A comment from reader Jason Oke (who I went to high school with), on Gladwell's blog: 'In market research, the answers people give sound more like conventions [one of four types of reasons people give]: "It's a good value", "my family likes it", "it tastes good." And it seems that because of the artificiality of the situation, the perils of introspection, etc, most market research actually encourages people to answer in conventions, and doesn't encourage the telling of stories.' It is stories manifested in behavior--not easily-bucketable answers given in focus groups--that reveal real customer insights.