From what I understand, market analysis can always be done on the cheap if you want to take some accuracy risk - there's a clear self selection bias here, along with a geographic one (there may a common socioeconomic background for the coffee shop patrons)
Also, if you care about kids, it may have worked better at a coffee shop in front of a toy store in a mall, or at the food court if it's near say a pet store, to get actual parents - there might be fewer parents at a typical starbuck. But that is important if you believe they are you client - ie the persons who'll make the purchase decision, but maybe it will be the kids themselves in this example?
Critic aside, it's a great idea for a generalist app, but it may be less than ideal for say a specialized app.
Also, you should consider the alternatives - how much feedback do you think the same $50 may have got you using the mechanical turk?
There is a sincerity risk, but if you get say 100x more feedback, with the law of large numbers, I think that at least the obvious flaws could be noticed.
>Also, if you care about kids, it may have worked better at a coffee shop in front of a toy store in a mall
Also if you're actually trying to get kids to interact with the app, you'll get a much better response if you have a woman with you. Parents are more likely to be comfortable letting their children interact with a woman.
From what I understand, market analysis can always be done on the cheap if you want to take some accuracy risk - there's a clear self selection bias here, along with a geographic one (there may a common socioeconomic background for the coffee shop patrons)
Also, if you care about kids, it may have worked better at a coffee shop in front of a toy store in a mall, or at the food court if it's near say a pet store, to get actual parents - there might be fewer parents at a typical starbuck. But that is important if you believe they are you client - ie the persons who'll make the purchase decision, but maybe it will be the kids themselves in this example?
Critic aside, it's a great idea for a generalist app, but it may be less than ideal for say a specialized app.
Also, you should consider the alternatives - how much feedback do you think the same $50 may have got you using the mechanical turk?
There is a sincerity risk, but if you get say 100x more feedback, with the law of large numbers, I think that at least the obvious flaws could be noticed.