October 27, 2007
"Acookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies not soft and chewy cookies like you make." (Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.)
More often than not these days, market research and silly studies and polls make absolutely no sense to me, and I suspect to a lot of baby boomers.
Each time I read a new study I ask myself, "Who writes these things? Who comes up with such foolhardy profundity? Why does the media report them?
What got me going on this topic was a study I read this month that swore that regular swearing at work can help boost team spirit among staff, allowing them to express better their feelings.
Excuse me?
Yehuda Baruch, professor of management at the University of East Anglia, and a grad student conducted the study. Ok, I am stopping right here and now and asking, "Where is East Anglia?"
Next this pair added a disclaimer that swearing in front of senior staff or customers should be seriously discouraged or banned. No kidding. A study was required to figure that out?
Next, and I am not making this one up either, newscientist.com reports that a new study claims sexual intercourse reduces stress. It begs the question, "How do they know?" Apparently, they used volunteers. Now, there is a reliable scientific study for you.
Writer Elliott Temple concludes that the media is just as responsible for reporting these silly, non-science studies as those who conduct them. He says think about it. What other reasons could cause less stress? Perhaps, a happy couple in a stable relationship? Temple says, "I guess that wouldn't make a very exciting headline, such as--study doesn't show but researchers guess that a happy sexual relationship reduces stress."
A story in the Chicago Sun Times admonishes those who conduct such silly studies and the media for reporting them. William G. Sutton writes an article titled, "Cool it with silly studies."
Take a look at what he wrote about a silly obesity study.
"I disagree with Dr Robert Kushner who is quoted as saying we need to explore even the silliest possible contributors to obesity...But if you read the study Kushner is referring to, you learn that even silly ideas can make it through what should be a rigorous peer-review process."
The reporter says that the researchers found air conditioning to be a possible contributor to obesity. The evidence they cite is a 1993 consumer survey suggesting, "After an air-conditioning breakdown restaurant sales drop dramatically."
From that the researchers concluded that we do not eat as much when we are hot.
Sutton answered, "Call me silly, but I'll bet those folks went someplace else to eat in cool comfort."
