"Researchers" asking what county I'm in

I've been called twice now by "researchers" asking what county I'm in. When I asked what county they think I'm in, they wouldn't tell me, and eventually hung up on me. I wonder what that's all about. The one that called today gave an organizational name that I forgot. He also sounded vaguely Stephen Hawking-like, which caused me to ask if I was talking to a computer. I guess he wasn't a computer, but he still wouldn't tell me what county he thought I was in.

There have also been many dozens of hang up calls and calls of "Hello...? Hello...?" on the answering machine since I quit logging them here.

I also neglected to record the last few calls from the San Jose Mercury News. One of them sounded very Canadian, e.g. "try it oat". No surprise, as some of the ones I've talked to said they're located in Vancouver. There was another call only one or two days later, though he didn't sound particularly Canadian.