This year’s most popular articles tackled a wide range of topics, covering everything from synthetic respondents and data quality to customer loyalty and more.*
Participant fraud in qualitative research: A wake-up call
By Tina Launey, Mozaic Group
As AI continues to make deeper inroads into market research, our clients have become increasingly interested in leveraging AI moderation as a means of increasing speed and scope of qualitative research, while simultaneously lowering costs.
While we consider ways to cement client retention in this era of breakneck innovation, it’s important to remember our professional and ethical responsibility, as market researchers, to walk the fine line between embracing the newest innovation and thinking critically about the potential risks and implications so we can help our clients make smart decisions about when and how to implement AI for primary research.
Synthetic respondents and the future of survey research
By Carlos Ochoa, Netquest-Bilendi
It's the latest revolution that promises to change everything. The innovation that, this time, seems destined to end surveys: synthetic respondents.
While we're still trying to assimilate the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on our lives, new and surprising uses of this technology appear in different activities and industries. AI is already being used to replace or complement the work of translators and editors, legal advisors, computer programmers, designers and more.
The rule of seven for researchers: Making insights stick
By Bonnie Chiurazzi, Vibe Insights Lab
We’ve all been there. You lead a groundbreaking research study, confident your insights will spark action. But weeks later, nothing’s changed. The recommendations went unheeded, a major opportunity was missed and now you’re trying to figure out where it all went wrong.
Exploring the challenges and potential of synthetic data and survey participants
By Steven Millman, Dynata
Synthetic data is by no means a new concept in market research. While the term is relatively new in common use, it simply refers to the use of estimated or modeled data as though they had actually been collected or observed. Historically, the most common forms of synthetic data in use have been created through the imputation of missing data rather than the wholesale construction of survey or household information. Imputation is a process for predicting missing values, typically based on the relationships between other variables or through look-alike models.
The data quality market is broken. Can history help us fix it?
By Bob Fawson, Data Quality Co-Op
We have a data quality problem in the market research industry. This is nothing new. Fraud, disengagement and declining respondent trust have turned sample sourcing into an arms race of better bots fighting better bot detection. The question isn’t whether data quality is a challenge – it’s how we got here and, more importantly, how we get out.
The GLP-1 effect: Rethinking demand spaces is no longer optional
By Tom Ellis, Brand Genetics
People and their needs, motivations and contexts should be at the heart of every demand space map. Market researchers have long used demand spaces to understand complexity – seeking to anchor brand strategy in consumption moments.
But does reality match the theory?
How Verizon furthered its customer understanding through the integration of market and user research
By John Hunoval, Verizon
Understanding our customers is paramount for driving growth and sustaining engagement. This article explores various strategies employed by researchers within Verizon's insights organization, with a particular focus on the experiences of a hybrid team dedicated to product research. This team's design emphasizes the integration of market and user research to foster product and experience innovation.
Is research ready for synthetic data?
By Steven Snell, Rep Data
Survey fraud, including responses from click farms, hyperactive respondents and tech-enabled fraudsters, threatens the quality of quantitative research. If synthetic data is trained on these flawed inputs, it won’t just replicate errors, it may amplify them. Before synthetic data can deliver real value, the industry must first tackle the underlying challenge of ensuring high-quality human responses.
Winning the inheritance race: Using segmentation to navigate the great wealth transfer
By Kristin Hall, Cogent Syndicated, part of the Escalent Group
The great wealth transfer has received significant attention in both the media and in market research – and with good reason. A report published in 2024 by the global real estate consultancy Knight Frank estimated that, over the next 20 years, $90 trillion in assets will pass between generations in the U.S.
Financial institutions are vying to capture a share of what is forecast to be the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history.
Understanding and navigating the evolving insights job market
By Randy Adis, Kahren Kersten and Brian Fowler, Insights Career Network
The process of hiring research and insights talent is hard to recognize even from just a few years ago. And trust us … we’re not talking about the latest "big idea" in methodology or some trendy tech jargon. We’re talking about how we actually find and hire research and insights professionals and those who support them. Something has shifted so drastically that it feels like we’ve lost our sense of equilibrium.
Cautious optimism: How research and insights professionals are approaching gen AI
By Christine Odishoo, GBK Collective (Brian Smith and Asad Tacy, GBK, also contributed to this article)
Gen AI is increasingly reshaping the way we approach market research – from streamlining traditional methods and accelerating data analysis to uncovering new insights and generating entirely new forms of consumer intelligence. What started as an experimental tool has now become a core part of research workflows for many researchers, helping organizations scale insights, enhance productivity and identify market opportunities faster than ever before.
Understanding consumer behaviors: The forces reshaping drinking habits
By Jonathan Dore, Reach3 Insights
The beverage alcohol industry is feeling the shake-up. After years of steady growth, 2024 delivered an unwelcome surprise: a rare decline in spirits sales, in part due to inflation and the rising cost of essentials.
At the same time, the latest IWSR report confirms what many in the industry have suspected: moderation isn’t just a passing trend – it’s the new normal.
Why nostalgia is the hottest strategy for brands right now
By Tom Ellis and Liz Thompson, Brand Genetics
Nostalgia is dominating the marketing industry. From the Oasis reunion to “Stranger Things,” from “Make America Great Again” to the return of Smirnoff Ice, culture is in full throwback mode. What’s striking isn’t just the presence of nostalgia, but its scale. Gen Z and Millennials are embracing eras they never lived through, turning secondhand memories into cultural currency.
For the world's most recognized brands, nostalgia has become more than a nod to the past; it’s a strategic tool for emotional relevance.
The credibility crisis for green marketing: Why consumer trust is so hard to earn
By Geetika Chhatwal, Kadence International
Green marketing no longer guarantees consumer loyalty. In the U.S. and UK, buyers scrutinize every claim, expecting brands to prove, not just promote, their sustainability credentials.
Consumers aren’t just rewarding eco-friendly claims; they’re dissecting them. They’re asking what “carbon neutral” actually means.
Insights leaders discuss segmentation, communication, category growth
By Marlen Ramirez, Quirk’s Media
The Quirk’s Event – London was held on May 7-8 and offered sessions on a broad range of topics. From Gen Z insights to effective communication strategies, insights leaders learned about different case studies from leading brands and research companies to get a better understanding of what is happening in the marketing research and insights industry. In this article, I’ll explore several of the topics speakers focused on at the London event.
*The list above is an accurate representation of the most-viewed e-newsletter articles published to Quirk’s article archive in 2025 (data gathered from Google Analytics) and does not include articles published in the print magazine, digital magazine (including PDF downloads and Quirk’s Digital Edition) or blog. In addition, articles published in Quirk’s E-newsletter during the month of December 2025 were not included in the data pull.