The future in 10: Young researchers and insight’s next decade

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Carolina Starkhammar, principal, Incite

I hope the market research industry will work towards becoming more accessible and use its increasing diversity more purposefully. In a profession centred on understanding different people, our industry is surprisingly homogeneous. A diverse workforce can help identify and address the real issues in our community.

My call to action is to recruit beyond traditional methods and invite people with unique backgrounds, experiences and ideas to the decision-making table. This isn’t a box-ticking exercise – these are real people who can add real value to your business.

Joanne Oguntimehin, project director, Humankind Research

My hope is that market research will continue to strive for diversity of people and thought, and really champion the value that exists in different backgrounds and lived experiences. I also hope it will be put on the map as an interesting career path that more people run towards. 

My call to action over the next decade is to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is in place to accommodate the diversity it seeks – and, as always, for action to follow words.

Tarek Chaudhury, independent qualitative researcher

It’s imperative we demonstrate the value of research. We often take for granted that everyone in a business understands the value of research, and that’s been a factor in the commonplace silo-ing of insight functions.

For agency-side and freelance colleagues, it’s too risky to rely on a small number of relationships at a client business for your pipeline – there is a need to spread awareness of the value of insight across the whole organisation.

To echo a recent Research Live article by Rick Kelly, of Fuel Cycle, we need to remember that most departments are novices in market research. We need to show them the power of understanding their customers and audiences.

Matthew Hellon, research manager, Basis Research

My hope is that market research can go beyond delivering insights and contribute in a more meaningful way to the development of products and services that have a real impact in the world. Research should be central throughout the design process, not just a starting point. Therefore, my call to action is for the market research industry to work more closely with designers, innovators and entrepreneurs, to ensure that people’s needs are not just accurately collected and understood, but also acted upon.

LASHANDA SEAMAN, QUALITATIVE RESEARCH MANAGER, OPINIUM

The challenge for our sector will be to continue advancing to meet the expectations of the upcoming generation so that we remain a relevant and viable career path. Over the next decade, I implore the industry to invest in young researchers through traditional and non-traditional methods, allow them to have a seat at the table, and be open to the change they bring. Let’s allow market research to become a sought-after career path because of the way we treat our people, the diversity of our organisations, and the impact of our work.

Beatriz Molina Sánchez,audience research officer, Nato

My hope for the future of market research is that researchers are trained to use tools that help them synthesise datasets and make sense of an increasingly crowded information environment. This will only be possible if agencies and client organisations invest in continual professional development and emerging technologies – more precisely, in tools for the collection and analysis of behavioural and attitudinal data.

The value of research is to inform organisational decision-making, and without fully exploring all available data, the insights will only be partial. It’s essential for the industry to focus on the priorities of investing in training and technology.

Bessie Pike,senior innovation and research designer, The Mix

My hopes for the future of market research would be that, instead of moving towards a more digitalised future, we go in the opposite direction towards something that is intimate, raw and unfiltered.

Too much of the world is already pre-curated for us, from algorithms dictating our interests to dating apps choosing our next partner.
The focus should be on breaking out of this false, digital bubble we’ve found ourselves in and, instead, step back into the real, flawed and imperfect world.

That’s where the most true and powerful insights will come from, not from behind a laptop screen. 

Adam Mills,head of insight and loyalty, The Wine Society

For me, the action we need to take is simple: we need to challenge more, and we need to push the boundaries of decision-making. Market research is the most important department in any organisation – it’s the gateway into the mind of the consumer.

Make sure that the consumer is at the heart of any decision made. At times, that’s going to throw up some problems; how many times have we heard ‘but is that really true?’ in response to a piece of research?

Challenge your leaders to be more reflective of their audience, push research in new, interesting ways, and be inquisitive. It’s our job to hold our businesses to account to our audiences.

Matt Walker, customer and member research manager, analytics & insight, Co-op

A key area for the future of market research is to focus on impact and actionability.

It should be less about chasing deadlines, putting together fancy PowerPoint decks and aiming to simply keep the client happy, and more about clear identification of opportunities that will make a real impact on the client business – and communicating them in a way that garners the support of wider stakeholders who often have less knowledge of the nuts and bolts of research.

Elle Gallon, research director, InSites Consulting

I hope that our industry takes the time to reflect on the world around us and how we interact with it. As researchers driven by a passion to understand humans, we have an opportunity to help brands make positive change by sharing insight.

Our understanding needs to be individual and collective, considering the wider socio-political-cultural conditions within which people make decisions. And, given the rapid pace at which our world changes, we need to be fast, flexible and future-focused in how we seek to gain insight.

By keeping people, the planet, and the forces of change central to our work, we can help brands to understand what matters most.

This article was first published in the January 2023 issue of Impact.