Q&A with a client-side researcher
Editor's note: If you're an end-client researcher and interested in participating in a Q&A with Quirk's, please e-mail me at emilyk@quirks.com.
What advice would you offer to a researcher who is looking to incorporate AI tools in their qualitative research?
Know what you need, what you want and what you definitely do not want from an AI tool.
Before even talking to potential partners, I have to define the need or the problem. And I usually start by making a list of must-haves, nice-to-haves and avoids. One of the most important roles of any market research professional is defining the problem to be solved so that we can develop questions that will help us uncover the right insights or solutions. It's easy to get distracted by bells and whistles when it comes to new technology, but just like when we're developing survey questions to get to the bottom of our customer needs, we also have to develop the right questions to solve for our own problems.
Ultimately, there are two main driving factors behind the adoption of new technology. The first is speed, time savings. The second is cost, financial savings, that we hope to realize in the long run. No matter the size of your organization, no one can afford to adopt a tool that doesn't save them money or time. And that includes the time that it takes to train on that product. When considering a tool, ask yourself, “How much time do I need to invest initially in learning this product and mastering this technology so that I can run it and be in charge?”
In my case, we only have two people in the insights and innovation department. If I'm going to recommend a tool, I have to commit to personally owning it. And, after a couple of months, I have to show how it has affected our productivity, time savings or cost savings.
If you take the time to ask the right questions, understand the time commitment and weigh the upfront costs against the long-term savings, you will have confidence in the tools you select.
Here are few other things to watch out for:
- Ensure that the tool or platform is not piggybacking on other open-source AI models.
- Confirm that exported deliverables are in a format that you can use without much manipulation, such as PowerPoint or Excel.
- Have your legal thoroughly review all documentation to ensure that your data – even your inquiries – are secure and not traded outside of the closed system.
Can you share a recent win for your team and what you learned from it?
My team recently adopted a full-blown AI-powered qualitative platform capable of handling diary/ethnographic studies, mobile device/laptop/desktop usability testing and mixed-method projects, fully equipped with a smart and humanistic AI moderator – a huge win for us! We’ve already run a couple projects through the platform, and the results have been highly impactful. Our ability to leverage this platform for both our consumer and industrial audiences makes it even more exciting. We are going to be able to fully conduct IDIs with the AI moderator within the month, so I see us really leaning into this new capability as a cost-effective and incredibly fast path to deep qualitative insights. That is what’s next for us and, in my humble opinion, I think this is the future of market research.
Not to say there won’t always be a place or need for quantitative research, but survey research is a dying breed as the primary path to insights. People want to feel heard, but they're very skeptical about survey research and consumers don't want to take the time to do it anymore. To combat this, you have to give people a platform to talk openly about their truths. If you do that, you will find all the insights that you need are at your fingertips.
I think we should all be starting to trial AI-powered qualitative platforms, figuring out what the needs are for our businesses and really digging in. I believe this is where tech is going. I highly encourage any market researcher who hasn't already to take the dive and really start figuring out what platform is going to do that for them.
What excites you about coming to work each day?
I’d have to say my boss is the best and our working relationship is the highlight of my day. Aside from her mentorship and leadership, I look forward to the wide variety of projects I get to work on and the challenges that come with that every day. I have the spirit of a wanderer and a deep thirst for knowledge and monotony is not for me. The excitement of working on something new every day is what really motivates me – constantly learning about new categories, products and innovative ways of addressing consumer needs drives me to continue feeding the curiosity beast.