Market Research
I am rather fond of filling in surveys and questionnaires and I'm even signed up for several online survey companies, so I usually stop for anyone with a clipboard. This is partly because I feel sorry for the clipboard wielder, and partly because I enjoy being asked my opinions on practically anything. A lot of these market research people give you some sort of reward for taking part - a cup of tea here, a free Mars bar there, and sometimes it pays off quite well. This evening I went to the Wellcome Collection for a discussion group of people who had visited the place several times and been cornered by the woman with a clipboard last August. We all sat around discussing why we liked the place, and at the end, each got a small envelope containing £40, which seems to be the going rate for this sort of thing.
Apparently the company specialise this sort of market research museums and other cultural institutions. We were the third discussion group - the others had been people who had never visited the collection (presumably kidnapped off the street) and who had only been there once. Apparently they sometimes found the place a bit intellectually intimidating, while our group spent most of the discussion trying not to say in so many words that we liked the way it challenged visitors. The MR company had recently done work with English Heritage to determine what level of restoration people like to see in a building, which might have some bearing on how they treat Strawberry Hill, if and when they finally get started on it. (I have a back-of-the-mind feeling that my entire university class will find ourselves reunited at Strawberry.)
Apparently the company specialise this sort of market research museums and other cultural institutions. We were the third discussion group - the others had been people who had never visited the collection (presumably kidnapped off the street) and who had only been there once. Apparently they sometimes found the place a bit intellectually intimidating, while our group spent most of the discussion trying not to say in so many words that we liked the way it challenged visitors. The MR company had recently done work with English Heritage to determine what level of restoration people like to see in a building, which might have some bearing on how they treat Strawberry Hill, if and when they finally get started on it. (I have a back-of-the-mind feeling that my entire university class will find ourselves reunited at Strawberry.)