Editor's note: Michelle Finzel is president of Maryland Marketing Source Inc., a Randallstown, Md., research company. She can be reached at 410-922-6600 ext. 109 or at mfinzel@mdmarketingsource.com. This article appeared in the March 11, 2013, edition of Quirk's e-newsletter.

Market research is one of many industries currently abuzz over the latest hot topic: big data. In fact, big data has become an industry unto itself, receiving a great deal of attention - and funding - by both the government and private sectors. 

According to IBM, "Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data - so much that 90 percent of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. This data comes from everywhere: sensors used to gather climate information, posts to social media sites, digital pictures and videos, purchase transaction records and cell phone GPS signals to name a few. This data is big data."

 

Big? How about gi-freaking-normous?! Just think about it. Think about the number of social media sites out there, then about the number of members/subscribers/followers. Think about all those people posting their pictures, status updates, articles, blogs, music and videos. Think about all the Likes, re-tweets, Shares and Favorite-ing going on every day, hour, minute and second. And that all ends up grouped into the big data category.

 

Is it helpful?

 

No doubt, the data is big. But the question is: Is it helpful? Does big data provide big answers? Or more importantly, does it provide the answers to your big questions? In our super-sized society, we've come to expect that bigger is always better and that having more is better than having less. But trading quality for quantity has never been the best business model for any industry.

 

What most organizations actually need is little data. Or perhaps better phrased, focused data. Focused data can provide research results that are objective-driven, not numbers-driven. Focused data can provide research results that answer your questions and offer opportunities to take action - not just take up lots of space.

 

Is it worth it? 

 

Relying on big data to provide the insights you need is akin to studying every ecosystem on the planet to make decisions about a single tree. Sure, we can spend all that time and money to discern how everything everywhere can have even the slightest impact on that tree's existence. But is it worth it when utilizing focused data results, gathered by (qualitatively or quantitatively) studying the factors in that single tree's local environment, you can get the information you'd have to dig for anyway but in less time and for less money?

 

Focused data can focus on your organization, your department, your services, your products and your business needs. Not everyone else - you. Granted, a butterfly flapping its wings in one country can potentially cause a hurricane to develop in another country 10 years from now and being prepared for that can't hurt. But if you still want to be in business 10 years from now, wouldn't it be prudent to make today's important decisions . . . today?

 

Where do you stand on little data versus big data?