Life is good
As I mentioned yesterday, I got called to participate in a focus group discussion last evening. I've done these before, but it's been awhile - while they call every couple months, I tend to bomb out halfway thru the questioning process. All it takes is one wrong answer to fall out of the demographic that they are looking for.
So I was pretty excited to have made it to the finals in the one pertaining to chocolate! I felt as if I validated my personal education in the subject by having all the right answers. I know my chocolate.
The first thing a participant does upon arrival is sign in and then sign a paper saying that they won't reveal or talk about anything that takes place inside the focus group to the outside world, so I can't really talk about that. It was about chocolate - and I got to take some with me for the ride home. They never tell you what brand they represent tho, because that would sway the research.
To my memory, I've participated in two groups before - one was such a long time ago that I'm not recalling the subject matter at all - but it was a large group, we sat at a long table and a full fledged on a stand with lights video camera was pointed at us whenever we spoke. That was my first experience and it was a bit daunting - but fun.
The second one was more local, and had to do with the changing of the name of our local hospital - this was before we knew it was going to change names. That one was interesting, especially when the name did change a few months later.
Both of those discussions were larger groups (12 people maybe?) and we sat around a table.
Not last nights.
There were four of us - and we sat in cushy type chairs. Facing the two way mirror.
Boy. Was that awkward. I hate mirrors. bah.
So the eye was automatically forced to look at our homework (we had LOTS of homework) or at the questioning lady (she was about six months pregnant and had a loose hair on her shirt that kept bugging me). Anywhere but the mirror - because it's a fact that people are behind it watching and recording.
But it was fun. A night out. Chocolate. And a hundred bucks for my thoughts.