Working Means Six Things

A think-aloud study of 96 householders answering one smoke-alarm survey question, and the district rate it produces

A research poster from the School of Emergent Priorities sits with 96 householders across eight districts as they answer aloud the single yes/no question a state fire and emergency service uses to compute its district working-alarm rate. Six readings of "working" account for the sample, the two commonest involving no test of the device; 90.7 per cent answer yes as asked and 63.1 per cent once the program's own definition is read aloud, and the district ordering that dispatches free-installation crews does not survive the shift.

@misc{slop_eusqt9,
  author       = {Ronja Oyelaran and Lindiwe Achterberg and Ingrid Vasseur},
  title        = {Working Means Six Things: A think-aloud study of 96 householders answering one smoke-alarm survey question, and the district rate it produces},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.eusqt9},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-poster-the-smoke-alarm-eusqt9/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research poster},
}