Pet Peeves

Michelle Nielsen

We’re big believers in the power of quantitative research, specifically for validating insights mined from qualitative methods. Sadly, we’re all-too-often reminded that quantitative analysis can be sorely lacking in meaning when handled poorly. Take for example a set of (dare we say) insights we found in a recent brand newsletter.

Pets add an element of activity to their owner’s lives.

True, we thought and, like a dog with a bone – we dug in…

A fit dog is a happy dog.  But the causal relationships revealed in this little chart don’t fit the bill.

Are they really trying to tell us  that only active people own pets? Or do pets automatically make athletes out of couch potatoes? Do people who like to knit have cats? What is being counted as gardening? Not sure we think that hiking is synonymous with hunting and for some of our friends, hobbies definitely do not involve handicrafts, so why bundle these things together?

The structure of this research or the analysis of some semantic Web crawler barely allows for scratching the surface of the topic.  So we decided we’d expand on this little piece of pet wisdom, using the power of (humor) and observation to divine what’s really happening in pet owners’ homes.

Gardening = cleaning up after your dog; filling up the holes he dug by the fence.

Making home improvements = fixing the floors that your dog’s nails scratched up; buying a new couch after your cat decided to use it as a scratching post.

Camping/fishing/hiking/hunting = walking through the woods to find your dog as it ran after a squirrel; being proudly presented with a mouse your cat brought in from outside

Handicrafts or hobbies = sewing the hole your pup pulled in your sweater; turning old socks into dog toys; learning that scrunchies make fantastic cat toys.

What have your pets done to keep you “active” lately?

 

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