American Women: Partners in Research (1960)

[Music] [Applause] e oh I like that one I prefer that one on the right I like this one here well actually I like them both but I think I prefer this one a little bit these women are engaged in an opinion research [Music] project these women are doing [Music] research and these women are doing research [Music] too the women you have just seen are not professional researchers they're simply Housewives from all over the country but all these women are doing research concerned with products for the home research on style utility and sales and this is Chad Huntley bringing you a report on this new partnership between industry and the American woman it begins like this basic research develops new materials to cope with the Space Age we're living in this rocket nose cone is an example it's made of pyro seram a remarkable new glass ceramic material with exciting new properties now a nose cone has to be tough and durable to resist the forces of SuperSonic flight so pyrro seram is a typical example of the new materials being developed by American industry through research now the problem is this now that we have the material what products can be made better than ever by using it and more important still how can industry be sure that what it makes are the things that people really want it starts with men designers Engineers production Men first they determine what things can be made better with pyro San how about new and better products for the home everybody drinks coffee how about a coffee percolator about 2third of all the people who make coffee at home use a percolator the market research people have established this figure seems no doubt that there is a need for good percolators but it's also an established fact that three out of four new household products just don't sell or to put it another way the women of America won't buy three out of every four new products offered to them for their homes because they aren't What Women Want that's the basic problem and that's the reason for this new partnership in research with women so first the design department works out some preliminary shapes and good as these designers are they know that women have minds of their own they've learned to seek the help of the American [Music] housewife now let's go on to the next step in design and see how American women show one company what they want before it's offered for sale people come from all over the United States and Canada from the west from the north from the south and from nearby cities just as you yourself may come to Corning New York to visit the Glass Center half a million people a year visit the museum and Exhibits [Music] building and here The Story begins at the opinion Center people are asked to express their opinions about new products for the home a new coffee percolator what do you think ladies she asks men too but primary interest is in what women like each little detail of each new product is painstakingly researched in this way and a lot of products get no further than here what is your preference between these two shapes for a coffee [Music] pot after several thousand opinions you get a pretty good idea of what women want in the way of a coffee percolator shape or anything else the opinion Center survey proved that women prefer this shape now how accurate are the opinion Center findings well so far they've never been wrong and don't forget some pretty solid design goes into all these things in the first place now this is the shape women want what next well at the same time that the opinion Center is finding out what style women want a lot of other things are going on for instance over in the lab the scientist are running a complete series of tests naturally the key to the whole thing is what kind of coffee will it Brew so thousands of cups of coffee are brewed and important too is exact chemical analysis to see if the brewed coffee meets the standards set up by the coffee brewing Institute which sets industry standards for good coffee [Music] then a series of tests that all housewares go through tests for impact and thermal shock this means from extremes of hot to extremes of cold and back again no worry on this score from pyro Saran previous tests have shown conclusively that temperature just can't hurt this material for instance these frying pans are being boiled dry then plunged into cold water thousands of times how many times this is the original frying pan test still going strong judge for yourself tests such as these are standard for all new products and they're all important to any modern system of manufacturing most Industries today are proud of their quality control testing but here's some research that's important and unique remember these products are primarily for women for instance did you ever notice that a man pours things this way well Women are Smarter since they're not as strong as men they pour this way who says so the girls in the company test kitchens they put all these products through their Paces from the woman's point of view often preventing mistakes that neither the designers the engineers nor the laboratory had discovered once they pass a product you can be sure it's pretty good but this is just part of the story it's time to check with those Partners again the American women so several hundred of them try out each product at home in their own kitchens after all these women have had a chance to give something everyday use for a while it's not difficult to evaluate how good it is at home careful records are kept of likes and dislikes any product that makes the grade this far is close to the home stretch several months have gone by but a lot has been learned the percolator Brews good coffee it's styled right and it can take it but most important it's something which has been thoroughly tested by several hundred American women in their own kitchens the things they don't like in the samples have been eliminated the things they do like emphasized but now to work out the final designs again with the help of the American housewife the whole process will be repeated again to be sure that the final design is exact ly what Housewives want now what do you think which handle do women prefer this one do they want this narrow band or do they prefer this one and how about these decorations let's see what most American women prefer this top gives a good view of coffee perking inside most women prefer this wide band and this open handle is easy to grab and stands out away from the burner on a stove the little nub on top makes it easy for women to pour this was by far the most popular [Music] decoration inside stainless steel has been used matching the quality of the rest so here is the completed design we know that women like the way it looks like the way it works but there is one more step no matter how good it is no matter how much women like it there's no point in any company bringing out a new product unless women are actually going to buy it in line with the overall research philosophy one more thing is checked with women stores are selected for actual sales tests the rate of sales is compared with other well-known items some products fail to make the grade here and are eliminated if women won't buy it there's no point in making it so Mrs research has her final say here it doesn't do any good to argue logically with your wife you have a percolator but research in its new new dimension market research has paid off women do like it well enough to buy it if something has the style she wants and the usefulness she wants chances are she'll buy it women pick the style women pick the utility and women prove it in the marketplace this is how one company has solved the problem of developing products that women want research creates new materials to help solve the scientific problems of the Space Age further Research indicates a whole array of things which can be made better than ever before but to know for sure that these are things that women really want requires the stamp of approval from our partners in research the women themselves the h