Machine learning as an idea has been with us for decades. In recent years, active research and raw computing power have led to significant advancements in this field. It now feels like machine learning is coming of age and promises to revolutionize the way many industries work. The impact of all this on Market Research is uncertain. However, it is becoming clear that routine and repetitive tasks are the most open to automation through machine learning. One such repetitive task is the process of coding open-ended text responses. In his book “The Rise of the Robots”, Martin Ford asks: “Could another person learn to do your job by studying a detailed record of everything you’ve done in the past? If so, then there’s a good chance that an algorithm may someday be able to learn to do much or all of your job” Does this mean that computers can learn to do Market Research coding instead of humans? For the last year, Tim has (with help) tried to find out the answer to this question. Can a machine really code open ends as well as human? Can modern algorithms magically make sense of what respondents say? Will we need coders in 5 years’ time?

Coding open-ended text: The rise of the coding robots?

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