market research

silverfish I don't think many people really suspect you of being there to case the joint or to mug them. It is more that market research questionnaires seem to be multiplying. I get loads of phone calls from people wanting me to answer questions. They say they are not trying to sell me anything but of course they are, in the long run, even if not directly.

Each phone call or knock at the door interrupts whatever I am doing and if it something that uses the brain, it takes a while to get back into it again. I class surveys with Jehovah's Witnesses, political canvassers and those ex-prisoners who want me to buy teatowels and othe gewgaws to support them -( after 50 years of marriage I have a houseful of supplies and gadgets, it would be more helpful if they would buy some from me.) I buy nothing at the door, I sign nothing at the door, I tell no-one my opinions at the door.

It is not personal and I would never be rude or aggressive to callers.

Silverfish surely anything is better than that job, it sounds awful?

silverfish, I understand your problems. I used to be a market research manager in a big utility company. All our work was done with companies registered with the Market Research Society and all the interviewers went out with full accreditation documents to make it clear that this was proper research, that all the results would be fully anonymised and those surveyed were given cards to contact the company or professional organisation, which had a strict code of ethics.

But in the late 1980s, as the vast majority of households had telephones we had the introduction of 'Sugging' (Selling Under Guise) of market research. More and more companies began conning people by pretending they were doing a valid market research survey and then doing a hard sell for some product. The freeing up of the energy market also brought more unprincipled doorstep sellers on the market. It has made traditional market research. the kind you do, virtually impossible.

I do not know what the answer is. It is some years since I was last involved in market research so I am not au fait with modern market research methods. Is there really no other work you can undertake rather than this work. To be honest, the company you work for should be aware of the problems and addressing them. Are they MRS members?