An AI’s view of The State of Insights – September 2023

Ray Poynter, 4 October 2023

In September, NewMR conducted a study with research and insight professionals to understand the state of research and insights. We will be writing a report on this study next week and sharing the results, but this week we have been experimenting with the data. On Monday and Tuesday, I presented sneak peeks of the study, looking at what insight professionals thought were the main positives and the main negatives of the research industry. Today, I want to share a summary of the data generated 100% via AI using a tool called ResearchWiseAI.

ResearchWiseAI has been developed by The Future Place and Will Poynter and it leverages the power of Generative AI. ResearchWiseAI takes a simple data export and creates an automated report that researchers can use to kick-start their analysis.

The Summary
The Summary below was generated entirely automatically from the data file and a research question. There are quirks in it, but I have simply cut and paste the output from the software. I have changed all of AI-produced text to be in brown, so you can distinguish it from the text I have written.

Research and Insights Industry: Market Perception and Future Prospects

Executive Summary
The research and insights industry is viewed with optimism by a majority of respondents, with 64% expressing either optimism or strong optimism. The industry is seen as evolving, with a significant focus on the adoption of AI and technology. However, there are concerns about the quality of data, the impact of AI on job opportunities, and the need for client education on GDPR and PII.

Industry Perception
According to our recent market research survey, 52% of respondents expressed optimism about the state of insights and research, with an additional 12% being very optimistic. Conversely, 8% were pessimistic, and 1% were very pessimistic. The remaining 27% remained neutral. This indicates a generally positive outlook on the industry, with potential opportunities for growth and development.

Industry Affiliation
The majority of respondents (70%) identified themselves as Research or Consultancy Suppliers, indicating a strong presence of service providers in the industry. Research Buyers/Users made up 14% of the respondents, while Suppliers to the Research Industry accounted for 12%. Academics and others made up the remaining 4%.

Positive Developments
The industry is experiencing several positive developments, including the increasing adoption of AI and technology, a growing interest in customer focus and fact-based decision making, and a recognition of the value of data quality. There is optimism about the potential of AI and technology to improve efficiency, provide deeper insights, and drive growth in the industry.

Concerns and Challenges
Despite the optimism, there are concerns about job opportunities, the need for client education on GDPR and PII, and the importance of improving data quality. There is also a call for more collaboration between market researchers and marketers, and a recognition of the changing nature of the industry and the need for researchers to adapt to new technologies.

Geographic Distribution
The majority of respondents (45%) are based in Europe, followed by 32% in the USA & Canada. Asia Pacific accounted for 14% of the respondents, while Africa & Middle East and Latin America represented 5% and 3% respectively. This indicates a strong presence of our target audience in Europe and North America, with potential growth opportunities in these regions.

Future Plans
There is a clear trend towards the increased use of AI in market research over the next 18 months. AI is seen as a way to make research more efficient and deliver more relevant insights. Other mentioned research approaches and tools include self-serve quant, CAWI methodology, eye tracking, neuro research, online communities, and behavioral research.

Worrying Trends
The most worrying trends include resistance to change from insight buyers, poor AI tools, decreasing quality of online panels and respondents, economic uncertainty, unrealistic client expectations, a move away from fundamentals in drawing conclusions from data, reliance on AI for various tasks, brands wanting to do research in-house, rising salaries and lack of experience in junior researchers, lack of rigor in methodology, lack of creativity in vision and business application, competition from technological firms, potential job losses due to AI, and the impact of AI on the industry as a whole.

Conclusion
The research and insights industry is viewed with optimism, with a significant focus on the adoption of AI and technology. However, there are concerns about the quality of data, the impact of AI on job opportunities, and the need for client education on GDPR and PII. These findings provide valuable insights for businesses and organizations seeking to address these concerns and adapt their strategies accordingly.

How Good is This Summary From Research Wise?
In general, I am amazed at how much it gets right. There are one or two places where it is obvious that the summary has not interpreted the data as somebody familiar with the industry would have. For example, in the Geographic Distribution question, the AI assumes that the countries are targets, rather than simply descriptors. But, given the input information was pretty sparse, the output is very encouraging – and the fact it did it in 10 minutes is a real plus.

You will be able to assess the quality of this summary when I produce the report next week. I have chosen to create the two word clouds (Monday and Tuesday) and this automated report before starting my analysis to get a fairer comparison. You can sign up to get a copy of the report by clicking here.

Detailed Pages
As well as providing an overall summary of the data, ResearchWiseAI also produces a report (in PowerPoint form) for each chosen question in the study. Here are two examples from this study: the first reports a closed question, the second reports an open-ended question.

Both of these sections are 100% automatically generated by ResearchWise. They have been copied from the PowerPoint.

How optimistic are you about the state of insights and research?
According to our recent market research survey, which received responses from 357 individuals, the majority of respondents (52%) expressed optimism about the state of insights and research. Additionally, 12% of participants were very optimistic, indicating a positive outlook on the industry. On the other hand, 8% of respondents were pessimistic, while 1% expressed a very pessimistic view. Notably, 27% of participants remained neutral on the matter. These findings suggest that a significant portion of individuals have faith in the current state of insights and research, highlighting potential opportunities for growth and development in the industry.

Optimism bar chart

What are the most positive things about the insights and research world in 2023?
The insights and research world in 2023 is experiencing several positive developments. One of the key factors is the increasing adoption of AI and technology, which is changing the way research is conducted and providing opportunities for more agile and efficient work. There is also a growing interest in customer focus and fact-based decision making, with new technologies arising from AI being embraced. The industry is more prepared to accept change and there is a focus on critical approaches to new tools. Additionally, there is a recognition of the value of data quality and the need for structured information in a world full of data. Overall, there is optimism about the potential of AI and technology to improve efficiency, provide deeper insights, and drive growth in the industry.

Positive Things in MR - Word Cloud

ResearchWiseAI shows the open-ended questions as word clouds and then summarises the themes in a bar chat.

Bar chart of themes from an open-ended question

ResearchWiseAI summarises the data in a small number of themes. The bar chart shows the counts for each of the themes. 

ResearchWiseAI lists all the phrases linked to each theme, ranking them in terms of their proximity to the theme. In the example below, I list the top couple of mentions for each of the themes in this study for the question about Positives.

Technology and Tools

  • “New tools and techniques – also hopefully we’ve hit bottom on companies pulling back budgets.”
  • “We continue to make use of new tools at our disposal to address real business needs that research and insights can help to answer.”

Advancements of AI

  • “Artificial intelligence”
  • “Continuing Technological advances/AI”

Quality and Innovation

  • “Some clients putting accent on quality of the data collected – being interested in the process of how the data is collected and checked, and not only in the final data received.”
  • “Lots of innovative tech, continued need for insights”

Customer Focus

  • “interest in customer focus and fact based decision making new technologies arising from AI”
  • “More focus on providing insights using actionable data and use of AI. Consumer research will contnue to flourish. As to media ratings and maybe trade research, there is greater dependance on technology. Hence, those involved should focus on providig more in-depth analysis and insights.”

Opportunities and Growth

  • “Ongoing demand for insights and research across industries, along with the influx of technology-led innovations for insights and research”
  • “Demand for research has been growing steadily since the end of the pandemic.”

A Quick Note on ResearchWiseAI
ResearchWiseAI reads a simple data export from a data collection or tables program. For example, this study was conducted via QuestionPro, and the data export was a simple export, using Excel, with the question text in the top row.If you want to try ResearchWiseAI out request a demo by clicking here.