What are the positives about research and insights?

Published by Ray Poynter, 3 October, 2023

Yesterday, I shared a word cloud showing a summary of the main things that were worrying research and insight professionals. You can see that post by clicking here.

To balance the picture, this post looks at what researchers and insight professionals see as the positives, answering the question, “What are the most positive things about the insights and research world in 2023?”Word Cloud

The previous post was based on a regular word cloud, but for the positives, I have used the coding feature of Word Cloud Plus. The map highlights the items coded as AI and Technology, Qual Research, Demand for Insights and Research, and Focus in Improving Quality.

A quick inspection of the cloud suggests that AI and Technology was the key message. This is confirmed by viewing the Coding Summary. The number of phrases linked to each of the codes and examples of the phrases is shown below:

  • AI and Technology, 139. For example, “tech–namely generative AI–hopefully helping create efficiencies in MR” and “so much positivity about AI rather than risk / negativity”.
  • Demand for Insights and Research, 15. For example, “demand for research has been growing steadily since the end of the pandemic” and “increasingly data and insights becoming ‘essential’ to businesses and decision making”
  • Qual Research, 8. For example, “qual research continuing to be strong” and “qual research needs to be highlighted compared to numerical data. sometimes body language speaks louder than numbers”
  • Focus on Improving Quality, 7. For example, “the growing awareness of data quality issues in the industry” and “vendors & panel providers are more serious about data quality”.

The questionnaire produced 276 usable open-ended answers to the question, “What are the most positive things about the insights and research world in 2023?” This means about 50% of all the responses are related to AI and Technology.

The duality of views about AI
As I reported in my post about the negatives, AI and its potential misuse are a major topic worrying insight and research professionals. However, AI is also overwhelmingly seen as the main positive. This duality highlights AI’s potential for both positive and negative outcomes and the need for the careful but concerted adoption of AI.

Want to Receive the NewMR Report on Insights?
This post and yesterday’s post are just a quick prequel to the main analysis and reporting of this project. The report will look at all the topics covered in the survey, including the balance of pessimism versus optimism, the positives and negatives, and people’s plans for the next 18 months. The report will also contrast the data collected in September with those collected in June 2023. Sign up for the #NewMR newsletter by clicking here to get your copy of the report.

Want to try Word Cloud Plus?
For this analysis, I used the paid features of Word Cloud Plus. You can set yourself up with a free trial if you want to use the coding feature to help jump-start your analysis of some projects. To get your free trial, visit Word Cloud Plus.