'The
½ Smile Test'2. Action research
"Do
an act of kindness – help one person smile!" (Harvey
Ball 1921 – 2001)
'The
½ Smile Test' is a piece of action research, through which I intend to
gain an insight into public perception of 'happiness' and 'satisfaction', and
their willingness to participate with experiments that promise to improve their
levels of 'happiness' and 'satisfaction'. 'The ½ Smile Test' is a live
interventionist performance in the guise of a free public training trial/market
research exercise.
An assistant and I act as ½ Smile Specialists/market researchers, canvassing
a public area where our territory is marked with an a-board. We wear yellow
t-shirts (with above quote printed on back), ID badges and hold clipboards,
and stop people to ask if they would give up 'no more that 4 minutes of their
time' to participate in our test/training, that could potentially improve their
general sense of well being and satisfaction with life.
We start by asking 5 questions to determine whether people would benefit from
the training. Then we give a quick overview of what the ½ smile is, and
proceed to giving a quick demonstration and on the spot correctional ½
smile training. The participant is then asked if they would practice for the
camera, and whether they would like to continue with the market research exercise.
To do this, we then instruct them to practice the ½ smile for one whole day, and then report back to us on the effects the smile had, their observations and thoughts, or any difficulties they experienced. They can contact us via email, or arrange to be called by us later in the week. They are given a flyer with more information, contact email and website address, and a smiley sticker to thank them for their participation. We thank them and bid them farewell with the quote:
‘Remember, the smile is contagious, so be a proud carrier!’
'The ½ Smile Test' poses as a market research initiative by NFHC International® - click here to visit the market research site.
© Copyright Lucy Panesar 2006
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