialty.

"The firing range was a played-out mine, strip-

mined until it was worse than a moonscape. The area

had once been a prosperous mining region, where the

people were known for fearlessly and proudly going out

to dig and produce. The nearest town was so severely

economically depressed that, for the pitifully few jobs

the Army provided, the folks welcomed the military in

to bomb their backyard to cinders.

"The cannon the Army was testing was impressive.

Troops armed it with 3-inch shells, put on ear protectors

and goggles, and lobbed shells into the range. There

would be a tremendous flash and boom, and the shells

would go roaring and soaring out of sight. We would

soon hear a tremendous boom coming back to us and

see dust and ash kicked up several hundred feet. We

were all very happy not to be downrange. When we

went downrange later, we found a huge crater and a

fused puddle of iron, but nothing else but slag and

molten rocks.

"There was one problem. About every 20th shell

would be a dud. It would fly off and land, and maybe

kick up some dust, but explode it would not.

"On paper, this was not supposed to be a problem.

The Army sent an officious second lieutenant to brief us.

He showed us reports that the Army had dropped such

duds from hundred-foot platforms, from helicopters,

had applied torches to them—everything—and had

discovered them to be completely inert. The only thing

he claimed would ignite one of these duds was to drop

another live bomb on it.

"Regrettably, this proved not to be the case. My

team had barely finished its initial briefing when in

the middle of the night we heard one of these so-called

duds explode. We rushed out at dawn and, sure enough,

found a new crater, molten slag, molten rock, and so

forth. It was quite a mystery.

"Our team took shifts doing an all-night observation

study. During my two-hour stint, my partner and I saw

people with flashlights moving around in there.

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"We didn't know if the people were military or

civilian. We learned later that locals were coming in at night, intending to crack open the bombs and

scavenge for copper wire or anything they thought

was salvageable. Except, of course, their actions occasionally ignited one of the beauties and erased any

evidence of a crime being committed by vaporizing the perpetrators on the spot.

"Part of our research was to measure public sentiment about the firing range among the locals.

During our stay in the area, we discovered the locals

were involved in every kind of thrill sport. It was

not unusual to see a 50-mile auto race with four

ambulances on hand on the edge of the oval, to cart off

the carnage to the surgical hospital in the next county. I saw men leap into cars with threadbare tires, loose wheels, malfunctioning brakes, with brake fluid and

transmission fluid drooling all over the track. They

could wheel their cars out onto the track on a tire they knew was thin as tissue, and if it blew out and put them in the hospital, their reaction was 'Some days you can't

win for losin' .' Nobody thought anything of this. If we

asked, their answer was, 'I'll go when my number is

up,' or 'It's not in my hands.'

"Their attitude made sense, from a cultural-

economic view. That attitude had permitted the men

to go down in the mines year after year. Even the local sheriff wouldn't stop their daredevil behavior. 'They

are going to die anyway,' he was overheard remarking.

'We all are going to die. People die every month that

never go out on that dirt track.' Of course, unlike

driving a car, messing with a potentially live bomb didn't leave much to skill but left everything to chance.

"The Army had considered an educational

campaign to keep the scavengers out but, given our findings, decided it couldn't deal with such thinking by applying logic. Instead, it changed its procedure. The troops would now fire the shells in the morning

and spend the afternoon finding the duds, to which

they attached kerosene lanterns. At dusk, a fighter-

bomber would fly over the area and bomb the

lanterns—and the duds—to a molecular state. It was

neat and it worked. And the death rate of the locals dropped dramatically."

As Myra finished her story, Jason asks, "It sounds like

a successful project. By studying the locals' attitudes and behavior, you could discard the alternative of the education campaign. Why did you decide research wasn't for you?"

"My boss didn't like the idea that I broke

confidentiality and told a local reporter what the locals were doing. I'd seen someone's dad or brother blown

to pieces and felt I had to act. My dismissal taught me

one of the rules of good research—the client always gets to choose whether to use, or release, the findings

of any study."