Dedicating this Issue to Joel Reish—Humor Feature Editor and Past Editor-in-Chief
By Tamara Kenworthy, PRC, PCM, MBA, VIEWS Editor in Chief, On Point Strategies, Des Moines, Iowa, tamara@on-pointstrategies.com
A recent research study from Oracle and author-podcaster Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Report, found that 91 percent of people prefer brands to be funny and 72 percent would choose a brand that uses humor over the competition. However, 95 percent of business leaders fear using humor in customer interactions. Progressive Insurance certainly doesn’t fall into these statistics—some of my favorite advertising.
We’ve also never been afraid to use humor in VIEWS as a special feature of the magazine, but we have missed it the past few issues as our Humor Feature Editor Joel Reish battled cancer. Humor turned to sadness for our VIEWS team as Joel lost his courageous battle to cancer on June 21, 2022, at the young age of 62, and I’m dedicating this issue in his honor. Joel was a long-time dedicated QRCA member, past QRCA Board president, and past VIEWS editor-in-chief. I was always amazed each issue with his creativity as it takes a special talent to come up with these ideas and have them illustrated. Joel, rest in peace!
Not only do we need humor in our lives, but we also need to ensure work-life balance for a healthy lifestyle. In this issue, we have two articles that focus on our well-being as we work in a high-pressure industry and come out of the COVID-19 pandemic. One is a Toolbox article helping us understand why it’s so hard for us to rest and how to overcome this resistance for health benefits. The other takes us on the road in Travelwise as we learn how to recharge our batteries while traveling on research trips.
In Schools of Thought, we have a great article on why it’s so important to read body language in qualitative research—what people say verbally and through body language oftentimes is not the same. In our second Toolbox article, podcast editor and researcher Mike Carlon explores what authors and qualitative researchers have in common from his many podcast interviews with published authors.
Our Trends column explores research after ResTech and how emerging technologies will challenge us in how we do our work and run our businesses. Speaking of technology, usability testing is featured in the Global column as it takes us to Pakistan and a case study on corner store owners using digital tech with a challenging audience/market. Speaking of global, Podcasts Editor Mike Carlon interviews Wendy Pease on her new book, The Language of Global Marketing.
Our Luminaries column features Kathryn Campbell, who heads up Global Integrity Research at Instagram, with a really interesting interview on her career journey in UX research and consumer insights. Then, with a lens focused on Business Matters, Dr. Jessica Santos continues sharing her expertise in the privacy arena, this issue featuring why confidentiality is so critical in research projects.
Our sage Emeritus members offer their insights in the Dear Emeritus column on how qualitative skills can be used for social good and civil discourse; certainly, a much-needed skill in our society today. Finally, our myriad Book Reviews offer so many great titles—be sure to check them out and set a goal of reading at least one from each issue.
Please share this fall issue (qrcaviews.org) with your network, post the digital flipbook link on social media, and email your clients an interesting article relevant to them. Lastly, we love feedback—please let me know if you have ideas or thoughts on VIEWS.
Happy reading! Until the next issue,
Tamara Kenworthy
