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rhollerith_dot_com comments on Rationality Market Research - Less Wrong
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I never engage strangers in situations in which the stranger cannot escape because their reactions in that situation are much less helpful than otherwise, but perhaps you are much better at putting people at their ease than I am. ADDED. Replace "engage" above with "initiate conversations with".
You never engage period, or you think that it's a bad plan for market research in particular?
I generally don't bother people on subways because they'll be trapped with me for 10+ minutes, which can be uncomfortable/intimidating. I don't think it's as big an issue on an elevator. By the time they've determined that they don't want to talk to me, it's not much longer before they get off. I don't think the 30 seconds of awkward silence ruined the woman's day in the third-to-last example.
(I also just greet people in the elevator in general when I'm not doing rationality-market research. I generally get good responses, and when I don't I just shrug and let them be. I could be persuaded that this is overall bad-for-the-world, but I doubt it)
As for the actual market-research effectiveness, it'd take a lot of data to see if people tend to have different responses in elevators vs. on the street. I'd be interested in seeing the difference, but most of the responses I got on the elevator matched up with my assumptions about the types of responses I'd be getting.
I never initiate conversations with strangers in elevators period.
I can recall at least 3 times that I have initiated conversations with strangers on what passes for subways in the Bay Area (Bay Area Rapid Transit) during non-commute hours. It is always easy for a non-handicapped person on what passes for subways out here during non-commute hours to walk to the next train.