Coffee Survey Analysis

Hey all.  I finished tabulating the results and prepared a report for the coffee cooperative.  Overall, things went quite well.  Adelia (the woman in charge) understood the relationships from the results and what we could infer from them.  An interesting cultural tidbit, Nicaraguans are not direct communicators.  Stereotypically speaking, Nicas will tell you want you want to hear instead of saying “no”.  A fun example, when I was moving into my house I needed a taxi because it was late (after 6pm).  I called the taxi guy I know and he said he was already home but he’ll swing by in 30 minutes.  Forty-five minutes later I called him and he said that he was held up but could come in an hour.  What he was really doing was giving me crazy estimates that he hoped I’d say no and he wouldn’t have to come.  See?  Saying “no” without saying “no”.  The point is it makes completing unbiased surveys very difficult.  For the question “what brand of coffee do you normally purchase?”, 76% responded Café Palo (our brand).  Obviously that’s outrageously overestimated and people were just saying that to not hurt our feelings.  Therefore, we’re making some small changes and then taking the survey to Esteli!

Tomorrow I’m going to check on the progress of the well.  I’ll put up some pictures then!