1. What were you hoping to learn?

This was used as a further study to the interview, it was used to see how the sales assistants in different stores actually went about selling laptops.

2. What did you do to prepare?

To prepare I asked a friend to come and meet me in town, I then briefed my friend on what I wanted him to do, this consisted of being a customer who wants to buy a laptop. I told him to pretend that he knows very little about laptops. I was to stand next to him as a friend he went to town with.

3. How did you capture the information?

The reason I asked a friend to come and help was so that while he was asking questions and getting the sales assistant to sell him a laptop, I could keep track of the questions and aspects he was talking about. Once we had finished talking to the assistant, we went outside the shop where I wrote down my notes cross referencing them with what my friend remembered.

4. Did the activity go according to plan?

The activity ran very well. My friend played his part well and we were able to see how the sales assistant went about his work.

5. What would you do differently next time?

If I was to do this again, I would use a Dictaphone or some kind of voice capturing device that I can then use to make notes from. However I am not sure if this would count as a breach of privacy or not as the recorded voice wouldn’t be used directly, but notes from the recordings would.

6. What did you find out? Facts not analysis at this stage.

• The opening question was always “What do you need the laptop for?”
• The assistants would then give an overview of what we needed from a laptop e.g. on one occasion when my friend said he needed a laptop for coursework and gaming, the assistant said we needed a dedicated graphics card, he then went on to say “If you go anywhere else and they tell you different, don’t believe them, they are lying”
• The price range often didn’t drop below £600
• They all attempted an up-sale of the laptop by adding in anti-virus, Microsoft Office and cover for technical or accidental damage.
• Would occasionally tell you to seek them out if we decided we wanted to buy a laptop e.g. one assistant said “When you come back, see me and I will hook you up”

7. Was this the best way to elicit this type of information? Alternatives techniques?

This was a very good way to get the information as I was able to see parts of the interview in action by a different assistant. By me having a friend to play the part of wanting a new laptop I was able to remember different parts of what the assistant was saying. I was also able to cross reference my notes with my friends because of this.

8. Is your data reliable and valid?

The data gathered is very reliable as the sales assistants didn’t know that we had an alternative motive to buying a laptop. This meant that the information they gave and the way they conducted their sales pitch was exactly how they would normally do it.